Ex 20:17: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor’s.
What is covet?
To covet is to desire greatly, especially a thing belonging to someone else. It is wanting more of what you already have enough of; feeding one’s greed. Covet comes when a person is not content with what s/he has.
What is content?
Content is being satisfied, adequately happy; satisfied with what you have, not wanting more than you already have.
Effects of discontentment
- Always in need
God wants has to be careful with greed and discontentment. While you are getting more and more, doubling everything, in reality it will eat you. The person living in greed, lives always in need. When we feed our greed, we only want more and more and greedy people are always generally unhappy.
- Slavery: – lack of freedom
Not being greedy, not coveting, being content makes us free; living freely and happy. Living freely and happily is living without needs; being content. When we do not want what our neighbors have or what we do not have but we are content with what we have, is the source of happiness in life.
Paul said, ‘for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, therewith to be content’ Phil 4:11. We must learn to be content.
Is covetousness living deep in you?
In Luke chapter 12, Jesus gives us a story that can act as a test to see if our covetousness might be living deep within us. ‘And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses’ Lk 12:15.
Life (man’s life) is not found and will never be found on the stuff or things we have. Culture and society tells us that the way to have life is to have that car, job, degree, PhD, business, have that money, that automobile, phone, have this and that.
But the creator (our creator) tells us this is a lie. The giver of life tells man that her/his life is not made of that stuff, those things, riches, money or wealth. All this things are useless to man but whoever seeks Him and focuses on heaven gains all.
Let’s focus on heaven not all this world things which the world tells us we must have to live. In fact, many are idols to man. We do not need them to live.
When all your money goes, you neither have cloths to wear nor food to eat, you will not die; you will continue living. The life of man is more than food, cloths, money, worldly wealth and what the entire world gives.
From Jesus temptation, He teaches us that our life is not about things of this world or the fleshly body. We do not need food, cloths, money, cars, building, riches to live. …It is written, that man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God Lk 4:4. We only live by every word of God.
See the next article: The rich man parable
All glory to Jesus Christ, Amen.
