Covet

Whats it going to be...
cov·et

1.

to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rights of others: to covet another's property.

2.

to wish for, especially eagerly: He won the prize they all coveted.

verb (used without object)

3.

to have an inordinate or wrongful desire.

so coveting has been on my mind for quite some time.  I guess it could be due to this time of year where "keeping up with the Jones'" raises to another level, gifts.  We as a society covet.  Coveting is brought to a whole new level in the time of year where it should be at the lowest of the low.  We covet because we seek what only God provides...LOVE.  We covet because we have the mindset of "if I give my wife the gift that he is giving his wife, maybe then she will really love me..."  "if I give me friends that gift, maybe they will like me more..."  "if I give my children that gift, maybe they will love me more, maybe they will know how much we love them..."

Covet, what a nasty little sneaky word.  This has crept into our lives like a snake slithering through the grass, only visible when it is brought out into the open.  Naked to the eye 

James 4(NIV)

Submit Yourselves to God

 ¹ What causes fights and quarrels among you? Don’t they come from your desires that battle within you? ² You desire but do not have, so you kill. You covet but you cannot get what you want, so you quarrel and fight. You do not have because you do not ask God. ³ When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.

James 4(MSG)

Get Serious

 ^1-2Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because you want your own way, and fight for it deep inside yourselves. You lust for what you don't have and are willing to kill to get it. You want what isn't yours and will risk violence to get your hands on it.  ^2-3You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because you know you'd be asking for what you have no right to. You're spoiled children, each wanting your own way.

To covet something is to allow your flesh to rule you.  Instead of coveting that gift that will make someone love you, or hopefully show someone how much you love them, why not pray to God?  What I mean is why don't we pray to gain wisdom from God on the situation.  If it is for love from someone, do we really know who God is?  If it is to show someone how much we love them, do we really know what Jesus did at the cross?  God our Father, and Jesus our saviour sacrificed for us.  Lets let that sink in a little.  They sacrificed for us.  God did not lavish His only begotten Son with possessions did He?  He lavished His only Son with agony, pain, and suffering.

Husbands and Wives.  Do we have that love of the Father towards each other?  Do we walk out in our actions and with our lips that we truly love our spouses?  Do we secretly covet the job of our best friends husband?  Or do we encourage and build up our husbands with our words instead of telling them they don't have a good enough job?  Do we covet anothers spouse?  Do we secretly covet the way our best friends wife keeps the house spotless?  Or do we step in and do "womens work" instead of hitting the links every weekend?  Do we covet anothers spouse?  Do we covet the way those kids behave and ours run amuck?  Or do we pray for wisdom as one(husband AND wife) for wisdom on how to discipline our children, or let us know what desire we are not meeting with them?  Do we covet others children?

So what causes quarrels among us?  If we read the Word of God above, it is this nasty little word...covet.  Letting our flesh rule us for wordly desires.  We feel we are entitled to it, we are spoiled children.  We want things to come how and when we want them.  And how do we do that?  If we look throughout history as a human race...it is done through possessions.  Possessions of wealth, resources, power, and even love.  Wars are fought over such things.  Love is spoiled because of such things.  Marriages are lost because of such things.  Families are broken because of such things.  Generations are cursed because of such things. 

I challenge us to be real with ourselves.  Do we covet possessions?  Or maybe we covet relationships?  Confess it to ourselves, confess it to God.  Let us pray as one for things of God instead.  Let us pray for wisdom on how we handle situations.  Let us pray for reconciliation.  Let us pray for the Holy Spirit to fill us.  Let us pray for grace and to allow us to give more grace.  Let us pray for Gods will be done here on Earth.  Let us pray for His kingdom come, regardless of what we personally get out of it.  It is not about us, this thing called life.  It is about Him, it is about spreading His message of love.

It is what it is, and this be it...