Envy is a disease of the soul you can ignore for a while, but eventually you must address it. Like a slow-growing cancer, envy will eventually consume you. As you grow older and encounter more of the injustices of life, you won’t be able to enjoy the advantages you have because less deserving people appear to have privileges and possessions you do not.

You may have heard the expression “green with envy” or envy referred to as “the green-eyed monster.” In the Bible, however, envy had the Hebrews seeing red. The Hebrew word translated “envy” and “jealousy” is quanah, which means “to be intensely red.” This word vividly pictures someone seething with red-faced anger as a surge of blood flushes one’s skin, signaling a rush of fierce emotion.

Petrarch hit the nail on the head when he wrote, “Five great enemies of peace inhabit within us: avarice, ambition, envy, anger, and pride; and if those enemies were to be banished, we should infallibly enjoy perpetual peace.” Envy is definitely one of the great enemies of inner peace. Like a thief, it slides into the heart under cover of darkness and steals away contentment.