As we head into Thanksgiving, I am struck by how little we really know about the people around us. One of the things that strikes me is listening to the envy of people and, of course, dealing with envy myself.
We need to understand that our knowledge of others is actually very limited. I know only what I, well, know. I do not know nearly as much as I might think. I am never at their homes when they get home from work. I do not sit and listen as they deal with their children at home (which can be very different from public settings). I do not know how they were raised or how they are raising their children.
I know that a person who seems very nice to me may, in fact, be cruel at home. I also know that a person who seems cruel to me may be very nice at home. So even how they treat me tells me very little about how they actually live.
I can see, to some degree, how much money someone seems to have, but that is a lie as well. I am regularly surprised to find that someone is in bankruptcy when I think they are prospering. Or, on the other hand, to find someone with real money who lives very simply.
In short, I don't really know anything. I cannot envy someone "because they have money," because I do not really know how much they have or how it affects them. I cannot envy someone's "great home life" when I really do not know what their home life may be. I cannot envy someone's "great marriage" when I, again, do not know their marriage at all. I only know what I see and I only see what they want me to see.
Who are these people?
Paul, I think, has a great lesson for us in all of our judging and envyings. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul talks about the immense change that happens in us through Christ. Then, he says this:
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we
once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new
has come.
Therefore, he says, "we regard no one according to the flesh." This does not primarily mean how I feel about me, but how I feel about others. Anyone who is in Christ is not to be judged by the flesh any longer. Whether he is a doctor or a lawyer or a preacher or a plumber or anything is of no importance to me. I judge him only in Christ. Whether he is married or single or rich or poor means nothing to me, in that regard. I judge him only in Christ.
I think, and I know, that we are not very good at this. We still judge by the flesh. We still respect doctors more than plumbers. We still respect preachers more than laborers. We still judge according to the flesh.
But, as I become more convinced of how foolishly I have judged, I am more drawn to the truth of God. Every man's life is a hard life, filled with challenges and fears and doubts and weaknesses. Let me judge my brother and sister only in Christ, in Whom they are complete, not on the basis of their flesh or on the basis of mine.
New creatures in Christ. That is all I can really know for sure.
We need to understand that our knowledge of others is actually very limited. I know only what I, well, know. I do not know nearly as much as I might think. I am never at their homes when they get home from work. I do not sit and listen as they deal with their children at home (which can be very different from public settings). I do not know how they were raised or how they are raising their children.
I know that a person who seems very nice to me may, in fact, be cruel at home. I also know that a person who seems cruel to me may be very nice at home. So even how they treat me tells me very little about how they actually live.
I can see, to some degree, how much money someone seems to have, but that is a lie as well. I am regularly surprised to find that someone is in bankruptcy when I think they are prospering. Or, on the other hand, to find someone with real money who lives very simply.
In short, I don't really know anything. I cannot envy someone "because they have money," because I do not really know how much they have or how it affects them. I cannot envy someone's "great home life" when I really do not know what their home life may be. I cannot envy someone's "great marriage" when I, again, do not know their marriage at all. I only know what I see and I only see what they want me to see.
Who are these people?
Paul, I think, has a great lesson for us in all of our judging and envyings. In 2 Corinthians 5, Paul talks about the immense change that happens in us through Christ. Then, he says this:
From now on, therefore, we regard no one according to the flesh. Even though we
once regarded Christ according to the flesh, we regard him thus no longer. Therefore,
if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new
has come.
Therefore, he says, "we regard no one according to the flesh." This does not primarily mean how I feel about me, but how I feel about others. Anyone who is in Christ is not to be judged by the flesh any longer. Whether he is a doctor or a lawyer or a preacher or a plumber or anything is of no importance to me. I judge him only in Christ. Whether he is married or single or rich or poor means nothing to me, in that regard. I judge him only in Christ.
I think, and I know, that we are not very good at this. We still judge by the flesh. We still respect doctors more than plumbers. We still respect preachers more than laborers. We still judge according to the flesh.
But, as I become more convinced of how foolishly I have judged, I am more drawn to the truth of God. Every man's life is a hard life, filled with challenges and fears and doubts and weaknesses. Let me judge my brother and sister only in Christ, in Whom they are complete, not on the basis of their flesh or on the basis of mine.
New creatures in Christ. That is all I can really know for sure.