Exodus 20:17

You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.

Exodus 20:17

To covet is not just to want something really bad, it’s to want somebody else’s stuff for yourself and for them not to have it. I never really understood this depth of coveting until years after being saved and my wife and I dealt with infertility. After a few years into always getting the “not this month,” it has a way of wearing on you but you deal with it trusting in God’s timing. That is, of course, until other friends or family tell you one by one, they are pregnant, sometimes on their second or third child by now.

I remember at times the feelings that entered into my heart, the thoughts I let breed in my mind, and, as much as I knew it was wrong, I found myself at times unable to defeat it, it had control of me. I think we have a tendency to think this commandment to be a lessor sin, it’s the tenth commandment and God just needed an even number and that’s how it made the list.

I can tell you from experience, coveting is a debilitating, wicked sin that speaks to the true wickedness of man’s heart. A sin that must be rooted out by none other than through the gift of God’s special grace and love for you. If not, you will find yourself living in a joyless life of discontentment, where you are a slave to your wants and lack the ability to be grateful for the needs that are met.

The ten commandments are impossible to accomplish outside of Christ. Because of our bondage to sin and inability to morally accomplish what is good for our soul, we can thank Jesus who freed us from this bondage. May we honor His sacrifice by standing each morning firm in the grace of God who liberated us to live a life fully satisfied in Jesus.

Pastor Jason Witt