Let us find the seeds of our jealousy. Let us focus our energy on what is good, what is true, what is honest and what is real and we will be building our personal and emotional security. Then we will be the one others envy. Here are some beautiful thoughts inspired by the writings of Bo Sanchez.

Remember the story of Cain and Abel? That’s a story of envy and it’s the story of the entire human race. It’s a story that is replayed over and over again in families, in organizations, in churches, in offices, in schools…

Cain and Abel were brothers. They offered a sacrifice to God and Abel’s sacrifice was accepted while Cain’s was not. Cain envied Abel and killed him. (Genesis 4:6-8). The spirit of Cain is the spirit of envy and it continues today.

We need to cast out the spirit of Cain from our lives. Many envious people don’t know they’re envious. Actually, envy is as common as the common cold but it’s as deadly as cancer. It’s like a mental cancer that destroys our lives, our relationships, and our happiness.

Envy is one of the most destructive things on planet earth.  Envy destroys relationship. Envy kills. It kills the envier. It's a lethal, slow-acting poison that over time kills. The Bible is so graphic when it describes what envy does to you. It says, envy rots the bones (Proverbs 14:30).

How do we know if we have envy? Sometimes, we don’t like someone because he/she offended us or hurt us. But sometimes, we don’t know why we don’t like someone. We can’t explain it. This doesn’t automatically mean we have envy. But it means we’ve got to ask , what does he/she have that we don’t have but we want to have. If the other person has something we don’t have but we want to have, then it’s probably envy.

When it gives us pleasure to criticize the other person, then we can almost be sure we’ve got envy. We know, we have envy if we secretly delight to hear the falls, faults, fumbles, and failures of the other person. We find delicious satisfaction in knowing he/she is getting his just rewards for being “too proud”.

The root of all envy is emptiness. Envy isn’t about the other person. Envy is always about a deep dissatisfaction with oneself. A person who is happy with himself/herself and profoundly satisfied with himself/herself cannot envy others. It’s impossible.

The feeling of emptiness and insecurity comes from fear. Specifically, the fear of worthlessness. And there is only one thing that can fill our emptiness and heal our fear of worthlessness: God’s Love.

The antidote to envy is gratitude for God’s Love. Celebrate your abundance. When you’re grateful, you’re satisfied with what you have and envy will have a hard time finding a foothold in your heart.

When we’re grateful for God’s blessings , slowly, we’ll be grateful for God’s blessings in the lives of others too. Let's be genuinely happy for other people’s successes. Let's share in their joy and in their victory. Then something magical will happen to our lives because there’s a law in the universe that states that what we give, we will receive in abundance (Luke 6:38). However if we envy the blessings that other people receive, we will be driving away those blessings from our lives.

Is there such a thing as positive envy? Perhaps it’s not envy but encouragement. If you wish a person ill, it's envy. If you wish him well, (that he/she prospers more in his/her life so you’ll even be more inspired), then it’s encouragement.

Envy comes with anger. Encouragement comes with an abundance mindset, that there’s more than enough for everyone. When our friends get blessed, it doesn’t lessen our chance of being blessed because in God’s Kingdom, there is no scarcity of blessings. There is only abundance. The universe is a giant bucket of blessings that will never run out. Be free from envy, love truly and be happy.

Related article (click the link): Envy as Inspiration

By Tim Pedrosa

As iron is eaten by rust, so are the envious consumed by envy. ~Antisthenes Our envy always lasts longer than the happiness of those we envy. ~François Duc de La Rochefoucauld