Hello Everyone,<\/p>\n
Well, I knew this day would come\u2026 the last of the 10 Commandments, # 10. Can you\u00a0 believe time has progressed so fast? I mean, it is Spring already! Whoa! I think next week I will have a summary discussion and also perhaps an idea of what topic we\u2019ll cover next.<\/p>\n
Recall, I asked if anyone had any suggestions. I was thinking the last 10 weeks might have stirred some thoughts. I mean, I have no problems coming up with things to talk about concerning the Bible. But I love to speak about what is on other people\u2019s hearts too.<\/p>\n
We\u2019re private now\u2026 And though I have tried to lead an online Bible discussion here, I certainly want you all to bring stuff up. What more worthwhile activity is there other than understanding and comprehending what our Maker has said? \u00a0I like to search the
\nscriptures and arrive at the truth. You know, if an issue comes up\u2026 what does the Bible say about it? If it has not been obvious\u2026 now you know\u2026 that is my gig here; The truth, whatever may come! Okay, so the 10 Commandments have been our teacher lately. And let\u2019s look at the last one.<\/p>\n
Exodus 20:17
\nYou shall not covet your neighbor\u2019s house; you shall not covet your neighbor\u2019s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor\u2019s.<\/p>\n
Basically we are not to covet. We should avoid covetousness in all its forms. Put another way, a covetous person is thinking in a way that Almighty God forbids. Don\u2019t forget that Jesus brought God\u2019s law to bear on our inner thoughts and desires, intentions and motives too. What we think and desire on the inside is fair game to God! And covetousness is really one of those dangerous inner sins that can manifest yucky ugly fruit on the outside.<\/p>\n
So what is coveting? Basically it is a strong longing to have what another has. Merriam-Webster states:<\/p>\n
intransitive verb : to feel inordinate desire for what belongs to another<\/p>\n
Now to desire something is okay. It is normal. Desire is a trait common to all of us. Just like wanting something. My stomach is empty, I will want to eat. I desire to teach my kids good manners and I miss my friends so I want to be with them.<\/p>\n
So when does normal wants and desires turn to coveting? Here is when we get into the dark recesses of our inner beings\u2026 we covet when we don\u2019t have and wish we did in a self-centered way, in a greedy way, in a discontented and thankless way.<\/p>\n
You have heard the phrase \u201cThe grass is greener on the other side.\u201d, and it very may well be. But does it bother you? Does that grass on the other side make you look at your own grass and be disappointed with it? This is like keeping score and thinking you\u2019re losing and
\nbeing either angry, depressed, apathetic or resentful. You think you deserve the greener grass yet you don\u2019t have it. You don\u2019t have it, someone else does.<\/p>\n
Eons ago, I would have occasion to play gigs in rock and roll bands. I thought I was so cool. I felt I played pretty skillfully on the drums or bass guitar or whatever. Usually we were the opening band. We would draw a few people to watch us play. Then after we\u00a0 finished and the next band was setting up, more and more people would arrive\u2026
\n(attractive girls also)\u2026 and I would take notice.<\/p>\n
Then once the headliner band played, I would hear and realize that were not very good. It was their persona that was attracting the crowds. The singer was either good looking or a circus act to watch, the drummer had a two-foot high Mohawk, the bass-player had a wall of booming top-brand amplifiers with a gazillion rack effects, and so on and so forth. It was pure image. The music (to me) was lame. I would make fun of them and pick out things to criticize about them to show how much of a poser they were. Soon I would walk away in disgust at their act.<\/p>\n
But really I was bitter and resentful. Why? I was coveting the adoration they received from the crowd. I wanted the pretty girls to flock to see me play. I wanted to guys to see how cool I was. But they didn\u2019t. Pretty silly of me, huh? You know, once in a while I still can
\nsense an urge to criticize Bruce Springsteen\u2019s singing when I hear a certain song of his on the radio. But that thinking is really prideful, because I used to think I can sing better than him. So self- centered.<\/p>\n
Think of some ugly fruit of covetousness\u2026 Someone who key-scratches your shiny new car. You have it, they don\u2019t. Oh think of someone stealing something from you. They saw, they came, they took. Guys, pornography feeds your coveting of what you aren\u2019t getting what you think you need to be content. Gals, being a little too familiar with men who aren\u2019t your husband feeds your coveting of attention you aren\u2019t getting what you think you need to be content. And the ever common, \u201cIf I can\u2019t have her, you can\u2019t have her either\u2026 boom\u201d. Just think of this: Who wasn\u2019t God and wanted to be?<\/p>\n
So, how could we not covet what our neighbor has, and never long for anything they might have, but rather can be happy for them? We could possibly be this way if we were\u00a0 contented with our own things. Generally speaking, a contented person is thankful. A contented person can be satisfied despite the Joneses new \u201chis and her\u201d Porsches.<\/p>\n
Likewise, love is contented. A Christian knows a permanent type of contentment because they know they don\u2019t deserve anything, but that everything they do have is a gift from God, right down to their very breath. Let us see and learn from Paul\u2019s example:<\/p>\n
Philippians 4:11b
\n\u2026I have learned to be content in whatever circumstances I am.<\/p>\n
Just reading the life of Paul in Acts and his epistles will indicate he had a supernatural capacity to be content. What was his secret? You\u2019ll have to read Romans 8:28, ha!<\/p>\n
Read it yet? How awesome is that?! Thank you Jesus!<\/p>\n
Peace,
\nJim<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Hello Everyone, Well, I knew this day would come\u2026 the last of the 10 Commandments, # 10. Can you\u00a0 believe time has progressed so fast? I mean, it is Spring already! Whoa! I think next week I will have a summary discussion and also perhaps an idea of what topic we\u2019ll cover next. Recall, I […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[59,60,64,13,61,62,47,63,58],"class_list":["post-80","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible-study","tag-59","tag-exodus","tag-gods-law","tag-gospel","tag-moses","tag-mount-sinai","tag-old-testament","tag-tablets","tag-ten-commandments"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=80"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":350,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/80\/revisions\/350"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=80"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=80"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jimel.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=80"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}