END ENVY
BREAD
30 A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. Proverbs 14:30 (NIV)
1 Do not envy wicked men, do not desire their company; 2 for their hearts plot violence, and their lips talk about making trouble. 3 By wisdom a house is built, and through understanding it is established; 4 through knowledge its rooms are filled with rare and beautiful treasures. Proverbs 24:1-4 (NIV)
17 Do not let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the LORD. 18 There is surely a future hope for you, and your hope will not be cut off. Proverbs 23:17-18 (NIV)
20 He went on: “What comes out of a man is what makes him ‘unclean.’ 21 For from within, out of men’s hearts, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. 23 All these evils come from inside and make a man ‘unclean.’” Mark 7:20-23 (NIV)
28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done. 29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God’s righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them. Romans 1:28-32 (NIV)
19 The acts of the sinful nature are obvious: sexual immorality, impurity and debauchery; 20 idolatry and witchcraft; hatred, discord, jealousy, fits of rage, selfish ambition, dissensions, factions 21 and envy; drunkenness, orgies, and the like. I warn you, as I did before, that those who live like this will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness and self-control. Against such things there is no law. 24 Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the sinful nature with its passions and desires. 25 Since we live by the Spirit, let us keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking and envying each other. Galatians 5:19-26 (NIV)
4 Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. 5 It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. 6 Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. 7 It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. 8 Love never fails. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 (NIV)
13 Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. 14 But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. 15 Such “wisdom” does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. 16 For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. James 3:13-16 (NIV)
BUTTER
“Many aspects of the flesh are disarmed and eliminated by a deep apprehension of our justification by faith. Faith in Christ cures unbelief, anxiety, and insecurity, and in so doing it cuts the roots of envy, jealousy and a host of related egocentric fleshly patterns.” Richard Lovelace
“All the commandments of God are commandments of love tending to our real good and great happiness; far from being grievous to those who have faith and love, the practice thereof is life and peace. The world may think it a grievous burden; but this is a great mistake indeed. Sin is grievous. In hatred, envy, anger, revenge, pride, there is nothing but torment and slavery; but in love there is a sweet rest and pleasure. Thus a sinner always punishes himself, and is robbed of great peace and blessing, by transgressing the commandments of God.” K. H. Von Bogatzky
“Let us note how far from satisfactory is the state of those who are content with sound doctrinal opinions, and orthodox correct views of the Gospel, while in their daily life they give way to ill-temper, ill-nature, malice, envy, quarrelling, squabbling, bickering, surliness, passion, snappish language, and crossness of word and manner. Such persons, whether they know it or not, are daily proclaiming that they are not Christ’s disciples. It is nonsense to talk about justification, and regeneration, and election, and conversion, and the uselessness of works, unless people can see in us practical Christian love.” John Charles Ryle
“Envy of another man’s calling can work havoc in our own.” Watchman Nee
“Envying someone else’s life doesn’t make your life better like actually enjoying your own does.” Ann Voskamp
“Waiting eats away at us not only because our lives feel so empty, but also because others’ seem so full. When we allow our minds to churn away with thoughts about others, we open our hearts to a bitter temptation: envy. Envy may gratify us for the moment, but it will soon rot our bones away (Proverbs 14:30). God has better ways for us to spend our waiting. If we refuse to fix our eyes on others, where will we fix them? On God, who walks alongside us in our waiting. Waiting forces us to answer the question, ‘Where is your chief delight?’ If our chief delight is in whatever we see at the end of our wait, then this wilderness will begin to feel like a death trap. But if our chief delight is in God himself, then we will find that he knows how to make rivers flow in the desert. And we will learn how to wait well.” Scott Hubbard
“To envy is to be angry when someone else has something that you don’t have. A literal definition of the word envy is ‘a malignant or hostile feeling.’ So it is not a matter of saying, ‘You have a lot. Wow, that is really great! I wish I had that!’ Rather, it’s an attitude that says, ‘I am actually angry with you that you have those things and I don’t have them.’ Envy has been described as a small-town sin; it breeds on proximity. We don’t tend to envy someone who is famous and successful. Instead, we envy our neighbors, a relative, or a coworker. We are fine as long as we are all equal, as long as we are all on the same playing field. But if one begins to succeed, if one gets an opportunity we think we should have had, if one has something wonderful happen, we become envious. Shakespeare called envy the green-eyed monster, and it’s a green-eyed monster that can strangle you. Be a jealous person, and you will give the Devil a foothold just as Cain did—and you will face the repercussions.” Greg Laurie
“Envy is an evil feeling, an ardent, agitating, wrongful desire to possess what belongs to someone else. Thus the sinful nature is seen to be responsible for the breakdown of interpersonal relationships in homes, churches, and in public society. It produces adverse effects on the envier physically as well.” Bible Knowledge Commentary
“There is only torment and slavery and wanting in envy and strife but sweet rest and pleasure and wholeness in the security of God’s love.” BHY
HEAR SAVOR
• Envy harms the body while a heart full of wisdom is filled with rare and beautiful treasures.
• When our eyes are off the Lord and on to earthly things our hearts become a breeding ground for discontent and envy.
• Envy is an act of the sinful nature and leads to death of something.
Beth Yoe's Sharing Bread 