Home

LENTEN STUDY GUIDE
Monday, March 1
Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s house. Do not desire and try to take your neighbor’s wife, male or female servant, ox, donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor. Exodus 20:17
What is Envy? The dictionary defines envy as a feeling of discontentment or longing aroused by someone else’s possessions, qualities or luck or, as a verb, desire to have a quality, possession or attribute belonging to someone else. A simple definition of envy is “to want what belongs to someone else.” Aristotle defined envy as pain at the sight of another’s good fortune, stirred by “those who have what we ought to have.” It has been said that “envy was one of the most potent causes of unhappiness.” Envy is incredibly dangerous. It leads to bitterness and hatred towards other people. In the last commandment God warns us of the evil of envy—to covet. Exodus 20:17 says “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Yearning for gifts that God has not given us; destroys relationships, sows discord, and creates a spirit of bitterness and evil.  To become envious of others is a sin and is defined as such in Scripture. “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.” James 3:16