The Statue

            In ancient Greece, they told the story of a city’s desire to honor a great Olympic athlete. The decision was made to erect a statue of him.

            A competitor grew so envious, he committed himself to ruining the statue. Every evening, under the cover of darkness, the competitor took a hammer and chisel and chipped away at the base of the statue.

            One evening, the competitor succeeded in his envy-fueled mission. The statue fell… directly upon him.

            The competitor had literally killed himself with envy.

            The ancient Greeks had a proverb: “Envy slays itself by its own arrows.”

            The ancient Jews had a proverb that went like this, “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones”(Prov. 14:30.) NIV 1984

Source: THE 7 SINS OF HIGHLY DEFECTIVE PEOPLE by Rick Ezell

Shop-keep Rivalry

            Envy is a bitter vice. Thomas Lindberg writes of the legend of the two shopkeepers. They were bitter rivals, and their stores were directly across the street from each other.

            Envious, one of the other, they would each day track the other's business. If a customer made a purchase in one store, the proprietor would smile in triumph at his rival.

            The feud ran so deep, that one night, when one shopkeeper had an angel appear to him, the shopkeeper responded in an unimaginable way. The angel told the shopkeeper, "I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor will receive twice as much. Would you be rich? You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy. Do you wish to live a long and healthy life? You can, but his life will be longer and healthier. What is your desire?"

            The shopkeeper, thought for a moment, and then said, "Here is my request: Strike me blind in one eye!"

“A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot” (Prov. 14:30.)

            

Feathers

           Here is a good story illustrating the danger of envy. It comes from MOODY’S ANECDOTES:

            There is a fable of an eagle which could outfly another, and the other

didn't like it. The latter saw a hunter one day, and said to him: "I wish you would bring down that eagle."

            The sportsman replied that he would if he only had some feathers to put into his arrow. So the eagle pulled one out of his wing. The arrow was shot, but it didn't quite reach the rival eagle; it was flying too high.

            The envious eagle pulled out more feathers, and kept pulling them out until he lost so many that he couldn't fly, and then the sportsman turned around and killed him.

            When we envy, we most hurt ourselves.

“A tranquil heart gives life to the flesh, but envy makes the bones rot” (Prov. 14:30.)