"Envy"

I read a statement the other day that said, “If you’re green with envy, you’re ripe for problems.”

One of the biggest mistakes we make in life is allowing our desires and goals to be influenced by what's happening in the lives of others. But the circumstances in someone else’s life have nothing to do with what God has planned for my life. Every time we shift our focus to the life of another person, we are shifting our focus away from God.

It is important not to measure the success of our lives by what someone has or hasn’t done. Envy is the consuming desire for everyone else to be a little less successful than you are. This envy and desire can cause us to become critical and negative toward the lives of other people. But criticizing another man's garden doesn't keep the weeds out of yours. Dr. Laurence J Peter said, “Great minds discuss ideas, average minds discuss events, and small minds discuss people.”

It has often been said, “envy is a tremendous waste of mental energy.” Tim Tedmond says, “A leader is one of many accomplishments. What sets him apart from others is he is not swayed by opposition or praise or comparison.” God leads us all differently, and no one can build their destiny on the success of another person. What the small person seeks is in others; what the superior person seeks is in God. The only way to keep our vision from becoming blurred is to keep our eyes on God.

A sound heart is the life of the flesh: but envy the rottenness of the bones.

Proverbs 14:30