THE DESTRUCTION IN ENVINESS

IOI CHRISTIAN MORNING MEAL

TOPIC: THE DESTRUCTION IN ENVINESS

Proverbs 14:30 KJV
A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

... Continue from yesterday...
Traditionally envy was regarded as the second worst and second most prevalent of the seven deadly sins….Its uniqueness lies in the fact that it is the one vice that its perpetrators never enjoy and rarely confess.

Without pride and without envy, many other sins would not exist. Would there be adultery without pride or envy? Think of how often envy is the root cause behind the sins of stealing, slandering, hatred, and murder.

It is for good reason that the Ten Commandments conclude with a prohibition against coveting, for it is the desire of our hearts that leads us into sin. Envy is a deeply private but destructive form of covetousness. It was Aquinas who provided a famous definition of envy when he suggested that “Envy is sorrow (or resentment) at another’s good.”

Envy is begrudging God’s grace and blessing to another person. (It was the elder brother’s attitude in Luke 15 when his father lavished mercy on his younger prodigal brother.)

Guinness says: Envy enters when, seeing someone else’s happiness or success, we feel ourselves called into question. Then, out of the hurt of our wounded self-esteem, we seek to bring the other person down to our level by word or deed. (Since they make us feel low and unappreciated by their success, we feel we should bring them down to their deserved level.

Dorothy Sayers said, “Envy begins by asking plausibly: ‘Why should I not enjoy what others enjoy?’
and it ends by demanding: ‘Why should others enjoy what I may not?’”
While others have been awarded, lauded, and praised, and I should have been offering congratulations or encouragement, too often I have been muttering and grinding my teeth, begrudging another man a blessing.

Meanwhile those with enviness will not inherit the kingdom of God.
Galatians 5:21 KJV
Envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God.

LET US PRAY
FATHER IN JESUS NAME, FILL US WITH YOUR SPIRIT OF LOVE TOWARDS OUR NEIGHBOURS IN JESUS NAME.

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Good morning friends