Excavating Envy   (Selected Passages)

I. Furious obsession                                                                    (Introduction)

“Envy is the ulcer of the soul.”  Socrates

“No vice more pernicious (evil) than envy planted in the soul.”  Basil of Caesarea

“As the consuming desire to have everybody as unsuccessful as you are.”  Frederick Buechner

“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.”                           Romans 12:15

II. Evidence of envy

     A. Comparison

     B. Criticizing and complaining

“Envy is the desire for what another has that we don’t have. It is a resentful desire."                     Dan Alender

     C. Ungrateful

     D. Hatred

“Her eyes are all awry, her teeth are foul with mold, green poisonous gall overflows her breast, and venom drips from her tongue. She never smiles, save at the sight of another’s troubles; she never sleeps, disturbed with wakeful cares; unwelcome to her is the sight of men’s success, and with the sight she pines away; she gnaws and is gnawed, herself her own punishment.”                                                                  Roman Poet Ovid’s Poem - Metamorphosis

III. Glorious release                                (Psalm 73)

“We do not realize God is all we need until we realize He is all we have. And when we realize He is all we have, we realize He is all we really needed.”

IV. Besides you                                                                                                            (Application)