Envy is the Enemy

Exodus 20:17
God is telling His people not to covet their neighbour's possessions. He knew that envy is very dangerous, & can destroy your life ( Job 5:2). And it can steal your inner peace & you'll be left with misery. It is like a disease eating you from the inside (Proverbs14:30).

Allow me to share with you a short story about this old man who was in a hospital. He had a ward mate with him who was also admitted in hospital.
They had different sicknesses, old man no:1 couldn't sit on his own so he use to lie down the rest of the day, because of his back pains. Old man no:2 could sit on his own, so his bed was by the window as he could sit up & look outside.
Old man no:2 would always tell his room mate of what he sees outside that window. He said there was a beautiful view to a lovely park, full of colourful flowers & large trees. There was a lake with swans & ducks & all other lovely birds, which would come & go. He would describe everything into detail.
He would tell him about the people having picnics under the shade of the trees, & lovers walking hand in hand through the park. Mothers walking with their prams.

It seemed like there was something interesting happening outside that window everyday that old man no: 1 was living each & every day to hear about. Somehow he began to envy what Old man no:2 was seeing, & this feeling grew in him such that as Old man:1 was describing a swan swimming gracefully through the lake, Old man:2 suddenly felt that it is not fair, he also want to see all these beautiful things. That feeling grew until he got so obsessively envious.

One night Old man:2 was coughing so bad, & he seemed to be choking & battling to breathe. Old man:1 just lay there & watched instead of pressing the panic button to alert the Nurse. He coughed until he was quiet. The next morning Nurses came in & removed his room mate from the bed, he had passed on. He asked to be moved to the bed next the window once they had done everything needed to be done, & they did so. His mind was so focused to the pleasure of what that window would bring to him. Finally he tried to pull his body up & tried to sit up so he could have a pick of what was happening outside that window. To his surprise, there was a huge wall facing on that window, & there was no view to a park.

What had been happening all this time was, his room mate was telling him all these beautiful stories because he knew how important they were to him, & that it was the only thing that gave the will to leave to another day. He made it all up just for him. He was so miserable that he let him die while he could have done something to save his life, but because of envy he killed someone who was living his life to make a difference in his.

Brothers & sisters envy is harmful, that is why God said in the ten commandments that we must not covet or envy. We sometimes complain and say "it's not fair" when we see others with the ability to do things that we feel less privileged to do. We whine about it, but the truth is that there is a reason why we don't have that. There is a reason why they have it. So instead of being jealous, embrace that somebody in your life. They can make your life worth living. Don't be like this Old man & kill something that is the core of your everyday life.
Remember, your are blessed to be a blessing.
The people that are in your life are there to help you in a certain way. Do Not Envy, for Envy is the Enemy!