|
“Wrath is cruel, and anger is outrageous; but who is able to stand before envy?” (Proverbs 27:4).
Yesterday we had a story from World War I, and here is another that illustrates our verse for today. At Queen’s hospital in England during World War I, there was a famous surgeon named Harold Gillies, who pioneered a lot of new techniques in plastic surgery. He was really the father of modern plastic surgery, and it was he who repaired a lot of the disfigured faces of soldiers injured in the war. At the same hospital there was another surgeon named John Aymard, who also did plastic surgery. A new technique in surgery was developed at the hospital, and there arose a dispute about who did it first. Gillies got the credit for it, and probably rightly so, but Aymard nursed his resentment against Gillies for the next twenty years, and continued to insist that he had been the first to do it. The real problem was that Gillies was famous and was honored for his work, while Aymard’s name was relatively unknown. Aymard was envious of Gillies’ fame, and wanted some for himself.
Let us be careful of allowing envy to build up in our hearts, for envy is really wanting something that God has given to someone else. Let us be content with what the Lord has given us, and to use it for His glory. Who gets the credit for something in this world is not important, for when we are with the Lord, we can be sure that He will reward each one in a right way. He knows what we do, and that is enough.
|
