SATURDAY, JUNE 14, 2025
Coveting repeatedly mentioned in Ten Commandments: The Sin No One Ever Admits
Published on Jun 10, 2025
By EMN
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- Scripture passage:
- "You shall not covet your neighbour's house. You shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbour." (Exodus 20:17)
- 1. Brief introductory note:
- One thing you will never say or hear someone confess is, “I have a covetous spirit. How can I overcome it?”
- In the final commandment of the Ten Commandments (The Decalogue) the key word “covet” is repeated, emphasising its importance. Coveting signifies the strong desire to enjoy the person or thing coveted. Whoever endeavours to deprive a man of his property by any means, lusts after his neighbour’s wife, and endeavours to ingratiate himself into her affections, and to lessen her husband in her esteem, and endeavours to possess the servants, cattle, etc., of another in any clandestine or unjustifiable manner, breaks this commandment.
- This commandment does not forbid desire in general. It’s the object of a strong desire that crosses the line into coveting. That’s why specific objects are named in the verse. I have no right to possess my neighbour's wife. Or his house. Or his servants. Or his animals.
- 2. We are miserable:
- If things could make us happy, we’d be in paradise every day. We think “more is better.” To put it in other words, it seems the more we have, the less we like it. If having more would make us happy, we would never need the last commandment of the Decalogue. It is written for unhappy people.
- We think to ourselves, “If only I had......" We can fill the blank with so many things, a new house, a new wife, a new job, a new career, a new start in life. Oh how happy we’d be... If only!
- No wonder we’re unhappy. No wonder we’re discontented. No wonder we’re miserable. Coveting has done its evil work within. It has bored its way into our soul, eating away our happiness, leaving us empty, frustrated, and angry.
- 3. The invisible and forbidden sin:
- Coveting is an invisible sin. Most of the other sins have some kind of visible manifestation. Coveting is invisible. It is the root of all other sins.
- Whenever a thing is forbidden it becomes desirable. That which a man must not have becomes the very thing he now must have at all costs. Coveting is the root of all other sins because it causes us to want that which is forbidden.
- 4. It springs from an ungrateful heart:
- The covetous man doubts God’s wisdom, God’s goodness, and God’s justice. God’s timing and ultimately God’s love.
- Coveting is a terrible sin because it is a surreptitious attack on God himself. Those who covet are saying, “God, you haven’t taken care of me.” They are blaming God for his failure to meet their needs.
- 5. Coveting destroys life:
- We live in the most technologically advanced generation the world has ever known. No generation has been so advanced. No generation has enjoyed the privileges we have today.
- If having more could make you happy, we ought to be the happiest generation. But we’re not. We’re miserable, neurotic, unhappy, confused, and dissatisfied. We’re frustrated and extremely materialistic. Our marriages fail, our homes break up, our children struggle, and our lives don’t hold together. We have it all and yet it's still not enough. We ought to be happy… but we’re not!
- 6. Guard your heart:
- This means pay attention to your desires. Every act was once a thought; every purchase was once a desire; every foolish word was once an idea. Coveting happens inside the heart when our desires begin to get out of control. We must guard our hearts (our minds and thoughts) for it is the starting point of all sins. We become what our minds dwell most upon.
- Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life”.
- The heart is the seat of the Lord of life and glory, and the streams of spiritual life proceed from him to all the powers and faculties of the soul. Watch with all diligence, that this fountain be not sealed up, nor these streams of life be cut off.
- This verse is principally referring to the evils which proceed from the heart, and which must be guarded against. If the heart is pure and holy, all its purposes will be just and good. If it be impure and defiled, nothing will proceed from it but abomination.
- 7. Your checklist for life:
- a) Don't compare what you have with what others have. A saying goes, "What makes us discontented with our condition is the absurdly exaggerated idea we have of the happiness of others." You can never be content or have peace of mind as long as you keep comparing yourself and your properties with those of your neighbours.
- b) Avoid impulsive desires to spend more money. Don't make excuses for your greed.
- c) Don't justify your foolish purchases.
- d) Don't pass unfair judgments on those who have more than we do. You have no idea what trials they may be going through.
- e) Stop lying to yourselves about things which you need when in reality they are not needs but endless wants.
- f) Do not allow yourself to be swept away by foolish desire. Learn how to say “No".
- 8. What is contentment?
- Contentment is not the fulfillment of what you want, but the realization of how much you already have. It is putting your trust in God to meet all your needs and thereby helping you avoid stress and preventing you from hunting for happiness in all the wrong places. Benjamin Franklin said, "Content makes poor men rich; discontentment makes rich men poor."
- 9. Paul found sufficiency in Christ:
- In Philippians 4:11-13 we learn that Paul had learned to be content with what God provided, irrespective of circumstances. Significantly, Paul had to learn this virtue; contentment is not natural to most of us. Paul truly understood what it was to be in want and to have plenty. He had learned how to trust God in every particular situation and all situations as a whole. In Stoic philosophy, "content" described a person who accepted impassively whatever came. Circumstances that could not be changed were regarded as God's will, and fretting was useless. This philosophy fostered a self-sufficiency in which all the resources for coping with life were located within a person. In contrast, Paul locates his sufficiency in Christ, who provides strength for believers.
- 10. The remedy for covetousness:
- Today coveting is one of the most prevalent and destructive sins. We covet money, status, and success, possessions, and pleasure without limits. What is the answer to the curse of covetousness? The answer is contentment. You can’t be content and covet at the same time. You can be contented or you can covet, but you can’t do both. The way to control our coveting, the desire for all forbidden fruit, is to practice its opposite, which is contentment. Contentment is a rare quality in today’s culture, but it is extremely liberating.
- 11. Start being generous:
- Would you like to experience the joy of freedom from coveting? Start by giving something away to the needy. Then do it again and again. Coveting can’t stay inside a generous heart!
- 1 Timothy 6:18 “Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share”.
- Paul's instruction to Timothy is that the well-to-do must relieve the wants of their fellow human beings, according to the abundance which God has blessed them with. This is the highest luxury a person can enjoy on this side of the grave.
- 12. Ask God to give you a grateful heart:
- We aren’t grateful because we’ve never asked God to give us a grateful heart. By nature, we are covetous, greedy, grasping, and unhappy. We need hearts filled with gratitude for God's grace, love, mercy, and for all the blessings he has bestowed upon us, more especially for the blessing from the cross.
- In conclusion:
- Contentment doesn't mean that you cannot pursue God-given goals, but it does mean that you are content with what he has provided you with, day after day. Contentment simply means, "Be happy with what you have." The “Contentment Prayer” by George Herbert sums up everything in a few words.
- "Lord Jesus, you have given so much to me. Give one thing more, a grateful heart. Amen."
- There are two tents and we can choose which tent to live in-- the tent of contentment or the tent of discontentment. Ask yourself today whether you are living in the tent of contentment or the tent of discontentment.
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- Selie Visa
Nagaland Districts
