Coveting

If you would like to support the work we do with families, please check out our website at clearviewretreat.org. TRANSCRIPT: Good morning, Five Minute Families. How has this past week treated you? We have had many things hit the calendar in the past few days, so our busy level has elevated. Many families live life in a constant state of “busy.” They almost wear “busy” as a badge of honor. One reason busy-ness is so highly valued in our society is because we are all running around trying to get the best of everything… the best home, the best shoes, the best vacations, the best experiences, etc. Stop a moment and ask yourself… are you busy because you are sinning? Stick with us here… are you busy because you are coveting and thus acting on seeking out the very things you see others have and you want? Those are some hard questions to ponder. Please realize we are not saying that coveting is not simply wanting something. Having the thought that a house you drive by is nice, and you would like to have one someday is not the sin of coveting. Coveting is excessively desiring something that belongs to someone else and dwelling on the wanting of it for your own. Again, we are not talking about wanting a new home when yours is filling with mold or wanting a new home when you can afford it and your family would benefit from extra space. Maybe you want to be able to host a church small group. However, if you want that house and THEN that want becomes a sinful thought pattern that leads you into debt, deceit, or some other pattern of sin, that is breaking the tenth commandment.  To think that our desire for a new home or a new car or a new whatever is breaking one of the ten commandments can be quite sobering. Some say the tenth commandment is not the simple add-on many think it is after the big sins of murder and idolatry, but rather the tenth commandment is actually a culmination of the nine that precede it. Colossians 3:5 tells us the covetousness is idolatry. Jeremiah 6:13 tells us that covetousness can lead t