Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV) 5 Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
Covetousness; displaying behavior that indicates a desire to own or have possession of something that belongs to someone else. Greed. Jealousy. Envy.
Covetousness is usually an outward display of a lack of satisfaction with our own life. We want more than we have. This happens when we fail to be thankful for what we do have and long, instead, for those things that we don’t have.
Coveting can be a very destructive behavior. It can destroy our relationships with others. It can cause us to be angry. It can blind us to the things that we have been blessed with, as we pursue those things that we so desperately want to possess.
God very clearly warned us about coveting what others have.
Exodus 20:17 (NKJV) 17 “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
But, for some reason many of us continue to covet and lust after the things that we see others with.
Regardless of what it is that we covet, this usually comes down to one thing; a lack of thankfulness for what God has already blessed us with. When we fail to recognize what we have, we will always want more.
It’s important that we learn to be content, no matter what our situation looks like.
Philippians 4:11 (NKJV) 11 Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:
Until we learn to be content with what we have, God simply cannot bless us with more. This might hurt our feelings a bit, but it’s a Biblical truth that we must learn to embrace as we grow and mature as believers.
Once we understand this and embrace it, it will help to stop us from chasing after so many material things that we can’t afford, which puts us in debt and creates more problems down the road.
All in all, we need to learn to put God first in everything. In turn, this will teach us to be thankful and content and help move us forward, leaving behind our covetous desires, replacing it with a satisfaction that only comes from trusting God.
For He himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you”.
Pastor Curt & Pastor Ellie
Seven Seas Ministries
P.O. Box 272
Bradford, RI 02808
401-315-0902
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