TO COVET OR NOT TO COVET

January 28

Psalms 119:36 Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness.

The tenth commandment of the Instructions* given to Moses on Mt Sinai tells us, “Thou shalt not covet” Exodus 20:17. In the New Testament, Paul the Apostle tells us to “covet earnestly the best gifts”1 Corinthians 12:31. Is there a contradiction here on the attitude towards coveting?

* The word ‘Torah’ generally translated by ‘Law’, actually means ‘intruction’.

--The first instruction is relevant of the physical realm, the second instruction of the spiritual. --The first cautions, the second instructs. --The first is a negative instruction, the second, a positive. --The fist tells of the dangers of coveting the wealth from the world, the second tells of the blessings of coveting the gifts of the Spirit.

God must have known that as human beings created from the elements of the earth, earthly things would become a pull and exercise power over us. We can see it in the case of our lust for junk-food, wealth, sex, and in the character corrupting influences brought by power and fame. Coveting them is natural, but it is bad for us. To resist that tendency, our hearts need to be consciously ’inclined’ to desire the spiritual blessings that only God can give.

This inclination to desire spiritual blessings is not natural to us, and the devil knows it. He uses us every trick of his evil trade to sidetrack us using the carnal elements he knows we fall so easily for. Paul, also warns us that the carnal always fights against the spiritual, and that the two are in constant enmity. (Romans 8:7).

In order to keep our loyalty focused on his material and carnal realm, the devil constantly bombards us with his concepts through the sights and sounds offered us by the ‘media-sirens’ of the world. The only way to be ‘rehabilitated’, to be reformed from the infatuations and addictions to his ‘virtual-world’, is to prioritize our life and constantly bathe ourselves in the very real and tangible Spirit of the Lord, “praying without ceasing” (1 Thessalonians 5:17), and in studying to show ourselves approved unto God” (2Timothy 2:15)

Let us despise the wicked ‘virtual-reality’ the prince of the power of the air lays before us, and let us actively and aggressively pursue the spiritual gifts God has set for our well-being.

Matthew 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.