Envy

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Envy

 

Every single one of us here knows that it is wrong to be envious. However, most people only have a really vague idea of what envy really is. Most people confuse envy with jealousy, but the two are not the same. Before we can begin to study about envy, we need to have a good working definition of it. 

 

Envy means to look at someone with ill will. It means to look against someone. It means to look badly at someone else's success. It means to be resentful of others' success. 

 

There is a difference between envy and jealousy. We are jealous of the things we possess. We are envious of the things that someone else possesses. 

Genesis 26: 14

 

A jealous person lives in fear of losing the things that they already have. An envious person is pained at seeing the things that others have. We can see the difference in Scripture.

Deuteronomy 32: 21

 

This is fulfilled in the New Testament days when salvation was brought to the Gentiles. . 

Romans 11: 11

 

Envy is sometimes translated as an evil eye.

Mark 7: 21 - 22

 

Envy is deadly to our lives and to our souls. Envy kills. It pains and destroys a man like a knife through the heart. Envy can split congregations. Envy can result in murders. Jesus was killed because of the envious Pharisees. 

Matthew 27: 18

 

Jesus was gaining more followers than the Pharisees and they were losing their power and control. Instead of realizing that the very prophecies they had been studying for generations were being fulfilled, their envy closed their minds and they fulfilled their part in those very same prophecies. 

 

Envy destroys our friendships. Envy ruins our business. Envy dwarfs our souls. It is even unhealthy for us physically. 

Proverbs 14: 30

 

Envy is a deadly emotion. 

Job 5: 2

 

Vexation in that passage means envy. We can see this illustrated in a story from an ancient Greek author. 

 

It goes like this. The citizens of a town built a statue to one of their citizens who was a celebrated champion in the public games. However, one young man, a rival of the honored athlete, was so envious that he vowed he would destroy the statue. Every night he went out into the darkness and chiseled at the statue’s base. By undermining its foundation he hoped to make it look like the statue fell of its own accord. One night, it did fall. However, it fell as the young man was chipping at its base. It fell on top of the man and killed him.

 

We see that with envy, as with many other sins, the effects of the sin are not noticed immediately. They gradually eat at the soul until it is destroyed. The clear lesson from God is that we should not ever be envious. 

 

We should not envy the wicket.

Proverbs 23: 17 - 18

Proverbs 24: 19 - 20

 

Living faithful lives to God means we definitely have better future prospects than to envy someone who is facing God’s wrath. We should not be envious of the wicked, who may be successful here on Earth, but have no hope for anything eternally but punishment in hell. They will be cut down by God, so why should we be envious of that? 

Psalm 37: 1 - 2

 

Being envious of a wicked person’s prosperity and apparent happiness does not make us happy or rich. It does not add one dollar to our bank account. What it does is to bankrupt our soul.

Psalm 73: 1 - 19

 

We have no business at all being envious of the wicked. 

 

We should not be envious of our friends, either. Joseph’s brothers were envious of him. 

Genesis 37: 11

 

That “jealous” should read “envious”. Their envy led them to conspire to kill their own brother and eventually end up selling him into slavery. Can you imagine selling a member of your family into a lifetime of slavery? Well it worked out well for Joseph, but that is a special case. 

 

Eventually, Joseph’s brothers were forced to recognize his superior position that God granted him. Envy is a boomerang-like weapon that hurts the attacker more than the victim. If we love someone, we do not envy them.

I Corinthians 13: 4

 

 The envious man feels that other’s fortune is his misfortune. He feels that other people’s success is his failure, and that their blessing is his curse. Only love for our fellow man is a cure for this disease.

As God’s children, we are told to share each other’s success and to share each other’s failures. 

Romans 12: 15

 

The envious person is the opposite of that. He rejoices when others weep, and weeps when others rejoice. Jesus illustrates this with a parable. 

Matthew 20: 1 - 16

 

Here, those workers who had been hired first were envious of others' success instead of rejoicing in their own success. How do we behave when our friends make more than we make? How do we behave when our friends get a promotion at work? How do we behave when something good happens to our friends? 

 

Hopefully, we learn to recognize the danger of envy and remove it from our lives. 

Galatians 5: 26

 

That’s because where envy exists, every other kind of sin will rear up and take hold of us. 

James 3: 16

 

Don’t allow envy to ruin the relationships you have here. Don’t allow envy to drag your soul to hell. Overcome it through Christ and the lifestyle He has shown us we are to live.