“At thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore” (Ps. 16: 11)
Growing Dominion, Part 53
In the world of business and vocational callings, one of the hardest things for the Christian heart to mortify is the carnal reaction to what other people make. Even the ludicrous examples illustrate the principle. In a free country, it is possible for some folks to make millions of dollars annually for their ability to throw and catch a ball. But what may seem like legitimate concern over skewed priorities is often just whitewashed grumbling. The point is made whenever we bring it closer to home, and we discover that the merchant next door to us is making twice the amount we are.
We are born casting sidelong glances. If a father brought a bowl of ice cream out to three of his kids watching a movie, and gave it to one of them, the other two would immediately say, “Hey!” But if on the second trip, he gives two bowls of ice cream to the remaining two, but the ice cream is double the amount found in the first kid’s bowl, now it is his turn to say, “Hey!” Whenever we do this, we think we are concerned for justice, but this is just a mask for the sin of envy. Jesus addressed it plainly in His parable of the workers in the vineyard, hired at different times of the day. What Jesus intended for an illustration of the prerogatives of an employer would today, in these egalitarian times, be taken as the basis of a class action lawsuit. Moreover, many Christians would feel justified in filing such a lawsuit. We wouldn’t show them the name of the defendant (the owner of the corporation) until the trial was already under way.