ENVY...HOW TO RUIN LIVES...YOURS AND OTHERS

A 3 PART SERIES ON ANXIETY BEGAN NOV 1st.  I THANK THOSE OF YOU WHO HAVE BEEN SHARING IT WITH FRIENDS AND FAMILY.

          These One A Days are added to daily.  There are over 1100 stories and commentaries on this blog began Nov. 24, 2009.  It is added to daily.

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              Click on http://wyrickswritings.blogspot.com to read selected Sermons from over 50 years of Rev. Wyrick's ministry. (STARTING NOV 1 "HOW MUCH DOES A PRAYER WEIGH)

       To view Rev. Wyrick in 4 of his highly acclaimed One Man Dramas click on the LINK below...ABRAHAM LINCOLN, BEN FRANKLIN, CHARLES WESLEY & MARTIN LUTHER (NBC Special)

                   http://www.speakerneil.com/

        Below this blog read a quote from Rev. Wyrick's highly accalimed 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ARAHAM LINCOLN

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Envy is a terrible sin.  One of the seven deadly sins, to be exact.   And Proverbs 14:30 explains it this way.  “A heart at peace gives life to the body, but envy rots the bones.”

And it is a double-edged sword for it works its evil against both self and one’s fellowman. 

It is self-love fueled by fear, insecurity, and jealousy.  St. Thomas Aquinas points out that it is the exact opposite of mercy.

Envy cannot bear to see others prosper.    It makes ministers lost and ineffective when they are not able to handle the fact they have not been called to larger churches.

It makes congregational members hurt and angry when they think someone else is receiving more attention.

It makes choir members act blind and foolish when they cannot sing solos.

Now, this is not true of all choir members, or ministers or congregational members, but within the sanctuary of the Lord, it is true more often than it should be.

They were two shopkeepers and they were bitter rivals.  Each day they looked at their competitor’s store across the street and thought selfish, envious thoughts.

They both actually hired someone to keep track of how many customers the other had each day.  And at day’s end, would measure their own success by whether they had the larger number of customers. 

And each night, the loser could not sleep

Then one night, an angel appeared to one of the shopkeepers and said, “I will give you anything you ask, but whatever you receive, your competitor across the street will receive twice as much.

Would you be rich?  You can be very rich, but he will be twice as wealthy.

Do you want to live a long and healthy life?  You can, but his life will be longer and healthier.

What is your desire?

The man frowned.  He liked the idea of being rich, but hated the idea of his competitor being even richer.

He liked the idea of living a long and healthy life, but hated the idea of his living neighboring shopkeeper even longer and healthier.

So he thought for a moment, and then said, “Here is my request.  Strike me blind in one eye!”

Envy has a ragged edge to it that inflicts wounds on both the source and the target. 

It is cold and calculating and cruel.

Envy is a disaster looking for a chance to happen and being happy, in a sick and miserable way, when it finally does happen.

       This green-eyed monster wants the object of its envy to start living in a world of minus while it lives in a world of plus. 

       Envy really is quite evil when you come to think of it.  It takes good people, even good Christians, and makes them not so very good at all

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QUOTES ON ENVY

       Envy eats nothing, but its own heart.

-Proverb

       A slowness to applaud betrays a cold temper or an envious spirit.

Author: Hannah More

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                    A new quote  (posted nov 12) below from Rev. Wyrick's 9th book THE SPIRITUAL ABRAHAM LINCOLN (read the rave reviews below the quote)

Was Lincoln, before he died, overly proud that he had so much to do with the preserving of the Union? 

       It is more likely that he quoted once again words of one of his favorite poets, William Knox, “Oh, why should the spirit of mortal be proud?”

        As he walked the streets of Richmond, Virginia in an unannounced visit after that city had fallen to the North, it was said that he was the man of the people among the people. 

       When an elderly Negro had run toward him shouting praise, Lincoln lifted his hat and bowed, and wiped away a tear or two.

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       "Positive, powerful utterances...skillfully enhancing our understanding and appreciation of Lincoln while revealing the Divine source of his strength."

       Lt. Colonel C.A. Olsen (Ret.) Asbury College (Professor Ret.)

       "The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln is an extremely well written book that investigates what might be termed the spiritual side of President Lincoln. It's both scholarly and very readable. I came away impressed at Mr. Wyrick's portrayal of the President and with an altered and enlarged vision of the man:'

       William Hoffman, Award winning fiction writer; author of Blood and Guile, and Wild Thorn

       "Wyrick has authored a wonderful examination of the spirituality of one of American history's most devoutly religious leaders...a pleasant and readable book that has a rich depth of information."

              Maynard Pittendreigh Presbyterian minister

        "When it comes to invoking religion in support of any of their decisions, politicians need to sit at the feet of Abraham Lincoln. Reinhold Niebuhr once called him 'America's greatest theologian.' Why so great? Because he invariably distinguished between human works and the works of the Almighty. As Wyrick says, 'He wore the mantle of humility easily: because he was more impressed with what God was doing in the world than with what he, president of the United States in the midst of an awful crisis, was doing. That is why in his last major speech he distinguished between both human causes in the Civil War and the Almighty's 'own purposes.' Lincoln would have agreed that it is better to leave God-talk out of politics than to decorate human proposals with divinity. This is a book for our American time. Through his careful study of Lincoln's career, Wyrick compels us to remember that piety belongs in politics only when piety transcends politics."

       Dr. Donald W. Shriver

       Emeritus professor at Union Theological Seminary in New York. Author of An Ethic for Enemies: Forgiveness in Politics

        "V. Neil Wyrick's fine work allows the reader to appreciate Abraham Lincoln's Christian commitment and his prophetic role in American history. Should have a wide readership."

       James H. Smylie Professor of Church History (Ret.) Union Theological Seminary, Richmond, Virginia

       "Neil Wyrick's The Spiritual Abraham Lincoln should be read by anyone attempting to understand the man who was probably the most complex person to ever hold the office of president of the United States. Dr. Wyrick is intent on demonstrating that the spirituality so often expressed in Lincoln's writings and speeches was not merely lip service to a Deity, but rather expressions of a profound faith in a real God. It was this faith that provided the wisdom, compassion, insight and sometimes steel that Lincoln would need in full measure as he led the United States through the Civil War. Dr. Wyrick's clear and unpretentious style of presentation is very much in keeping with the character ofhis subject, and in so doing, Wyrick makes his point very well that Lincoln, his beliefs, and the faith that formed them, are as relevant to a troubled America in 2004 as they were in 1863."

       Daniel Allen Butler, author of "Unsinkable"; The Full Story of the RMS Titanic, The Lusitania and The Age o f Cunard