An incident is related in Greek history of a wrestler who was so envious of Theagenes, the prince of wrestlers, that he could not be consoled in any way. After Theagenes died, a statue was erected in the public place to honor him. The envious wrestler was provoked further at the sight of the statue. Every night he went to the public place and wrestled with the statue, until one night he threw it over. But, what a pity! The statue fell on him and crushed him to death.

We read in the Bible about the first incident of envy in Cain’s life. Cain was envious of his brother Abel because the Lord accepted Abel’s offering, and rejected his own. As a result, envy swelled in his heart and he killed his own brother shedding his innocent blood. Next we read about Saul’s envy towards David. When Saul heard the women singing, dancing and praising David on his victorious return after defeating the Philistines he was angry, for they were singing “Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands”. This provoked Saul. From that time on he kept a jealous eye on David and tried to kill him. Even in the life of Jesus Christ, the chief priests, the teachers of the law and the Pharisees wanted to kill Him because they were envious of the miraculous deeds that He did and of His powerful teachings with which He attracted great crowds.

Dear friends, envy is a terrible sin which has a two fold effect. It kills the one who possesses it. It also drives the envious one to inflict harm on his opponent. It is one of the sinful things that Paul lists in Galatians 5:19, which prevents us from inheriting the Kingdom of God. So let us be careful not to allow envy to enter into our soul.