ENVY

“Envy,” from Latin means, “against,” “to look,” “to look with ill-will,” etc., toward another. It is an evil strongly condemned in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is to be distinguished from jealousy. “We are jealous of our own; we are envious of another man’s possessions. Jealousy fears to lose what it has; envy is pained at seeing another have.” (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia) Very clear distinctions.

None have said it much better than Frederick Buechner, “Envy is the consuming desire to have everybody else be as unsuccessful as you are.”

“What comes out of a person is what defiles them. For it is from within, out of a person’s heart, that evil thoughts come—sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly. All these evils come from inside and defile a person.” Jesus