Hiding in Our Homes

Psalm 73:3 ESV

For I was envious of the arrogant

When I saw the prosperity of the wicked.

Envy is an insidious thing. It works against the contentedness God has commanded for Christian character. As I am working my way through Romans, Paul lists envy next to murder, strife, deceit, and maliciousness. Envy is more cleaver than a roaring Lion, seeking to steal kill and destroy, no it is one much more characteristic to the snake, lurking and quietly catching its prey, with out shout of battle or scream of fear. Yes, envy lurks behind every door and book, more acutely a book of faces, waiting to catch the foolish youth in the market place and draw it to the bed of sin, under the guise of love.

As the market place of life is more and more seen through our computer screen, the town square is more and more a place where we can invent ourselves. Hide that the sorrows of our lives behind selfie pics and hallow words of type. Type that doesn’t reveal the pain, frustration, and quivering lip as they are uttered. A picture may indeed be worth a thousand words but often they are lying words. It is easy to envy these pictured lies. It was a picture so I know its true. To look at the sorrow and struggle that remain in our own lives and compare them against the falsehood of our neighbors, begins to lay the seeds of envy. Although seeing may be believing, seeing is not truth.

As I look and remember the arguments and false representations that I have been acquainted with on Facebook, all of which occurring with “friends”, I am struck by the song Try to Remember in The Fantasticks, “try to remember the kind of September, when life was slow and oh so mellow…try to remember when life was so tender, that no one wept except the willow…”. Yes, I remember when those friends were truly friends. When good times were had by us, despite the realities of life, when friends shared life not links together and created friendships deeper than envy and pride good ever break. It is easy to pigeon hole those who we only see one dimensionally, on a screen or in a paper. I am often haunted by the nice pictures I see on Facebook, knowing how many post the great days and not the bad ones. How many believe that the life they see is the one their “friend” is living, how many fall simply because they don’t know reality.

God has given us a great and powerful weapon in response to this, his Spirit, working in his bride and body, the church. Such shallow relationships or “friendships” have existed in churches longer than on the internet. “How are you?” response “fine”, then to leave and never live life together. God has given us his Spirit, God has given us brothers and sisters, and we are guilty of living in opposition to both. Love does not envy and yet we look across the pews and see the “perfect” family with babies that don’t cry in church and little boys that don’t wiggle during sermons. Let us live together as the church was intended to do that sin might die quicker than it has. “Deep in December its good to remember” that God is good in all circumstances and God has given us brothers and sisters to help us through the pains of this life, not to hid them from them! “And distributing the proceeds to all, as they had need. And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts” (Acts 2:45,46).  Let us immolate our brothers and sisters from generations ago not hiding our needs from each other nor hiding in our homes from each other but living life in communion with God and each other.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO