RADIO PROGRAM NO. 407 - Freeing Relationships from Envy

[The participants are John Lewis Selover, a businessman who is a Christian Scientist, and Robert McKinnon who is not a Christian Scientist.]

McKinnon: Many businesses and families have been torn apart by breakdowns in relationships between people, and very often it is some change in status that sparks a change in attitude. It is not hard to feel envious, even bitter sometimes, when somebody you have felt superior to suddenly spurts ahead—especially when he is the fellow your wife almost married, somebody you have spent a lot of time with at school, or perhaps even your next door neighbor.
Selover: What do people do about coping with envy?
McKinnon: Too often they give in to it. We all try to at least put on an external appearance of not being envious, because we have learned that that is good sportsmanship. But then we try to suppress the envy and forget about it, even though we do feel it.
Selover: I think it is helpful to get a handle on this by really resisting the temptation to judge our own status, progress, or ability by the relative position of somebody else. The idea of inferiority or superiority, bitterness or envy, is truly foreign to man's nature as a child of God, as the Bible brings out. Really rooting out the basic cause of envy helps us dig deeper and learn that our true status is based on a relationship to God, the source of all good, not to other people. The Bible says (James 1:17), "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning." So every individual has a unique purpose and worth that can't ever be lost or interfered with by someone else.

McKinnon: A lot of people feel envious. They do not have a car, home, security, or even some of the basic necessities of feeding and clothing a family in some acceptable fashion. This also relates to nations as well, doesn't it?
Selover: Yes. Christ Jesus had a very deep understanding of man's genuine status, which is summarized in his very striking words (Matt. 6:9) "Our Father," which are the first two words of the Lord's Prayer. He points to the universal nature of God as everyone's Father, and so opens up to us a great sense of freedom and of the availability of God's love. In the light of this truth, Jesus never envied and never tolerated envy in himself or his followers. And he called for an active expression of love not only to neighbors but to those we might consider enemies. He said (Matt. 5:44, 45), "Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you; that ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven." And so, with this understanding Jesus did not ever ignore human needs. He knew that God, divine Love, impartially meets these needs.
McKinnon: Tell me more about what you call genuine status as opposed to what status is ordinarily considered to be.
Selover: By opening our hearts to the fatherhood of God—"Our Father"—opening our hearts to infinite Spirit, God, we find that man's true status is spiritual and secure. And in this spiritual or true status there isn't any short end to the blessings of divine Love —no limit to God's impartial love. Man exists to express love, wisdom, ability, integrity, and other Love-inspired qualities.