We have to live the world as it is, but we don’t have to take the world on its own terms. TV, radio, newspaper, magazines, all are filled with ads and hype encouraging us to be stylish, to have the latest thing, to feel needy and inadequate when we really aren’t. In short, the world we live in encourages us to covet: to want. We see what our neighbor has, or what the elegant actors in commercials have and we have to have it. Florin Mall, for example, was just lately the scene of a riot over the latest in athletic shoes. Advertising’s impact is not very healthy spiritually!

Before we get caught up in fantasies about our neighbors and the nice wife, husband, kids, house or life they have, let us remember: we already are blessed by God. What more do we need? And most of all, our task is not envy our neighbors, but to help them improve their lot in life. We must not turn others in objects of envy or of our own gratification, but live in their shoes for a while, find out what their lives actually are, and then—love them as Christ would love them.

Remember: We may be the only Christ our neighbors will ever see.