DEVOTIONAL
Welcome to Remix, friends! I have a question for you today. How many of you in the room are dog people? You all are my kind of people. Dogs are the best, aren’t they? I saw this video the other day, and I just have to share it with you. My fellow dog lovers will love this. Take a look at this video:
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2j2FTaw_QKg.
That baby was not going to give the older dog any attention, huh? It was all about the puppy.
Now, we laugh at this video, but we have all felt like the older dog in that video, haven’t we? We have all experienced envy, wishing we had what someone else has, and it makes us say and do things we regret. Today we are going to talk about envy and what to do when we begin feeling of envy.
When is a time you have felt feelings of envy? I will share my story. When I was a kid, Christmas was my favorite day of the year. Every year, my family would read the Christmas story about Jesus’ birth, and then we would open presents. If I am honest, I loved opening presents, probably a little too much. I was always so excited and thankful for my presents, until we went to my neighbor across the street’s house. Every year after opening presents, we went over to each other’s houses to see the gifts we had received. Now, you need to know that my neighbor Tess got the best presents. I am serious. Everything I wanted she always ended up getting. She got a real cash register one year, it was not just a toy. She got an overhead projector to play school with one year. You probably do not know what an overhead projector is, but trust me it was a cool gift. She got a puppy one year! Oh, and another year she got a cell phone, this was before I or any of our other friends were allowed to have a cell phone. Every year I inspected her pile of presents, I always felt envious. Why didn’t I get as cool toys as she got? Sure, my presents were good, but not nearly as good as the presents she had received. Envy crept in and completely impacted the rest of my Christmas. It was not good.
I feel like a lot of us can at least relate to being jealous in one way or another. Maybe you have felt envious of your classmate’s good grades, your teammate’s athletic abilities, your friend’s seemingly “perfect” hair. Whatever the case, we have all experienced envy. We read about a number of people in the Bible who also experienced envy. One of the stories that comes to mind first is the story of Joseph. Joseph had a lot of brothers, and one day, his dad gave him this beautiful robe as a gift. Now, this may not sound like a big deal to you, but it was during Joseph’s time. Robes were very expensive, and this robe made it clear: he was their dad’s favorite. His brothers were extremely envious and jealous of the attention Joseph got from their dad and this beautiful gift that he had received. They eventually sold him into slavery in Egypt. They were certainly envious.
One thing that is true about envy is that it has really negative effects, even when we do not see it. Here are some of the things that envy does:
1. Envy can harm our relationships. Have you noticed that envy affects the way you think about a person? Instead of being happy for their achievements, envy makes us almost mad or easily annoyed by that person. It makes it hard to have a friendship or show love to them. James 4:1-2 asks, “What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? You want something but don’t get it. You kill and covet, but you cannot have what you want. You quarrel and fight.” That is what envy causes. I saw this with my neighbor who got all of the good Christmas gifts. You see, when I went to her house and saw her new toys, I would think things like “That toy is too expensive.” or “If that was my toy, I would have been more careful with it.” I would also sometimes pick a fight with my neighbor begging her to let me play with one of her new Christmas gifts. Envy can really harm our relationships if we let it.
2. Envy can also cause us to miss out on the gifts that God has given us. This is a big one, friends. When we are envious and jealous of the things other people have, we are completely missing out on the things that we do have. After all, I, too, had my own gifts I had just received, and my envy had caused me to completely ignore them. Proverbs 17:22 says, “A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a broken spirit saps a person’s strength.” Another way to say it that I read in my study Bible is that a “rejoicing heart” is good medicine. That means a heart that recognizes that gifts that they have been given are healthy. When we are not recognizing the gifts that we have been given, we grow envious and jealous and completely miss the joy that can be found in recognizing those gifts that we do have.
Now that we have been talking about how envy negatively affects us, let’s talk about how to fight against envy when it comes. After all, when we start comparing our situations to the situations of others, we do not have to give in to envy when it comes. There are two ways that I want to share with you that we can fight against envy:
1. This is the first and most important way. Practice gratitude. James 1:17 says “Whatever is good and perfect is a gift coming down to us from God our Father.” Friends, everything good in our lives is a gift from God, whether we realize it or not. You got the part in the school play? That is a gift! Did you make the football team? That is a gift. Your friends who are sitting next to you right now are a gift from God. The Chick-fil-a you had for dinner yesterday is is a gift. God’s gifts are all around us. When we recognize the gifts that God has given us and thank Him, it is hard to feel envious. That is why 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 says “Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.” When we are joyful and thank God in all circumstances, we can truly be grateful instead of envious.
2. Celebrate with the people around you. This is the second step. When you recognize that God has given you good gifts, you can celebrate with people when God gives them gifts, too, without feeling envy. Romans 12:15 says, “rejoice with those who rejoice and mourn with those who mourn.” Instead of feeling envious of someone else, next time try celebrating with them. Tell them how happy you are that they made the team, scored the high grade, or made the achievement that they made. It is heard to feel envious when you celebrate with them. Their excitement and joy will spill over onto you until you cannot help but be happy and excited for them. After all, you both have a Heavenly Father who gives good gifts.
The truth is, no one is happy when they feel envy. It does not feel good to be envious. When we are envious we feel angry, mad, stressed, resentful. It never, ever feels good to hold on to these feelings. Let’s choose gratitude and celebration today, thanking God for the gifts He has given to us and celebrating the gifts He has given others as well.
BREAK THE ICE
What is a weird thing that you were jealous of when you were younger?
SMALL GROUP QUESTIONS
1. What do you think of when you think of the word envy?
2. Read James 4:1-2. What does envy cause? Have you seen this in your own life?
James 4:1-2“1 What is causing the quarrels and fights among you? Don’t they come from the evil desires at war within you? 2 You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.Talk about a time you experience envy. How did it impact you?”
3. Read 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18. How should this impact your life? Does it? Explain.
1 Thessalonians 5:16-1816 Always be joyful. 17 Never stop praying. 18 Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.
4. How can you work towards being joyful and excited for others?
5. Two ways we have seen to fight against envy are being grateful and celebrating with others when good things happen for them. Which do you think is harder, and how can you grow in that area this week?
MOVING FORWARD
We were challenged over the weekend to make the list of 25 things we are grateful for. Have you all made that list? If not, take a few minutes to start making that list. After a few minutes of making your gratitude list, share with your group one thing you wrote on your list. After everyone has shared, pray together and thank God for the good gifts He has given each one of you.
©2026 Sagebrush Church
