Envy (Tozer for Tuesday)

I have noticed that envy never crosses a line. One man is a painter, another a pianist; the painter hears the pianist praised without a ripple of unease. He can just join in the praise. He does not mind, because he is a painter, and the pianist is out of his field. But let some other painter be praised in his presence and he is very likely to feel rising in him emotions of discontent, chagrin and uneasiness because the person praised is in his field. You can praise a politician to the sky and it does not bother a singer, but if you praise another singer, he may squirm. It is when somebody in our field of interest is given a place that we are not being given that uneasiness comes.

The Holy Ghost says to put all that away. What do you do with it? What do you do with dirt? You expose it to water and soap. What do you do with the dirt of the heart? You expose it to the blood of the Lamb and the power of the Holy Ghost.—A.W. Tozer, Living as a Christian, 85

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Ain't that the truth. I can't draw worth squat, and I'm doing well to find middle-C on a piano, so go ahead and praise them all you want; it doesn't matter because it's not my lane. But, I know what he's talking about—and I'll bet you do too.

I don't know, but I think maybe academics are especially susceptible to it. OK, I know I am. I might hide behind imposter's syndrome, but maybe, just maybe, if I'm honest with myself, that shield of imposter's syndrome is just a nice way of saying I'm envious.

What do you think?

Just an
</idle musing>