The words envy and envious are spoken about frequently in our society. Quite often envy and jealousy are used to mean the same thing. However, they do not. The focus of this article is on the topic of envy.
It is said that by nature all human beings have traits of envy within us. We were born with them. So, what is the meaning of envy? Envy is mean and miserly, and arguably the most shameful of the deadly sins. As noted above, envy is sometimes confused with jealousy. Put simply, you are envious of someone when you desire what he or she has. Jealousy, on the other, is the fear of losing what you have to others. So, envy “occurs when we are resentful of an advantage someone else has. We look at the job, car, house, wealth, experience, or success of another and resent that they have something we don’t. When envy’s roots dig deep, and are well nourished, it grows into covetousness.” Nelson Mandela perfectly stated that, “Resentment is like drinking poison and then hoping it will kill your enemies.” One author also noted that envy is an insult to oneself.
One must never take an envious person lightly. There is not a passion so strongly rooted in the human heart as envy. Our envy is hardly ever confessed, not even to ourselves. If someone is envious of you he/she may want to put you down as though this will raise them up or lower everyone else’s opinion of you. Envy is an evil and deadly disease of the heart. It can lead to animosity, thinking evil of others, backbiting and lying. Envy in the heart of a person can be so destructive that a possessor of envy may go as far to inflict physical harm including murder of the person who is envied. If you are blessed with certain spiritual gifts, you will be a target and the envy of the devil, his rulers of the dark world and spiritual wicked forces in high places. Self-pride, self-admiration and love of leadership are also prerequisites for persons to envy others who they see as a threat.
The symptoms of an envious person are not easy to detect initially until after you see a pattern of abnormal behavior over a time period. It is said that one of the major characteristics of an envious person is his or her mood. It is constantly bad. The envious person loses his or her own precious time thinking about other people and their success, while he or she could be working on achieving his/her goals. In some extreme cases, envious individuals try to find ways to ruin the lives of others through malice, gossip and bribery. Then there is also observed a behavior of general discontent with life – endless wondering why life is so unfair. Additionally, envious persons can self-destruct bringing a lot of stress on themselves which can easily end up in serious health problems including insomnia and depression.
From a biblical perspective, envy is one of the sins prohibited by the Ten Commandments. It is important to note that God gives to everyone exactly what he or she needs according to His plan for each one of us. Therefore, the desire to possess what God gave to someone else opposes by definition the intention of the Creator. Very early in ancient times we saw the dangers and evil of envy and the first murder recorded. Cain murdered his brother Abel because he envied him. King Saul envied and wanted to kill David who was anointed to be the future king. Joseph’s brothers threw him in a pit and sold him as a slave. Scripture commands us to reject all kinds of deceit, malice, slander and envy. It knows how envy drives a person to inflict terrible physical pain on another individual as illustrated. Proverbs 14:30 says that “a heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.” That is why envy is also considered to be the chief obstacle for happiness. The Bible also warns us not be envious of others – “For where you find envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” It also adds that envy is not mainly directed towards material things. The most illustrious and tragic example of envy is: “Pharisees’ and scribes’ envy of the Lord Jesus Christ, which brought the Saviour to die on the Cross.”
No matter how we try to cover up envy, it is not something that goes away on its own. So what can you do to control envy before it consumes you? Learning to avoid comparing yourself to others and to feel more gratitude for what you have are some ways to combat this disease. While striving for more is key to personal growth, being thankful for what you have is just as important. Life without envy is much more pleasant, productive and happy. In our envy, we are chasing after the inferior pleasures of this world instead of looking to the Creator. As such, no matter how far our hearts might go, He wants us to seek Him and His ways. He is the only One who can provide all our needs and the desires of our hearts.
Envy is a disease of the heart. The person who suffers from envy in his life is tortured by it, and will always be in sorrow every time he sees the success of others. However, there is no need for us be envious of others. We were all born with specific talents and gifts to help make the world a better place. Sadly, society has promoted the idea of competition to the detriment of us working together for humanity. Our competitive nature has become so ruthless that we will go all out to destroy others if we see them as a threat. We see this in relationships, workplace, family, politics and business. If you are wandering in envy, you need to seek the Master who is always willing and ready to accept you and give you the desires of your hearts. Failure to do that means that envy will shorten your life.
