ENVY
BREAD
30 A
heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones. Proverbs 14:30 (NIV)
17 Do not
let your heart envy sinners, but always be zealous for the fear of the Lord.
Proverbs 23:17 (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. 5 A wise man has great power,
and a man of knowledge increases strength;
Proverbs 24:1-5 (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)
3 At one
time we too were foolish, disobedient, deceived and enslaved by all kinds of
passions and pleasures. We lived in malice and envy, being hated and hating one
another. 4 But
when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of
righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:3-5 (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)
1 Therefore,
rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of
every kind. 2 Like
newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in
your salvation, 3 now
that you have tasted that the Lord is good.
1 Peter 2:1-3 (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.
1 Corinthians 13:4-7 (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
“The disease of not-enough…
is cured when you give thanks for more than enough grace. ‘He who did not
spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all — how will He not also, along
with Him, graciously give us all things?’ If God didn’t hesitate to put
everything on the line for us, embracing our condition and exposing Himself to
the worst by sending His own Son — is there anything
else He wouldn’t gladly and freely do for us?” (Romans
8:32, NIV, MSG) If God
already gave us the extraordinary extravagance of Jesus — He will give the ordinary
enough of right now. It’s always
our relentless desire for more — that destroys more and more of us. The more you want —- the more you will be destroyed.” Ann Voskamp
“If you want to be
a miserable person, then be an envious person. It is not necessarily a bad
thing to admire something that someone else has. When we say, ‘I envy you. You
are going on vacation,’ we aren't necessarily using envy in the worst sense of the word. 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
“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
HEART SAVOR
- · Envy will rot my bones.
- · Jesus died to save me from envy.
- · It is useless for me to proclaim Christ without the demonstration of His love which is patient, kind, non-envious, non-boastful, non-proud, non-rude and not self-seeking. It negates the very power Christ died to give me. I am to be a changed person shrinking flesh and fanning into flame the Spirt within. When I give into my flesh I appear as an unregenerate to the world and crucify the Lord I claim all over again by my actions.
