“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
Q: What is the tenth commandment?
A: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house, your neighbor’s wife, or anything that is his.
What does this mean?
Because we worship and love God, we shouldn’t desire to have the things that belong to other people, but instead, we should help them protect what is theirs.
Have you ever wanted something really bad that was not yours? What was it?
This is what it means to covet. It means having a really strong desire for something that is not yours. Why do you think this would be a problem?
One of the reasons this is a problem is that it shows a heart that is unthankful for what you have received from God. God loves to give good gifts to His children, and when we are more focused on what others have than on what we have it communicates to God that we think He is a bit stingy.
How would you feel if you gave someone a gift, and right after you gave it to her she immediately started talking about how she wished she had a different gift that someone else had. That probably wouldn’t make you feel very good, would it? It would show how unthankful she was, wouldn’t it?
Let’s honor God in the way that we fixate on His blessings to us and not His blessings to others.
Consider James 1:17,
“Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
- Where do all good gifts come from?
- What are some good and perfect gifts that you have received?
- How could you thank God for these?
Prayer
Our Father, we want to honor You by recognizing that You have given all that we need. Help us with contentment and thankfulness. We deserved hell and You gave Your very life for us. May we be first and foremost thankful for this. Everything beyond that is a bonus! Incline our hearts to see things this way. We need Your help. In Jesus’ name, Amen.