Do not let your soul be dominated by envy.
Do you know the meaning of being envious? It is that feeling or mental state in which there is pain or misery for not owning what the other has, whether in goods, superior qualities or other kinds of tangible and intangible things.
Many times without wanting to have gone through this, you bother with someone because everyone says that others are better than you, has more qualities are smarter. Well, all this is what happens when we envy. We see it very common in homes, when there are parents who have a preference for a child. The Bible tells us about a sad story and great teaching. Genesis 37
And Joseph had a dream and when he told his brothers, they hated him even more. And he said to them: I beg you to listen to this dream that I have had. Behold, we were binding sheaves in the middle of the field, and behold, my sheaf got up and stood upright, and then your sheaves were put around and bowed towards my sheaf. And his brothers said to him, "Will you reign over us? Or will you rule over us? And they hated him even more because of his dreams and his words. He had yet another dream, and told it to his brothers, saying: Behold, I have had yet another dream; and behold, the sun, the moon and eleven stars bowed before me. And he told his father and his brothers; and his father rebuked him, and said to him: What is this dream that you have had? Will I, your mother and your brothers come to bow to the ground before you? And his brothers envied him, but his father reflected on what was said
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Then his brothers went to feed the flock of his father in Shechem. And Israel said to Joseph, Are not your brothers feeding the flock in Shechem? Come and I will send you to them. And he said: I will go. 14 Then Israel said to him, Go now and see how your brothers are and how the flock is; and bring me news of them. He sent him, then, from the valley of Hebron, and Joseph went to Shechem. And while he was going about the country, a man found him, and the man asked him, saying, What are you looking for? And he replied: I am looking for my brothers; I beg you to tell me where they are feeding the flock. And the man answered: They have left here, for I heard them say: "Let's go to Dotán." Then Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dotán.
Envy can lead us to do bad things. It can even make you want to hurt your own brother! and we can see it in this story, what did his brothers do? let's see below
When they saw him from afar, and before he approached them, they plotted against him to kill him. And they said to each other: Here comes the dreamer. Now come, let's kill him and throw him into one of the wells; and we will say: "A wild animal devoured him." Then we will see what his dreams are. But Ruben heard this and rescued him from his hands, and said: Let us not take his life. Ruben also told them: Do not shed blood. Cast it in this desert pit, but do not lay your hand on it. This he said to be able to free him from their hands and return him to his father. And it happened that when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his robe, the many-colored robe he wore; and they took it and threw it in the well. And the well was empty, there was no water in it. Then they sat down to eat, and when they raised their eyes and looked, behold, a caravan of Ishmaelites was coming from Gilead with their camels laden with aromatic resin, balsam and myrrh, which were descending into Egypt. And Judah said to his brothers: What will we gain by killing our brother and hiding his blood? Come, let us sell it to the Ishmaelites and let us not lay hands on it, for it is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers listened to him. Then Midianite merchants passed by, and they took Joseph out of the well, and sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And these took Joseph to Egypt.
When Ruben returned to the well, behold, Joseph was not in the well; then he tore his clothes. And he returned to his brothers and said to them: The boy is not there; and me, where will I go? 31 Then they took Joseph's coat and killed a he-goat, and they soaked the tunic in the blood; and they sent the tunic of many colors and took it to their father, and said: We find this; we ask you to examine it [u] to see if it is your son's tunic or not. He examined it, and said: It is my son's tunic. A beast has devoured him; no doubt José has been torn apart. And Jacob tore his clothes, put sackcloth on his loins and mourned for his son many days. And all his sons and all his daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted, and said: Surely mourning I will go down to Sheol for my son's sake. And his father cried for him. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, officer of Pharaoh, captain of the guard.
This story also leaves us a great lesson and is that although we are often marginalized by our own families and we even receive insults, rejections and false accusations, we must learn to interpret these things in a positive way even if they are painful. God has never abandoned us, he is aware of everything with a purpose that will lead us to the final triumph. We must move forward no matter what trials we have to go through, with a clean souk leaving behind the grudge against the people who one day hurt us, learn to love as Jesus did without deserving his love is sacrificed for each one of us.
The processes are steps, only to take us higher and are planned by God for our benefit. As for Joseph, for us they are also tools that God planned to develop in us what is necessary for the next step in which he wants to have us. God has a plan and a purpose for our lives and wants us to fulfill that purpose. Are we going to submit to Him? No one will get to step 3 without going through step 1 and 2. Nobody will learn obedience without having suffered. No one is going to produce patience without tribulations. No one is going to achieve the purpose that God has for him without allowing the Lord to develop (and remove) - through processes - what He considers necessary.