The Cost of EnvySample

Humanity’s First Murder

The Bible weaves a connection between the internal temptation of envy - the resentful longing for things that aren’t ours, and the ominous work of Satan. The apostle John, in solemn reflection, presents Cain's murder of Abel as a cautionary example, warning us not to be like Cain, who was of the evil one (1 John 3:12).

It’s hard to imagine a more explosive fuel than one that could unleash the most appalling sins like the problem Cain had festering inside him regarding his brother Abel. The Bible describes the motivation for that first homicide with the words, “Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous” (v. 12b).

In whatever way God demonstrated the “favor” upon Abel and his offering, it was clear to Cain that he didn’t have it. The blessing, peace, joy, or visible demonstration of the Lord’s thumbs-up drove Cain crazy. Notice how God directs him. “Do well.” “Get it together!” “Repent and make things right with me.” It was as though God was saying, “This is about you and Me, not you and him. Forget what’s going on over there, and let’s have you get things right and move forward in your own life.” But Cain couldn’t handle it. Who knows what thousands of thoughts ran through Cain’s brain as his hostility toward his brother grew? “Why him? Why not me? It’s not fair. It’s not right. How can he be doing so much better than me?”

Cain spiraled down into a compounding and multiplied set of horizontal comparisons. His “fallen face” and bad attitude took his eyes off the productive plan to reorder his life before the only One who ultimately mattered—the God who was his Judge and his gracious and forgiving Redeemer. Acceptance and personal progress were potentially in his future, but instead, a much more powerful sin was busy getting its hooks in his heart. It was “crouching at the door,” and he had to fight it. But I would confidently guess he wasn’t busy looking that sin in the eyes. Instead, he was busy fixating on the contented eyes of his brother.

The next verse in Genesis 4 matter-of-factly unfolds: “Cain rose up against his brother Abel and killed him” (v. 8). Yikes! Talk about an explosive and dominating sin—not the murder, but the motive. Of course, the sin is horrific. Killing someone with malice aforethought is a horrendous, sinful act of violence, but let us soak in the reason why. What kind of preceding violence was envy wreaking on the interior of Cain’s life? Hour after hour and day after day, his hostility was ramping up, and all he could think about was tearing down the one who had what he didn’t have.

If you think about Cain’s interior life in the days leading up to the murder, it’s not hard to imagine that it was anything but tranquil. We envision his mind being pushed and pulled by all sorts of strong, disruptive, turbulent thoughts and emotions. It might be good to try to sort them out and identify them biblically. It will provide us another step in understanding the entangled mess from which God wants to set us free.

Our Creator, the One who knows us best, has diagnosed the three distinguishable but often intertwined experiences of jealousy, coveting, and envy as intruders that get in the way of our feelings of peace, tranquility, and joy. We like those pleasant feelings of calm. We don’t like them being upended by uninvited antagonists—especially the kind that keeps our minds spinning and our stomachs churning.