Envy: An Enemy of Love
by Gloria Copeland
The devil is a thief. He comes “to steal, and to kill, and to destroy” (John 10:10). So, it should come as no surprise to you that the moment you start bearing the fruit of love, he’ll immediately set about to steal it. He’ll try to introduce into your life things that are specifically designed to oppose and hinder your love walk. I call these things “enemies of love.”
Just as the force of love produces victory and blessing in our lives, love’s enemies open the door to Satan. They make us vulnerable to him so that he can get in and do his dirty work. If we know how to identify his strategies, however, we can guard ourselves against them. So, it’s important for us to know what they are.
One enemy of love that’s especially dangerous is the devilish force of envy.
Envy is a feeling of discontent and ill will because of another’s advantages, possessions or success. It’s a longing to possess something awarded to or achieved by another. It’s closely associated with jealousy, which denotes a feeling of resentment that another has gained something one feels he or she more rightfully deserves.
First Corinthians 13:4 ("Amplified Bible, Classic Edition") says emphatically, “Love is never envious”!
Love rejoices over other people’s success. It celebrates when it sees them prosper. Envy does the opposite. It causes you to be sad when someone else gets ahead of you in some way. It causes you to think things like, Look at that guy’s new car! He doesn’t work nearly as hard as I do! I’m the one who should be driving a new car! Or, Look at that woman’s new house! She doesn’t need a house that big and expensive. My family is much bigger than hers, and we’re living in a house that’s half that size.
Even if we’re walking in love, there are times when such thoughts come to all of us. They jump into our minds sometimes before we realize what’s happening. But we don’t have to entertain them. When a thought or feeling of envy comes, we can deal with it immediately and say, “No, that thought is not of God and I’m not taking it into my life. I rebuke you, envy. You’re not love. You leave me. I’ll not have that thought.”
BVOV : 25
