Galatians 5:25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also walk by the Spirit. 26 Let us not become boastful, challenging one another, envying one another.
It’s so easy, and yet so costly, to spend our energy envying other people’s status, money, opportunities, accomplishments, looks, or anything else. Wishing to trade places with someone else or to get what they have just robs us of the joy of finding our own God-given purpose and pursuing the unique ways in which we can glorify Him.
Thinking that the grass is greener on someone else’s lawn … or the glass is cleaner in someone else’s fishbowl, cheats us of our own contentment, peace, and fulfillment.
There’s an old story about a stonecutter who once delivered a slab of stone to a merchant. When he saw all the man’s wonderful goods, the stonecutter said, “I wish I were a merchant and had such things.”
In the twinkling of an eye, his wish was granted, and he was a merchant.
Then one day he saw a parade outside his store window. He saw a prince pass by in splendor, and he said, “I wish I were a prince.”
And immediately he became a prince … until the day the hot sun beat down upon him.
Then he said, “I wish I were the sun, greater than any man.”
And he became the sun and was happy … until a cloud came between him and the earth. He said, “That cloud overshadows me. I wish I were a cloud.”
Again his wish was granted. As a cloud he rained down on the earth to his heart’s content until he came to a mountain, which wouldn’t let him pass. He said, “That mountain is greater than I. I wish I were a mountain.”
Instantly he became a mountain and he thought, Now I am the greatest of all.
But one day a little man climbed up the mountain and with a hammer and chisel began to tap away at it. The mountain, unable to stop him, said, “That little man is greater than I — I wish I were a man who cut stone.”
Once again, his wish was granted, and he became a stonecutter. He lived a long and useful life, and everyone marveled at how happy he was.
(Source: God’s Little Devotional Book.)
1 Timothy 6:6 But godliness actually is a means of great gain when accompanied by contentment. 7 For we have brought nothing into the world, so we cannot take anything out of it either. 8 If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content.
Image source: forbes.com
