This Town’s Big Enough for the Both of Us

The opposite reality to our title holds our attention far too much—life commending the competitive pursuit of cornering a market, holding sway, out-manoeuvring competitors... even in the spiritual world of church ministry it occurs... “Why do they have so many members?”

Sound familiar? If we’re honest, each of us can identify with comparisons conspiring to envy. It’s a very human phenomenon.

But God’s made this earth big enough for us and our competitors... even those we’re competitive with; our friends. Yes, especially in their successes we can be grateful.

We need to watch our hearts as they wrangle vexatiously with what others have and what we have not. Envy is a heartbeat away and it’s a silent sin working like cancer to poison each little cell within our psyches.

Advocacy – Miraculous Agent of Healing

Some people are natural advocates—it comes with their personality and temperament.

But this is no excuse to not become a sponsor. It’s better to be active in love via advocacy because it single-handedly smashes the sin of envy.

With it, we smother the negative in abject positive.

Advocacy not only heals our predilection for envy, it promotes healing of the situation, and it encourages the other person. It’s the act of pleading or arguing passionately for something; it’s being virulent in support and not taking a backward step.

Advocacy not only heals but it creates room for all-comers to the world of work in our chosen realm. Everyone’s welcome.

Instead of envy, everyone’s encouraged to give full expression to their talents and the basis of real community is established. (Sounds remarkably like the early church.)

Praying for Transformation

Next time you’re given to internal complaint about the progress of another, give some thought to how that might be turned around in advocacy to celebrate their relative successes.

Pray also that this—the celebration with others—might grow; we all struggle with envy and prayer is one positive way God can heal us of it, a day at a time.

© 2011 S. J. Wickham.