For several years I’ve been driving down US Highway 41 to Cordele on Friday mornings. Since the purpose of my trips is to get allergy shots, there’s a road sign just north of town I find amusing – CONGESTED AREA. 

Another scene on those short outings inspires more serious ponderings. A small lot on 5th Street North has enough paving for five vehicles, plus cement bumpers to mark the spaces. What draws my attention, however, is a set of concrete steps with a handrail beside them. I call them the steps to nowhere.   

An office was once there, I assume, then moved or torn down. The steps no longer serve their intended purpose, but I find them useful. They remind me of the importance of choosing our steps wisely.

Multiple lessons could be considered, but today’s musings are about taking spiritual steps in the wrong direction. Let’s focus on envy, a wayward step which gets little attention. That thought surfaced as our men’s Sunday School class was studying Genesis. It had never occurred to me that envy is a repetitive storyline in the first book of the Bible.

Envy was an initial step toward the original sin, or maybe it is the original sin. Satan convinced Eve that eating the forbidden fruit would make her like God. Being envious of God led to the next errant step, disobedience. And disobedience caused the first couple to be cast out of the Garden of Eden into the land of gnats, rats, and pigweed. Envy can be costly.        

In mankind’s second generation, Cain was envious of his brother Abel. Cain was angry that his sibling’s offering found favor with God while his was unacceptable. Envy led to anger, which led to murder, which led to foolishly trying to deceive God. “Am I my brother’s keeper?” Cain asked, pretending he didn’t know Abel’s whereabouts.   

Joseph is notable as a target of envy in early scripture. His ten brothers were so resentful of Joseph’s favorite-son status most of them wanted to kill him. He was sold into slavery by his brothers, then taken to Egypt where God miraculously elevated him to a place of power. Joseph’s position allowed him to later rescue his family, including his once conniving brothers, from famine. If not for divine intervention, however, Joseph would have been a tragic casualty of envy.   

Genesis has multiple accounts of envious behavior, but one of the best-known biblical examples is found in Psalms. King David’s affair with Bathsheba shows the common occurrence of envy leading to additional sinful steps. David coveted another man’s wife, so he sent for Bathsheba and slept with her. When David learned she was pregnant, he tried to hide his sin by having her husband, Uriah, killed on the battlefield. Envy led to adultery then to murder.

Envy is just one example of the dangers of taking a wayward step on our spiritual journeys. One sinful step often leads to another. The longer we stay on the broad path of disobedience, the less likely we are to seek the narrow path of redemption.

Temptation comes in many forms. Envy just seemed a good thought starter to prompt some individual reflection. The steps we take reflect the choices we make.      

Wayward steps don’t seem all that risky at first. The handrail beside them is deceptively assuring. But they all lead toward a CONGESTED AREA, a place where nothing is amusing.