Keeping Covetousness in Check – The Tenth Commandment

Keeping Covetousness in Check

The Tenth Commandment

Asaph shows us how to deal with covetousness.

Exodus 20:17

“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.”

Deuteronomy 5:21

“‘And you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife. And you shall not desire your neighbor’s house, his field, or his male servant, or his female servant, his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.’”

Luke 12:13-21; Ephesians 5:5; Colossians 3:5; 1 Timothy 6:6-8

In Psalm 73 Asaph gives us a concise formula for dealing with covetousness and all temptation.

First, we must recognize that it is at work within us. We must realize that covetousness is seeking to divert our focus, destroy our peace, and lead us to greater sins (vv. 1-15).

Next, we must remember our duty to our neighbors, to love them purely and without self-interest (v. 15). At the same time, by thinking through the consequences of our falling to temptation, we may become sufficiently embittered in our souls against it to forestall coveting growing any further (vv. 18-21).

Then, seeking the Lord in prayer and in His Word, we must renew our focus on Him and our love for Him as the supreme Object of our desire (vv. 23-26). We will not be able to know fullness of joy and pleasure forevermore in the presence of God (Ps. 16:11) if we prefer to allow covetousness to have its way in our souls.

Let us keep a close watch, then, on all our desires, so that we may see and overcome covetousness before it captures and overthrows us.

At the root of all coveting is the desire for autonomy—what Augustine referred to as a “deadly corrosive.” We want to be our own god, to make up our own minds about what we should have and enjoy. We do not want to be restricted or constrained by God telling us what’s good for us. This was the strategy Satan employed to bring Adam and Eve to rebellion.

When we indulge coveting, we are seeking to throw off our creaturely status, rejecting contentment in the Lord and His will and seeking to arrogate power and authority unto ourselves. We want to be god!

Thus, coveting brings the Law full circle. Even the temptation to covet, therefore, can be used of God to reinforce obedience to Him. Guard against all coveting, and you will strengthen fear and love of God, know a greater desire to please Him, and discover that you walk more obediently in all His ways.

And this is the path of righteousness, of fullness of joy, life, and pleasure forevermore.

We are now accepting registrations for the course, Spiritual Maturity 1: Revival. This free, seven-session course by T. M. Moore allows you to study by yourself or with a mentor, and includes free resources from Patrick, Columbanus, Luther, and Edwards, among others. Visit The Ailbe Seminary for more information on this training opportunity.

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In the Gates is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore, editor of the Worldview Church. He serves as dean of the Centurions Program of the Wilberforce Forum and principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He is the author or editor of twenty books, and has contributed chapters to four others. His essays, reviews, articles, papers, and poetry have appeared in dozens of national and international journals, and on a wide range of websites. His most recent books are The Ailbe Psalter and The Ground for Christian Ethics (Waxed Tablet).

Scripture quotations in this article are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, (c) copyright 2001, 2007 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.