Yesterday morning we thought about the subtle sin of envy – that green-eyed monster, as Shakespeare called it. In his book Respectable Sins, Jerry Bridges warns that a competitive spirit can be a form of envy – an obsession with our own glory and reputation, a selfish need to be better than others. We should strive to be good stewards of what God gives us (1Pet4:10), and diligently do our best (2 Tim 2:15, 1 Cor 9:24) but our motive should be God’s glory not ours, serving others not beating them.

One of the ways we must guard ourselves against this is by watching how we communicate to others – are we stirring up envy and jealousy by boasting of our what we have or have done? Sometimes its not what we say but how we say it that tips it over into boastful envy-inducing language. Social media is a minefield for this sort of thing so we must be careful. It reminded me of a clip by Brian Regan that I shared on the blog some time ago. Envy is no laughing matter but I think humour can be used to make a serious point…