“Mommy,
Mommy, I wannit!!!” The child’s loud
cries could be heard ringing throughout the store. I felt bad for the Mom, and wondered if she’d
give in to the child to quiet him or if she’d stand strong. Truth is, we’re all like that kid at one time
or another. We want what we want when we
want it! We want that flat screen tv
though we owe on our credit card. We
want that ipad for Christmas even though work is unstable. We want those new shoes though we don’t need
them.
The thing is,
we cater to our fleshly desires/ wants all the time and though we don’t usually
scream about it, don’t we do what is necessary to make our wants come
true? Why do we want all this stuff? Because the world tells us we need it, that
we can’t function properly without it.
But that’s a lie. Most of the
time we are fine without filling our desires.
In fact, filling our wants usually prevents us from our true need of filling
ourselves with Jesus Christ. “Aw, but
everyone has one…”
10. You shall not covet your
neighbour’s house, you shalt not covet your neighbour’s wife, nor his
manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is
your neighbour’s. Ex. 20:17
First off, the neighbour here in Hebrew
is really speaking of anyone near or
far. Covet means to desire, take
pleasure or delight in, desire greatly. A
friend hands us his new device with all the cool new features and we just have
to get one two. We see that commercial
and are sure we can afford it if we only pay the minimum on our credit, or put
off those new tires we need. (And I won’t even touch on coveting (desiring)
someone’s spouse we see at work, church, on tv)
We subconsciously use all kinds of excuses to justify
our covetousness: I won’t be accepted without it, it will be difficult for me
to share Jesus if I’m too different than everyone else, I need
this car to look professional at work, and I need to pay for housekeeping once a
week so that I’m like everyone else. I
really want a house like that, did you see that new garage they put up, look at
her new dress and shoes, mm mm. Wish I
could get me a new front load laundry machine, there’s no reason to not get it…
Over 10 million people worldwide die of hunger
every year but we need that updated cell phone.
The U.S.
and the E.U. spend US$13 billion on perfume each year; smelling good is more
important than the world's sanitation and food requirements we could satisfy
with that money. I find on average most
people spend $200 to $300 on each child for Christmas, despite the fact a $75
dollar goat could provide milk/ cheese, and income for someone in need. “But everyone eats out once a week, why can’t
I?... But I need that Timmies every
morning…”
The truth is, we don’t even see the
extent of our covetousness anymore because we are used to living in
excess. Overindulgence of things is rampant, but good morals and genuine love of others is deficient.
Covetousness. North America is full
of it. It even lights up the church pews
on Sunday, doesn’t it?
Commandment # 10
-broken daily