By John Stallings
A number of years ago I saw the movie Amadeus. Though I could hardly stand some of characters, I was captivated by the story & brilliance of the actors. I could easily see why the movie was an Academy Award winner.
The story revolved around the musical genius Mozart, & a man named Antonio Salieri, a court musician to Austria’s King. Salieri was envious of the rich talents of young Mozart; talents he fell far short of. Though he could compose music it was not great music; consequently he was consumed with envy of Mozart’s talents. This led him to scheme & plot against Mozart at every turn.
He stole Mozart’s compositions, bribed Mozart’s servants & informed the King about Mozart’s indiscretions. Salieri’s envy eventually drove him to insanity. The movie ends with Salieri cursing God for denying him the talent which He gave Mozart. The story line shows what happens when a good man like Salieri is filled with & finally destroyed by envy.
ENVY IS A LARGE SUBJECT IN THE BIBLE
Envy is listed as one of the lusts of the flesh in Gal.5:21.When envy is compared to anger & wrath, it’s so ghastly that the question is raised, “who is able to stand before envy?” Though envy is a huge sin, it’s possible to be envious of anything; the ability to hit a baseball, score a basket, or water-ski. You can envy someone’s intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, & ability to talk or pray in public. You can envy another persons possessions, spouse, money, children, family, job or career. I heard a preacher say once that an envious person can be envious of the very “shine on your shoes.”
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the New Testament defines envy as “The feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others.”
Envy is a sin to which few people confess, but where sins are concerned, envy is one of the most subtle, & ugly of them all. Webster defines envy as; “A chagrin or discontent at the excellence or good fortune of another.”
In other words, envy is feeling bad about another person doing well. When our neighbor gets a five bedroom house & we are upset because we only have four, that’s envy. Eventually the envious person will end up hating the person who is the object of their envy.
When someone you envy gets into trouble, it’s hard to suppress a feeling of satisfaction. The face of envy is never attractive. It is among some of the most debasing & degenerate sins that ever characterized sinful men mentioned in Romans chapter one (Rom.1:29.) In the Bible, envy is always in the worst of company.
PRAY TELL WHERE IS THE GRATIFICATION IN ENVY?
Envy is unique. Other sins are terribly destructive, but they at least have a few thrills & gratification, in the early stages.
Does envy, even for a New York minute, ever make you feel better? As far as I can see, we gain nothing from envy. All you get from it is endless self-torment, yet its appetite is ravenous & ever increasing. The wise man said envy is “the rottenness of the bones.” Bone Cancer. (Prov.14:30.)
The awful bite of envy packs a double-whammy; for it causes you not only feel bad because of someone else’s good fortune, at the same time it causes you to devalue your own good gifts. Isn’t that horrendous? A person may be faithful church-goer, & live a good life yet harbor enough envy in his heart to destroy him. Almost everyone has had a little smidgen of envy at some time or another.
For example, I can hear another preacher who is outstanding, & if I’m envious, my first tendency is to think of myself as a very unskillful preacher. What I forget is-- that preacher didn’t steal his gifts from me. I’m just as good (or bad) a preacher as I ever was. That preacher hasn’t done one thing to devalue, or diminish my preaching. But the old devil envy has robbed me of the ability to appreciate what I have, & who I am in God.
Yet with this thing called envy, you meet someone you think might have more gifts & skills than you, you start to see yourself as having fewer gifts. Such is the awesome power of envy to distort our thinking processes.
BUT YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE WORST ABOUT ENVY
Just feeling bad because you don’t have something that the other person has isn’t the worst part. The worst part, the most tragic part is; you wish the other person didn’t have what they have so you wouldn’t have to suffer your “imaginary disadvantage.”
Jesus knew how harmful envy could be. Not only is He God, he was schooled in the Hebrew religion & its many illustrations of the destructive power of envy. The Bible abounds with examples of unchecked envy & its dire consequences. Envy has a very high mortality rate.
· The very first murder, the killing of Abel by his brother Cain, was sparked by envy.
· The 10th commandment is about envy-“You shall not covet.” If we’re not careful, envy will cause us to break the 8th commandment, “You shall not steal.”
· Envy is the big factor in the story Jesus told about the laborers in the vineyard, in Matt. 20. Look at the story. The owner of the vineyard, at the end of the day paid all the workers the same though some came early & some came later in the day. The workers who worked hard all day felt it wasn’t fair to be paid the same as the ones who only worked a short time. However, the owner reminded them that he hadn’t defrauded them in any way. They were paid what was agreed upon. The owner went on to say, “Why are you envious because I am generous?”
· The same thing was happening in the story of the prodigal son. The older brother said, “It isn’t fair for you to welcome this wayward brother home with a big party when I’ve stayed home all these years & worked hard. You never gave a party in my honor.”
· Joseph’s brothers were “moved with envy”& hated him so much they couldn’t speak a kind word to him, & finally they sold him into Egyptian slavery.
· The religious leaders were motivated by envy when they lead the Jews to crucify the Son of God. Matt. 27:18.
· Rachel envied Leah because she was barren & Leah had children. Gen.30:1.
· The Philistines were envious of Isaac because of his large flocks & many servants. Gen. 26:14.
· James says envy is devilish. James 3:15.
· Envy can make the righteous to be unhappy. Psalm. 73:3.
One thing is for certain. We will never be able to find contentment in this life if we compare ourselves to others because there’ll always be things that won’t seem fair. Envy makes it impossible to be happy with another person’s good fortune, & is a traveling companion to depression.
Just a question or two;
· Is it possible that sometimes our envy springs from a feeling of insecurity about our own worth?
· If you truly felt good about yourself, would you always be comparing yourself to others?
· If we were secure in your own sense of worth, would we worry so much about other people’s accomplishments or good fortunes?
· Is it possible that whenever we are envious or jealous of another person’s talent, it’s because we haven’t fully recognized our own gifts?
Our efforts to bolster our self-esteem at the expense of someone we envy do us more harm than good.
Going back to the story of the workers in the vineyard, I used to wonder why the owner of the vineyard didn’t pay the workers who worked all day first, then send them away. After that, he could have paid anyone what he wanted to with no repercussion. The hardest workers would never have known the difference. One day I saw that if that had been the case, the story would have lost its teaching power. Now we have a marvelous story, -- not of life being fair, --- but of how the grace of God works.
Jesus is giving very valuable teaching that God really doesn’t love some people more than others because they are more “religious”, or attend the “right” church, or have the “correct belief.”
Do you remember the commercial that said, “We make money the old fashioned way, we earn it?” Some folk think God operates this way, but He doesn’t. It might be old fashioned but it’s not what Jesus taught & lived.
SOME PEOPLE WANT TO BE ENVIED
This is often seen among children who brag about their summer vacations & exciting trip so that the other children will be envious of them. It’s not only kids who seek this psychological fulfillment, for many adults also want to be objects of envy.
Advertisers & merchants have discovered that one way to sell a product is to create envy among those who don’t have it, i.e. $353,590 Rolls Royce’s, & $274,900 + Lamborghini’s. The same principle works with cloths, houses & furniture.
Let’s be very clear; according to Gods Word, all envy is sinful & destructive & makes one worthy of God’s judgment. Also, to purposely create or seek to generate envy is as great as the envy itself. To buy or practice conspicuous consumption, merely to generate envy of those around us, also makes one worthy of God’s judgment. If you & I indulge in such things we are living a life of sin in the eyes of God. Paul plainly tells us in Gal.5:21…. if we do such things, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Eccl 4:4 says, and I saw that all the labor & all the achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
The good news is that God loves all people equally in spite of the unfair way it sometimes looks. When we are envious, it means that we have lost the vision of what God is really up to. When you look at Gods blessings toward you with one eye & with the other eye try to keep track of other people’s blessings, you soon become incapable of recognizing any blessings in your life at all. You start to become a score-keeper rather than one who knows that everyone, even those you think don’t deserve it, are wonderfully & infinitely loved by God.
What can we do about envy? We of course must overcome it. But how do we accomplish that? Here are some helpful thoughts.
1. WE MUST SEEK TO BECOME MORE CHRISTLIKE.
As we become more Christ like we will leave behind this & other sins that are so deadly to our soul. Envy is born in hate & cured in Love. 1 Cor.13:4. If we want to overcome envy we have to use the tools of the Holy Spirit, as well as Bible reading, worship, Bible study& the fellowship of other believers.
2. WE MUST STOP LOOKING AT OTHERS & INSTEAD LOOK WITHIN OURSELVES.
There’s a little song we used to sing called, count your blessings name them one by one, & it will surprise you what the Lord has done. That’s what we have to do. Instead of looking at the goods & talents God has given to our neighbor, we ought to look at what God has given us. We must not forget the benefits we enjoy.
3. WE MUST LEARN TO BE CONTENT WITH THE GOODS & OPPORTUNITIES GOD HAS GIVEN TO US.
We need to stay acutely aware of the fact that God has called us to serve joyfully in the place where He has put us. Paul said… I have learned to be content, which presupposes that he didn’t always possess contentment. He learned contentment as he walked with Christ, & we can too.
4. WE MUST RE- EXAMINE OUR GOALS & PRIORITIES.
If you find yourself generating envy, maybe the problem is wrong goals & priorities. Don’t forget, the goal of our lives isn’t to see how many things we can acquire, but to do the work of God & lay up treasures in heaven. We aren’t called to constantly examine the lives of others & compare ourselves, but to live lives of service.
5. WE MUST KEEP REMEMBERING WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME BODY. MY RIGHT ARM HAS NEVER BEEN ENVIOUS OF MY LEFT ARM.
Paul said in Romans 12:15-16 that we should weep with those who weep & rejoice with those that rejoice. That leaves no room for envy to operate.
· BEWARE OF ENVY.
· BEWARE-- BECAUSE ENVY IS DESTRUCTIVE.
· BEWARE --BECAUSE ENVY CAN LEAD TO DESTRUCTION, IN HELL!
· BEWARE BECAUSE UNCHECKED, ENVY CAN ALIENATE A PERSON FROM GOD, AS WELL AS HIS FELLOWMAN.
“WHEREFORE LAYING ASIDE ALL MALICE & ALL GUILE, & ALL HYPOCRISIES, & ENVINGS & ALL EVIL SPEAKING, AS NEWBORN BABES, DESIRE THE SINCERE MILK OF THE WORD THAT YE MAY GROW THEREBY, IF YE HAVE TASTED THAT THE LORD IS GRACIOUS. --- 1 PETER 2: 1-2
Blessings,
John
A number of years ago I saw the movie Amadeus. Though I could hardly stand some of characters, I was captivated by the story & brilliance of the actors. I could easily see why the movie was an Academy Award winner.
The story revolved around the musical genius Mozart, & a man named Antonio Salieri, a court musician to Austria’s King. Salieri was envious of the rich talents of young Mozart; talents he fell far short of. Though he could compose music it was not great music; consequently he was consumed with envy of Mozart’s talents. This led him to scheme & plot against Mozart at every turn.
He stole Mozart’s compositions, bribed Mozart’s servants & informed the King about Mozart’s indiscretions. Salieri’s envy eventually drove him to insanity. The movie ends with Salieri cursing God for denying him the talent which He gave Mozart. The story line shows what happens when a good man like Salieri is filled with & finally destroyed by envy.
ENVY IS A LARGE SUBJECT IN THE BIBLE
Envy is listed as one of the lusts of the flesh in Gal.5:21.When envy is compared to anger & wrath, it’s so ghastly that the question is raised, “who is able to stand before envy?” Though envy is a huge sin, it’s possible to be envious of anything; the ability to hit a baseball, score a basket, or water-ski. You can envy someone’s intelligence, wisdom, knowledge, & ability to talk or pray in public. You can envy another persons possessions, spouse, money, children, family, job or career. I heard a preacher say once that an envious person can be envious of the very “shine on your shoes.”
Vine’s Expository Dictionary of the New Testament defines envy as “The feeling of displeasure produced by witnessing or hearing of the advantage or prosperity of others.”
Envy is a sin to which few people confess, but where sins are concerned, envy is one of the most subtle, & ugly of them all. Webster defines envy as; “A chagrin or discontent at the excellence or good fortune of another.”
In other words, envy is feeling bad about another person doing well. When our neighbor gets a five bedroom house & we are upset because we only have four, that’s envy. Eventually the envious person will end up hating the person who is the object of their envy.
When someone you envy gets into trouble, it’s hard to suppress a feeling of satisfaction. The face of envy is never attractive. It is among some of the most debasing & degenerate sins that ever characterized sinful men mentioned in Romans chapter one (Rom.1:29.) In the Bible, envy is always in the worst of company.
PRAY TELL WHERE IS THE GRATIFICATION IN ENVY?
Envy is unique. Other sins are terribly destructive, but they at least have a few thrills & gratification, in the early stages.
Does envy, even for a New York minute, ever make you feel better? As far as I can see, we gain nothing from envy. All you get from it is endless self-torment, yet its appetite is ravenous & ever increasing. The wise man said envy is “the rottenness of the bones.” Bone Cancer. (Prov.14:30.)
The awful bite of envy packs a double-whammy; for it causes you not only feel bad because of someone else’s good fortune, at the same time it causes you to devalue your own good gifts. Isn’t that horrendous? A person may be faithful church-goer, & live a good life yet harbor enough envy in his heart to destroy him. Almost everyone has had a little smidgen of envy at some time or another.
For example, I can hear another preacher who is outstanding, & if I’m envious, my first tendency is to think of myself as a very unskillful preacher. What I forget is-- that preacher didn’t steal his gifts from me. I’m just as good (or bad) a preacher as I ever was. That preacher hasn’t done one thing to devalue, or diminish my preaching. But the old devil envy has robbed me of the ability to appreciate what I have, & who I am in God.
Yet with this thing called envy, you meet someone you think might have more gifts & skills than you, you start to see yourself as having fewer gifts. Such is the awesome power of envy to distort our thinking processes.
BUT YOU HAVEN’T HEARD THE WORST ABOUT ENVY
Just feeling bad because you don’t have something that the other person has isn’t the worst part. The worst part, the most tragic part is; you wish the other person didn’t have what they have so you wouldn’t have to suffer your “imaginary disadvantage.”
Jesus knew how harmful envy could be. Not only is He God, he was schooled in the Hebrew religion & its many illustrations of the destructive power of envy. The Bible abounds with examples of unchecked envy & its dire consequences. Envy has a very high mortality rate.
· The very first murder, the killing of Abel by his brother Cain, was sparked by envy.
· The 10th commandment is about envy-“You shall not covet.” If we’re not careful, envy will cause us to break the 8th commandment, “You shall not steal.”
· Envy is the big factor in the story Jesus told about the laborers in the vineyard, in Matt. 20. Look at the story. The owner of the vineyard, at the end of the day paid all the workers the same though some came early & some came later in the day. The workers who worked hard all day felt it wasn’t fair to be paid the same as the ones who only worked a short time. However, the owner reminded them that he hadn’t defrauded them in any way. They were paid what was agreed upon. The owner went on to say, “Why are you envious because I am generous?”
· The same thing was happening in the story of the prodigal son. The older brother said, “It isn’t fair for you to welcome this wayward brother home with a big party when I’ve stayed home all these years & worked hard. You never gave a party in my honor.”
· Joseph’s brothers were “moved with envy”& hated him so much they couldn’t speak a kind word to him, & finally they sold him into Egyptian slavery.
· The religious leaders were motivated by envy when they lead the Jews to crucify the Son of God. Matt. 27:18.
· Rachel envied Leah because she was barren & Leah had children. Gen.30:1.
· The Philistines were envious of Isaac because of his large flocks & many servants. Gen. 26:14.
· James says envy is devilish. James 3:15.
· Envy can make the righteous to be unhappy. Psalm. 73:3.
One thing is for certain. We will never be able to find contentment in this life if we compare ourselves to others because there’ll always be things that won’t seem fair. Envy makes it impossible to be happy with another person’s good fortune, & is a traveling companion to depression.
Just a question or two;
· Is it possible that sometimes our envy springs from a feeling of insecurity about our own worth?
· If you truly felt good about yourself, would you always be comparing yourself to others?
· If we were secure in your own sense of worth, would we worry so much about other people’s accomplishments or good fortunes?
· Is it possible that whenever we are envious or jealous of another person’s talent, it’s because we haven’t fully recognized our own gifts?
Our efforts to bolster our self-esteem at the expense of someone we envy do us more harm than good.
Going back to the story of the workers in the vineyard, I used to wonder why the owner of the vineyard didn’t pay the workers who worked all day first, then send them away. After that, he could have paid anyone what he wanted to with no repercussion. The hardest workers would never have known the difference. One day I saw that if that had been the case, the story would have lost its teaching power. Now we have a marvelous story, -- not of life being fair, --- but of how the grace of God works.
Jesus is giving very valuable teaching that God really doesn’t love some people more than others because they are more “religious”, or attend the “right” church, or have the “correct belief.”
Do you remember the commercial that said, “We make money the old fashioned way, we earn it?” Some folk think God operates this way, but He doesn’t. It might be old fashioned but it’s not what Jesus taught & lived.
SOME PEOPLE WANT TO BE ENVIED
This is often seen among children who brag about their summer vacations & exciting trip so that the other children will be envious of them. It’s not only kids who seek this psychological fulfillment, for many adults also want to be objects of envy.
Advertisers & merchants have discovered that one way to sell a product is to create envy among those who don’t have it, i.e. $353,590 Rolls Royce’s, & $274,900 + Lamborghini’s. The same principle works with cloths, houses & furniture.
Let’s be very clear; according to Gods Word, all envy is sinful & destructive & makes one worthy of God’s judgment. Also, to purposely create or seek to generate envy is as great as the envy itself. To buy or practice conspicuous consumption, merely to generate envy of those around us, also makes one worthy of God’s judgment. If you & I indulge in such things we are living a life of sin in the eyes of God. Paul plainly tells us in Gal.5:21…. if we do such things, we will not inherit the Kingdom of God.
Eccl 4:4 says, and I saw that all the labor & all the achievement spring from man’s envy of his neighbor. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.
The good news is that God loves all people equally in spite of the unfair way it sometimes looks. When we are envious, it means that we have lost the vision of what God is really up to. When you look at Gods blessings toward you with one eye & with the other eye try to keep track of other people’s blessings, you soon become incapable of recognizing any blessings in your life at all. You start to become a score-keeper rather than one who knows that everyone, even those you think don’t deserve it, are wonderfully & infinitely loved by God.
What can we do about envy? We of course must overcome it. But how do we accomplish that? Here are some helpful thoughts.
1. WE MUST SEEK TO BECOME MORE CHRISTLIKE.
As we become more Christ like we will leave behind this & other sins that are so deadly to our soul. Envy is born in hate & cured in Love. 1 Cor.13:4. If we want to overcome envy we have to use the tools of the Holy Spirit, as well as Bible reading, worship, Bible study& the fellowship of other believers.
2. WE MUST STOP LOOKING AT OTHERS & INSTEAD LOOK WITHIN OURSELVES.
There’s a little song we used to sing called, count your blessings name them one by one, & it will surprise you what the Lord has done. That’s what we have to do. Instead of looking at the goods & talents God has given to our neighbor, we ought to look at what God has given us. We must not forget the benefits we enjoy.
3. WE MUST LEARN TO BE CONTENT WITH THE GOODS & OPPORTUNITIES GOD HAS GIVEN TO US.
We need to stay acutely aware of the fact that God has called us to serve joyfully in the place where He has put us. Paul said… I have learned to be content, which presupposes that he didn’t always possess contentment. He learned contentment as he walked with Christ, & we can too.
4. WE MUST RE- EXAMINE OUR GOALS & PRIORITIES.
If you find yourself generating envy, maybe the problem is wrong goals & priorities. Don’t forget, the goal of our lives isn’t to see how many things we can acquire, but to do the work of God & lay up treasures in heaven. We aren’t called to constantly examine the lives of others & compare ourselves, but to live lives of service.
5. WE MUST KEEP REMEMBERING WE ARE ALL PART OF THE SAME BODY. MY RIGHT ARM HAS NEVER BEEN ENVIOUS OF MY LEFT ARM.
Paul said in Romans 12:15-16 that we should weep with those who weep & rejoice with those that rejoice. That leaves no room for envy to operate.
· BEWARE OF ENVY.
· BEWARE-- BECAUSE ENVY IS DESTRUCTIVE.
· BEWARE --BECAUSE ENVY CAN LEAD TO DESTRUCTION, IN HELL!
· BEWARE BECAUSE UNCHECKED, ENVY CAN ALIENATE A PERSON FROM GOD, AS WELL AS HIS FELLOWMAN.
“WHEREFORE LAYING ASIDE ALL MALICE & ALL GUILE, & ALL HYPOCRISIES, & ENVINGS & ALL EVIL SPEAKING, AS NEWBORN BABES, DESIRE THE SINCERE MILK OF THE WORD THAT YE MAY GROW THEREBY, IF YE HAVE TASTED THAT THE LORD IS GRACIOUS. --- 1 PETER 2: 1-2
Blessings,
John
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