JOTS FROM OLD JAKE
COVET, Who... Me?
Thursday, Jan. 11, 2007 - 6:24 p.m.
The word covet and/or covetousness is the thought in my studies today.
In Romans 7: 7 What shall we say then? is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.
What does to covet mean? Some of the definitions I have come up with are:
1. an envious eagerness to possess something, envy, enviousness, the green-eyed monster.
2. extreme greed for material wealth avarice, avariciousness, cupidity, greed.
3. reprehensible acquisitiveness; insatiable desire for wealth (personified as one of the deadly sins)
avarice, greed, rapacity, avaritia, mortal sin, deadly sin.
It seems to me that mainly it is the strong desire to posses something that is not yours. Jesus talks about this in Luke:
Luke 12:15 And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. 16 And he spake a parable unto them, saying, The ground of a certain rich man brought forth plentifully: 17 And he thought within himself, saying, What shall I do, because I have no room where to bestow my fruits? 18 And he said, This will I do: I will pull down my barns, and build greater; and there will I bestow all my fruits and my goods. 19 And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry.
20 But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided? 21 So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.
This is an epitaph written on a gravestone somewhere, (so I am told)
�Here lies John Racket
In his wooden jacket;
He kept neither horses nor mules.
He lived like a hog;
He died like a dog;
And left all of his money to fools!�
This appears to be a good picture of just what most people are like in this world of today.
One minister I listened to said that, �covetousness is one of the biggest sins committed, and one of the hardest to confess before the Lord.� I kind of think it is a real sneaky type of sin, myself, because you can covet something without realizing that you are sinning. The first time you sneak a cookie out of the cookie jar you know that you will be in trouble for it� but after you get away with it for a while you start to rationalize that that cookie in that jar belongs to you and you have a right to get it. One would say that the sin of the taking the cookie is the theft of the cookie. That is only one of the sins committed. The strong desire to possess that cookie is also a sin. That sin occurred before the taking of the cookie. You can see that other sins are perpetrated by the sin of covetousness. I know that in my life such is the case.
Greed is the master of most strife in this world today.
~~~
Greed:
Greed is a selfish desire to obtain money, wealth, material possessions or any other entity than one legitimately needs. Greed is listed as one of the Catholic seven deadly sins, usually by the synonym of avarice.
Covetousness:
A strong desire after the possession of worldly things (Col. 3:5; Eph. 5:5; Heb. 13:5; 1 Tim. 6:9, 10; Matt. 6:20). It assumes sometimes the more aggravated form of avarice, which is the mark of cold-hearted worldliness.
Desire to increase one's wealth has become more acceptable (and the word, "greed", used less frequently) in Western culture, where the desire to acquire wealth has been understood as indispensable for economic prosperity. Most believe that there are varying degrees to the pursuit of material wealth, some lesser degrees might not be considered to be "greed".
Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:
6 For which things' sake the wrath of God cometh on the children of disobedience:
Ephsians 5:5 For this ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and of God.
6 Let no man deceive you with vain words: for because of these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedience.
Hebrews 5:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
6 So that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper, and I will not fear what man shall do unto me.
I Timothy 6:9 But they that will be rich fall into temptation and a snare, and into many foolish and hurtful lusts, which drown men in destruction and perdition.
10 For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.
Matthew 6:20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal:
21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
I find it hard to be totally dependent on Jesus for every need I have. Not because I don�t believe He will provide but, because I have listened to the flesh and the traditional secularism that has been taught in our schools and is the normal expectant thoughts that is impressed upon us by our news and media sources. This program has filtered into our churches and is taught by many church authorities.
I believe that being dependent on Jesus for all our needs has been misunderstood. I have met people who understand that to mean that they don�t have to do anything. They think that the Lord will send someone to their door and feed them, pay their rent, etc. Then you get the other end of the scale: every thing has to be earned, including their salvation. Some place in there the fact that the Lord provides everything to be earned, and provides us the strength and knowledge to earn it has been tossed out with the bath water.
I guess I could ramble on and on on this subject and not really say anything. However, I thank the Lord for every thing he has provided for me, Most of all I thank him for the Blood he shed for me on that cross many years ago, paying the supreme sacrifice for my redemption..
Blessing to ya�ll
