Whom are you envying?

© 2016 by Tom Boynton (editing by Kathy Boynton)

Have you ever envied the unenviable? As a young boy, I was always interested in science. Classmates used to suggest that I might become the first man on the moon. I used to think about how neat that would be!

Many years later, as I awoke on the morning of January 28 1986, I found myself struggling with a feeling of envy. In just a few hours the space shuttle “Challenger” would begin its exciting flight into space. One of the crew members on that flight was a civilian school teacher. She was the focus of my envy. I wondered what had become of my childhood fantasy of travelling into space. I felt like I, rather than she, should be the extra passenger on that mission.

I drove to Randolph Air Force Base where, as scientific analyst, I poured myself into the computer program I was developing. As I did so, my boss entered the room and excitedly informed us that there had been an explosion aboard the shuttle. At first I assumed it had been a minor explosion which would soon be repaired. As subsequent reports poured in about the great disaster, I realized I had been envying the unenviable.

All crew members died. I had been envying an individual with only seconds of life remaining.

Many of us are tempted to envy the wealthy, the famous, and those who have risen to the top in our professions. Many of those we envy are people who may soon die. Probably most of them will die without the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior (Matthew 7:13-14 & Luke 13:23-25).

He is God the Son, who came to offer Himself as a blood sacrifice to “save His people from their sins” (Matthew 1:21). If you die without Him as your Savior, you will be lost forever. Jesus Himself said,

“He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.” (John 3:36).

Jesus asked His disciples this question which each of us should consider carefully:

“For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” (Mark 8:36-37).

Are you envying the unenviable?

 

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