| Back to Home Page | Back to
Book Index |
Do Not Envy
Envy
There is a fable that
Satan’s agents were failing in their various attempts to draw into sin a holy
man who lived as a hermit in the desert of northern Africa. Every attempt had
met with failure; so Satan
angered with the incompetence of his subordinates;
became personally involved in the case. He said
“The reason you have failed is
that your methods are too crude for one such as this. Watch this.”
He then approached the holy
man with great care and whispered softly in his ear
“Your brother has just
been made Bishop of Alexandria.” Instantly the holy man’s face showed that
Satan had been successful: a great scowl formed over his mouth and his eyes
tightened up.
“Envy
” said Satan
“is
often our best weapon against those who seek holiness.” ── Michael P. Green《Illustrations
for Biblical Preaching》
Back in 1934
when the
Cunard line was getting ready to name its greatest ocean liner
the consensus
was that it should be named after Queen Elizabeth I. A high official is
reported to have had an audience with King George V. "We would like to
name the ship after England's greatest queen
" he told the king.
"Well
" said King George
"I shall have to ask her." The
ship was promptly named Queen Mary.
Bits & Pieces
October 17
1991.
Years ago
Frank Lloyd
Wright was given the impossible task of building the Imperial Hotel in Tokyo.
No comparable construction job ever before had been undertaken. With patience
he laid plans for the immense building in this land of earth-quakes and terrible
tremors. After carefully reviewing the situation
he found that eight feet
below the surface of the ground lay a sixty-foot bed of soft mud. Why not float
the great structure on this and in some way make it absorb the shock of the
earthquake? After four years of work
amid ridicule and jeers of skeptical
onlookers
this most difficult building in the world was completed
and soon
arrived the day which tested it completely. The worst earthquake in fifty-two
years caused houses and buildings all around to tumble and fall in ruins. But
the Imperial Hotel stood
because it was able to adjust itself to the tremors
of the earth.
A. Smith
in Resources
#2.
It is the eyes of other
people that ruin us. If all but myself were blind
I should want neither a fine
house nor fine furniture.
Benjamin Franklin.
For many years Sir Walter
Scott was the leading literary figure in the British Empire. No one could write
as well as he. Then the works of Lord Byron began to appear
and their
greatness was immediately evident. Soon an anonymous critic praised his poems
in a London Paper. He declared that in the presence of these brilliant works of
poetic genius
Scott could no longer be considered the leading poet of England.
It was later discovered that the unnamed reviewer had been none other than Sir
Walter Scott himself!
There is a distinction
between jealousy and envy. To envy is to want something which belongs to
another person. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house
his wife or
his servant
his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor."
In contrast
jealousy is the fear that something which we possess will be taken
away by another person. Although jealousy can apply to our jobs
our
possessions
or our reputations
the word more often refers to anxiety which
comes when we are afraid that the affections of a loved one might be lost to a
rival. We fear that our mates
or perhaps our children
will be lured away by
some other person who
when compared to us
seems to be more attractive
capable and successful.
Dr. Gary Collins in Homemade
July
1985
The parable of the
vineyard workers (Matt. 20) offends our sense of fairness. Why should everyone
get equal pay for unequal work? Back in Ontario when the apples ripened
Mom
would sit all seven of us down
Dad included
with pans and paring knives until
the mountain of fruit was reduced to neat rows of filled canning jars. She
never bothered keeping track of how many we did
though the younger ones
undoubtedly proved more of a nuisance than a help: cut fingers
squabbles over
who got which pan
apple core fights. But when the job was done
the reward for
everyone was the same: the largest chocolate-dipped cone money could buy. A
stickler might argue it wasn't quite fair since the older ones actually peeled
apples. But I can't remember anyone complaining about it. A family understands
it operates under a different set of norms than a courtroom. In fact
when the
store ran out of ice cream and my younger brother had to make do with a
Pop-sicle
we felt sorry for him despite his lack of productivity (he'd eaten
all the apples he'd peeled that day--both of them). God wants all his children
to enjoy the complete fullness of eternal life. No true child of God wants it
any other way.
Robert De Moor.
Irish novelist and
playwright Samuel Beckett received great recognition for his work--but not
every one savored his accomplishments. Beckett's marriage
in fact
was soured
by his wife's jealousy of his growing fame and success as a writer. One day in
1969 his wife Suzanne answered the telephone
listened for a moment
spoke
briefly
and hung up. She then turned to Beckett and with a stricken look
whispered
"What a catastrophe!" Was it a devastating personal
tragedy? No
she had just learned that Beckett had been awarded the Nobel Prize
for Literature!
Today in the Word
February
1991
p. 15.
Two shopkeepers were
bitter rivals. Their stores were directly across the street from each other
and they would spend each day keeping track of each other's business. If one
got a customer
he would smile in triumph at his rival. One night an angel
appeared to one of the shopkeepers in a dream and said
"I will give you
anything you ask
but whatever you receive
your competitor will receive twice
as much. Would you be rich? You can be very rich
but he will be twice as
wealthy. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life? You can
but his life
will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?" The man frowned
thought for a moment
and then said
"Here is my request: Strike me blind
in one eye!"
One sign of jealousy is
when it's easier to show sympathy and "weep with those who weep" than
it is to exhibit joy and "rejoice with those who rejoice."
Thomas Lindberg.
There is a fable of an
eagle which could out fly another
and the other didn't like it. The latter saw
a sportsman one day
and said to him:
"I wish you would
bring down that eagle." The sportsman replied that he would if he only had
some feathers to put into the arrow. So the eagle pulled one out of his wing.
The arrow was shot
but didn't quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too
high. The envious eagle pulled out more feathers
and kept pulling them out
until he lost so many that he couldn't fly
and then the sportsman turned
around and killed him. My friend
if you are jealous
the only man you can hurt
is yourself.
Moody's Anecdotes
pp. 44-45.
Our Lord finds our desires
not too strong
but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures
fooling about with
drink and sex and ambition
when infinite joy is offered to us
like an
ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in the slum because he cannot
imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too
easily pleased.
C.S. Lewis.
Men have pursued joy in
every avenue imaginable. Some have successfully found it while others have not.
Perhaps it would be easier to describe where joy cannot be found:
Not in Unbelief --
Voltaire was an infidel of the most pronounced type. He wrote: "I wish I
had never been born."
Not in Pleasure -- Lord Byron lived a life of pleasure if anyone did. He wrote:
"The worm
the canker
and grief are mine alone."
Not in Money -- Jay Gould
the American millionaire
had plenty of that. When
dying
he said: "I suppose I am the most miserable man on earth."
Not in Position and Fame -- Lord Beaconsfield enjoyed more than his share of
both. He wrote: "Youth is a mistake; manhood a struggle; old age a
regret."
Not in Military Glory -- Alexander the Great conquered the known world in his
day. Having done so
he wept in his tent
before he said
"There are no
more worlds to conquer."
Where then is real joy
found? -- the answer is simple
in Christ alone.
The Bible Friend
Turning
Point
May
1993.
Author Leo Buscaglia tells
this story about his mother and their "misery dinner." It was the
night after his father came home and said it looked as if he would have to go
into bankruptcy because his partner had absconded with their firm's funds. His
mother went out and sold some jewelry to buy food for a sumptuous feast. Other
members of the family scolded her for it. But she told them that "the time
for joy is now
when we need it most
not next week." Her courageous act
rallied the family.
Christopher News Notes
August
1993.
This is the true joy in
life
the being used for a purpose recognized by yourself as a mighty one: the
being thoroughly worn out before you are thrown on the scrap heap
and being a
force of nature instead of a feverish selfish little clod of ailments and
grievances
complaining that the world will not devote itself to making you
happy.
George Bernard Shaw quoted
in: Jon Johnston
Courage - You Can Stand Strong in the Face of Fear
SP
Publications
1990
p. 171.
A conference at a
Presbyterian church in Omaha. People were given helium filled balloons and told
to release them at some point in the service when they felt like expressing the
joy in their hearts. Since they were Presbyterians
they weren't free to say
"Hallelujah
Praise the Lord." All through the service balloons ascended
but when it was over 1/3 of the balloons were unreleased. Let your balloon go.
Bruce Larson
Luke
p. 43.
Oliver Wendell Holmes
Jr.
was a member of the U.S. Supreme Court for 30 years. His mind
wit and
work earned him the unofficial title of "the greatest justice since John
Marshall." At one point in his life
Justice Holmes explained his choice
of a career by saying: "I might have entered the ministry if certain
clergymen I knew had not looked and acted so much like undertakers."
Today In The Word
June
1988
p. 13.
As a third-century man was
anticipating death
he penned these last words to a friend: "It's a bad
world
an incredibly bad world. But I have discovered in the midst of it a
quiet and holy people who have learned a great secret. They have found a joy
which is a thousand times better than any pleasure of our sinful life. They are
despised and persecuted
but they care not. They are masters of their souls.
They have overcome the world. These people are the Christians--and I am one of
them."
Today In The Word
June
1988
p. 18.
Joy is the byproduct of
obedience.
Traditional.
The
godly Scottish preacher Andrew Bonar penned a diary entry. He wrote
"This
day 20 years ago I preached for the first time as an ordained minister. It is
amazing that the Lord has spared me and used me at all. I have no reason to
wonder that He used others far more than He does me. Yet envy is my hurt
and
today I have been seeking grace to rejoice exceedingly over the usefulness of
others
even where it cast me into the shade. Lord
take away this envy from
me!"
Andrew
Bonar.
F.B.
Meyer held meetings in Northfield
Mass.
and large crowds thronged to hear
him. Then the great British Bible teacher G. Campbell Morgan came to Northfield
and people were soon flocking to hear his brilliant expositions of scripture.
Meyer confessed at first he was envious. He said
"The only way I can
conquer my feelings is to pray for Morgan daily
which I do."
Source
Unknown.
Dwight
L. Moody once told the fable of an eagle who was envious of another that could
fly better than he could. One day the bird saw a sportsman with a bow and arrow
and said to him
"I wish you would bring down that eagle up there."
The man said he would if he had some feathers for his arrow. So the jealous
eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot
but it didn't quite reach
the rival bird because he was flying too high. The first eagle pulled out
another feather
then another--until he had lost so many that he himself
couldn't fly. The archer took advantage of the situation
turned around
and
killed the helpless bird. Moody made this application: if you are envious of
others
the one you will hurt the most by your actions will be yourself.
Source
Unknown.
There
is a distinction between jealousy and envy. To envy is to want something which
belongs to another person. "You shall not covet your neighbor's house
his
wife or his servant
his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your
neighbor." In contrast
jealousy is the fear that something which we
possess will be taken away by another person. Although jealousy can apply to
our jobs
our possessions
or our reputations
the word more often refers to
anxiety which comes when we are afraid that the affections of a loved one might
be lost to a rival. We fear that our mates
or perhaps our children
will be
lured away by some other person who
when compared to us
seems to be more
attractive
capable and successful.
Dr.
Gary Collins
in Homemade
July
1985.