Cyanide is a substance that you definitely want to avoid. It’s a poison that will kill you. It essentially suffocates you. Its chemical properties block your body’s cells from receiving oxygen. So, cyanide is extremely deadly to your body.

But in today’s word of wisdom from the book of Proverbs, we run into a spiritual cyanide, if you will. Some call it envy. Some call it jealousy. Still others call it covetousness. It goes by several names, but a poison by any other name is just as poisonous. Whatever you call it, it’s wanting what somebody else has and resenting them for having it. It could be their looks, their talent, their friends, their influence, their possessions. It could be almost anything. But whatever it is, you want what they have and are hostile toward them in your heart and probably to others behind their back and maybe even to their face.

But beloved, that envy is like drinking poison. Listen to Proverbs 14:30. It says, “Envy makes the bones rot.” In other words, it kills you from within. Therefore, you need to battle envy with everything you have. Battle it with gratitude. Battle it with contentment. Battle it with compassion. Battle it with empathy. Battle it with love.

Beloved, like you avoid cyanide in your body, avoid envy in your soul.

Change begins in you!