Building Project

Last month we said that contentment is the state of mind and heart where one’s desires are satisfied with what God has provided. It is a choice we make as the natural outgrowth of humility and a trust in God’s promise to provide for our needs.  To that end, Pastor Steve Lawson humorously notes that there are three kinds of people:  the “haves,” the “have nots,” and “those who have not paid for what they have.”  Many Christians in the third category have gotten there by short-circuiting the lessons of contentment.

The opposite of contentment is covetousness.  To covet is to desire that which God has not granted you or that which He has forbidden you.  This may be something which is perfectly legitimate in itself but is simply not for you.  From a practical standpoint, to covet is to want the life God has provided for someone else.  Coveting is so intrinsic to our nature that Paul wrote that he wouldn’t even have  known it was a sin if the Law had not told him so.  The first 9 commands of the Decalogue deal with observable actions.  The 10th Commandment (“You shall not covet.”) addresses the attitude of the heart and underscores Jesus’ teaching that sin’s actions arise from the heart’s desires.  That is why the love of God and love of money are mutually exclusive.  We serve that which we love and no one can serve two masters.

Coveting takes greed’s unformed desire and focuses it on a specific object.  Jesus warned: “Be on guard against every form of greed.” Why is greed dangerous?  Because it is a hunger which can never be satisfied.  “He who loves money will not be satisfied with money, nor he who loves abundance with its income. This too is vanity.”(Eccl 5:10) Paul also warned the Colossians that greed is a form of idolatry.  It is sinful to desire someone else’s appearance, possessions, relationships, or fame.

For many Americans coveting has become a form of recreation, as the multiplying number of glossy women’s magazines and lifestyle-oriented television shows proves.    A famous commercial some years ago asked the question, “Who says you can’t have it all?” Now that Democracy, Capitalism and Protestantism have become conflated the idea of contentment almost seems unamerican. Anyone who saw Michael Douglas as corporate raider Gordon Gekko in the movie “Wall Street” will remember his famous “greed is good” speech.  You also may remember that it was linked in his speech with two other favored American themes, “the evolutionary spirit” and “the upward surge of mankind.”  In such a context “contentment” is at best, quaint, and at worst, sneered at.

Is coveting always wrong?  In some translations of the Bible Paul’s injunction to “eagerly desire” the best gifts is translated to “covet earnestly.” (1 Cor. 12:31) In this case these gifts come from God and since He wants us to have them, this is one proper expression of our desire.  From here it is a small step to Paul’s exhortation to “Follow me as I follow Christ.”  This is a life we should all covet!