Forgotten Vices, Forgotten Virtues: Envy vs. Gratitude
Sean Kelly, LAC continues his series on the Seven Deadly Sins and their virtue counterparts. Catch up on Forgotten Vices, Forgotten Virtues: Reclaiming a Christian Tradition here.
“And just as, to the blind, no sun appears,
so to the shades [of the envious] here,
the light of heaven would not give itself”
– Dante, Purgatorio, XIII:67-69
Envy: Blindness to God’s Goodness
Envy is fundamentally a failure of seeing. The word itself comes from the Latin invidia which means “look upon,” as in looking upon the good fortune of others with sadness or malice. But envy is also a failure to see things as they truly are. This is why Dante, in his famous Divine Comedy, represents the envious as having their eyes sewed shut (the scene portrayed in the painting above)—because envy blinds us.
Envy blinds us to the reality of others’ suffering. When I envy someone else’s life, I fail to see that they have their own struggles. If I think to myself, “Man, it would be nice to trade places with him for a while,” I’m ignoring the fact that his life comes with its own painful circumstances—circumstances that could be much more difficult to bear than my own.
But more importantly, envy blinds us to the reality of God’s goodness.
Gratitude: Restoring Sight to the Blind
As we have seen with the other vices and virtues, the sickness of envy has a medicinal counterpart in gratitude. Gratitude restores our vision to see things the way they really are. But it’s more than simply “looking on the bright side of life,” more than just being optimistic, and more than a feeling—it is a way of life. It is a life of worship where we continually give thanks to God through sacrifice.
Worship, Sacrifice, and Thanksgiving
Worship has always been understood as a sacrifice, an offering to God in gratitude for what he has done. In the Old Testament, we see the people of God offer sacrifices not just as a covering for their sin but as a way of worshiping Him and giving thanks.
The central act of worship for most Christians since then has been the partaking of Holy Communion, also called the Eucharist, which comes from the Greek eucharistia meaning “thanksgiving.” In this act, we give thanks for Christ our sacrificial lamb, and out of our gratitude we offer to God our own lives as a “living sacrifice” (Rom. 12:1). In this act of worship, we offer our time, energy, attention, and gifts. Our gratitude brings us into communion with God and with one another—and sets the pattern for a life of worship.
To see this, consider what is being offered in Holy Communion. We don’t offer grain and grapes. We offer bread and wine. We take the resources that God has given us, both from the creation around us and from the talents within us, and fashion the grain and grapes into bread and wine.
Gratitude allows us to see that all things are gifts from God and that our purpose is to offer these gifts back to God and to one another.
Give Thanks in All Things and For All Things
Since gratitude is so deeply intertwined with the very purpose of our lives, we can understand why the Apostle Paul tells us, “In everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thess. 5:18). This presents a challenge no matter where we are in life.
When things are going well, we tend to get comfortable and complacent—and often forget to render thanks altogether. And the things we are thankful for can tend to be focused on our fortunate circumstances: a happy family, a good job, good health, etc. While it is certainly good and right to give thanks for these things, we might forget the things of more eternal significance.
When we are going through painful times, it is difficult to see anything in our life as a blessing. But it also presents us with a unique opportunity. When the pleasant circumstances of life are stripped away, we then must dig deeper to find solace in the eternal blessings of God and in His steadfast love towards us. Suffering challenges us to find hope and gratitude in the eternal, unchanging things rather than the passing comforts of this world.
But the much more challenging place to get to—one which I have strong doubts that I will ever attain—is to be able to give thanks for all things. To receive even the things which cause us pain and suffering as gifts from God. This is a hard pill to swallow. But if we can get there, to a place where we truly trust that God is allowing all of this for our good (Rom. 8:28), then the joy that we will find there can’t be shaken by anything.
7 Practical Ways to Grow in Gratitude
With this rationale for overcoming envy with gratitude, here are seven practical ways to increase our gratitude.
1. Go to church
When we are going to church, we are worshiping with the body of Christ. We shouldn’t see the purpose of this so much as “getting filled” as it is to give of ourselves to God and to those around us. Even though there are many obstacles that make it difficult to get out to church every week, each of these obstacles actually provides another opportunity for sacrifice. This deepens our worship and helps cultivate a life of gratitude.
2. Give thanks before meals
The naming of the Eucharist actually comes from Jesus’ words during the Last Supper where He “gave thanks” [eucharisteo] before He broke bread. We also see Jesus giving thanks before breaking bread at the feeding the 5000 and with the disciples on the road to Emmaus. We can follow Christ’s example by taking a few moments before eating our meals to give thanks to God for the food we are about to eat.
3. Count your blessings
Something I’ve been practicing lately is taking a few spare minutes, usually in my car on the way to work, and audibly rattling off all the things I’m grateful for that I can think of. This starts with the more obvious things (my wife, my daughter, my job, etc.) but ends up with me naming the things I often take for granted (the air in my lungs, the clothes on my back, the gasoline in my tank, etc.). The next time you find yourself with a few spare minutes, rather than pulling out your phone, see how many blessings you can count off.
4. Keep a gratitude journal
Gratitude has long been considered a spiritual discipline just like prayer and reading Scripture. One way to do this is to keep a gratitude journal and spend a few minutes of your devotional time writing down the things that you’re grateful for that day.
5. Keep a list of answered prayers
After God graciously gives us the thing that we’ve been praying for, we often move on rather quickly to asking for the next thing we’re longing for. By keeping a list of answered prayers, we can grow in gratitude and reflect on all of the good things God has done for us in the past. You could try doing this in a more visual way like a fishbowl full of small notes with answered prayers on them to add a physical reminder in your home of God’s lovingkindness.
6. Rejoice with those who rejoice and weep with those who weep
Envy is a complete inversion of the call to “Rejoice with those who rejoice, and weep with those who weep” (Romans 12:15), because it is us rejoicing when others weep and weeping when others rejoice. To cultivate gratitude, focus instead on going out of your way to celebrate those close to you on joyous occasions. And if you know that someone close to you is going through a hard time, take the time to sit patiently in the hard times with them.
7. Express gratitude to others
Take some time to reflect on the sacrifices that those close to you have made for you. Find a way to express your gratitude in a meaningful way, whether that’s through a simple gift or an encouraging message.
It's a Wonderful Life
My absolute favorite movie of all time is It’s a Wonderful Life. I hope you’ve seen it.
The main character George Bailey has gone through life doing the right thing, making great sacrifices by putting the needs of others before himself. Yet he lacks joy. He does these righteous things begrudgingly and is continually plagued by envy at the good fortune of his friends and his brother. He wishes he wasn’t stuck in his crummy job in his crummy small town. He wishes he could be traveling the world and making a name for himself. He seems to have nothing but bad luck and as his bad luck is about to send him to jail, George gets so desperate that he’s driven to the brink of suicide.
But then an angel shows George what life would be like if he never existed. He gets to see the deep value that his life has. And once George Bailey’s eyes are opened, he starts to see things the way they really are. He returns to reality full of joy and soon after he gleefully shouts: "Isn't it wonderful, I'm going to jail!"
By God’s grace, George is able to see with new eyes of gratitude. He’s able to give thanks for all things—even his suffering.
