by Marcia Mount Shoop
Jeremiah 11:18-20; James 3:13-4:3, 7-8a
Selfish ambition and envy are diseased ways of being in the world. Wisdom from heaven is not arrogant, but gentle, humble, willing to yield.
Envy teaches us to hoard. Heaven reminds us nothing we have was ever ours to start with.
Envy tells us we’ll never be enough or have enough. Heaven heals us, down deep in our souls—and tells us we are not our possessions. It is the logic of scarcity that teaches us to loathe ourselves, it is the wisdom of heaven that tell us we are beloved.