Covetousness is the term that sums up among the 10 commandments everything that does not combine with a healthy life. It closes the most important list of all time. Meditate in this post and learn how to protect your life and family from the deceit of covetousness to live with perfect satisfaction.
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This post closes the series The 10 Commandments of the Family in which we explore the essential values that every family must consider in order to successfully live the beautiful mission that God has entrusted to them. Your mission is unique! And I invite you to identify and write down your family’s specific values using the 10 commandments as a “north”.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Exodus 20:17
Covetousness and Its Meaning
“You shall not covet” closes the list of everything that doesn’t go with a healthy life. Note that each of the 10 commandments is directly related to the last, in which the Lord warns us to reject greed. See in the table below some verses from the Scriptures relating covetousness to the other commandments:
Covetousness and the 10 Commandments
| 1. You will have no other gods | “For everything in the world — greed for the flesh, greed for the eyes and ostentation of goods — not from the Father, but from the world. ” 1 John 2:16 |
| 2. You will not make an idol for yourself | “Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” Colossians 3:5 |
| 3. You will not take the Name of the Lord in vain | “For the wicked boasts of the desires of his soul, and the one greedy for gain curses and renounces the Lord.” Psalm 10:3 |
| 4. Remember the Sabbath | ““Because he knows no quietness in his heart, He will not save anything he desires.” Job 20:20 |
| 5. Honor your father and mother | “because they had not obeyed my rules, but had rejected my statutes and profaned my Sabbaths, and their eyes were set on their fathers’ idols.” Ezekiel 20:24 |
| 6. You will not kill | “You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask.” James 4:2 |
| 7. You will not adulterate | “Do not desire her beauty in your heart, and do not let her capture you with her eyelashes;” Proverbs 6:25 |
| 8. You will not steal | “They covet fields and seize them, and houses, and take them away; they oppress a man and his house, a man and his inheritance.” Micah 2:2 |
| 9. You will not bear false witness | “And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.” 2 Peter 2:3 |
| 10. You will not covet … | “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.” Exodus 20:17 |
Becoming Like God
Satan deceived Eve in the Garden, saying that she could become like God. Eve looked at the tree that seemed good to eat (no problem), attractive to the eye (again, no problem) and the Scriptures highlights desirable for her to gain discernment (or to become like God). The word desirable (hb. Chamad) is the same term for covet in the tenth commandment, in Exodus 20:17.
What God warns us about here is that we don’t accept the deceit of wanting to be God, or to be like God. Before any human error, covetousness opened the door to all other sins, and with them death, because the human being wanted to be like God.
“So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.”
Genesis 3:6
Live with Purpose and Satisfaction
Just as we started The 10 Commandments of the Family by remembering that there is only one God, and that we were created to praise His glory, we now end with an invitation for you to accept to live the noble purpose that He has destined for you. A life that glorifies God is the secret to full satisfaction, true joy, and success in your family.
And the way we live for the glory of God is to invest in a personal relationship with Him by faith in Jesus. You grow in your relationship with God when you prioritize Him every new morning. When you recognize who He is in sincere worship. And also when you share every difficulty and success with Him in prayer.
It is like any genuine friendship between 2 people. A healthy family is a good example of a relationship that never tires of growing, improving and loving more and more. Without any religiosity, or human rules, our relationship with God develops from sharing life without reservation. And the result is perfect satisfaction.
Conclusion
Covetousness arises from the human being’s desire to want to be like God. Therefore, “you shall not covet” closes the most important list of all times, the 10 Commandments, as an invitation for us to seek satisfaction exclusively in God and enjoy the purpose that He has for our lives.
What you believe about God and how you deal with it in your home will influence your entire existence here and in eternity. This issue is a priority for a successful family. So don’t compare yourself to other people, but decide to live God’s purpose for your life. Accept to grow in your personal relationship with God day after day, and you will constantly live in perfect satisfaction in Christ.
Prayer: God, thank you so much for your loyal love and for your Word that teaches me the way to a life of complete satisfaction. I believe in your care for my family. So I now decide to reject everything that does not come from You to me. And I surrender completely to You and choose to live from now on all your plans for my life and family, for Your glory in the name of Jesus. Amen.
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you?
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