A friend and I walk/bike on the Fox River Trail regularly. We chat and catch up with one another's schedules and kids, now grandkids. We talk about dresses for our children's weddings. We share what we're each learning and teaching in our respective Bible classes. It's good.
This week we spoke about our desire for affirmation from people, which really derives from envy, which ultimately derives from pride.
Why do we want affirmation so badly? Because we want to be loved as much as or more than that person seems to be getting loved and praised.
What is our envy about? It means that we really believe that someone's getting a better deal than we are, that I resent the fact that God seems to be blessing that person more than me. I want what she has and God is mean to not let me have it. At it's most basic level, that's it. Whining against God.
Remember the cucumbers of Egypt? (See notes on September 4th.)
I really believe that I ought to have something that God has withheld. That I should have been God, making these decisions. That if I were God, I'd treat me better than that.
I ought to get hurled out of heaven along with Lucifer for that sort of pride.
Oh women, we need to repent of our envy and our pride. God is the Creator and Sustainer of all, and He is all-wise and all-loving. He knows what He is doing, and it is always for our good. All that He does is good.
How can we doubt that when this is true: He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things? (Romans 8:32) Let that generosity of His soak into your very pores and make you more thankful for your life and circumstances than you have ever been.
And then grab a girlfriend and take a long walk, challenging each other to think rightly and delighting in all His benefits to you.
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