Right (Wrong!) this Way – The Tenth Commandment

Right (Wrong!) this Way

Coveting is the gateway to all sin.

Read Exodus 20:17

“You shall not covet…”

We might be tempted to think that, because the command not to covet doesn’t come with a supporting cast or entourage of precepts, statutes, and rules, that it’s probably not as important as the other nine commandments. Of course, we’d be wrong. In fact, coveting is the gateway to all forms of disobedience. When we covet, we don’t just covet. When Eve coveted God-likeness, she acted in disobedience and dragged her husband and all creation into the misery of sin. When David coveted Uriah’s wife, he was launched on a trajectory that led to adultery, conspiracy, murder, and deceit. Covetousness is like that, yeah, it is. What the heart fastens on, the body will indulge; and when the heart fastens on sinful desires, sinful practices are sure to follow. The heart is the heart of the matter, as the Scripture everywhere makes clear. So clear your heart of covetousness, and you’ll close up the gateway to all other sin.

How would you counsel a friend to start getting control of his covetous tendencies? How might you help him in this?

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“In the Gates” is a devotional series on the Law of God by Rev. T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is 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.

Editor’s note: The use of a translation other than the Authorised Version in an article does not constitute an endorsement in whole or in part by The Christian Observer.