Each time you see the word covetousness in the bible, it is coupled with the word idolatry. Almost always, without fail. Like this one. Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. So how can there be a right form of such a terrible habit? Let’s go! We shall discover the right form of covetousness before this is all said and done.
Shun The Works Of The Flesh
We start with the exclusion list – those things you must NOT covet. You can be certain that the works of the flesh will not be part of the right form of covetousness. Hell will freeze over before that will happen. And the reason is not far to seek. Unless a man is born both of water (the flesh) and of Spirit, He cannot see God.
He who is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Consequently, God who is Spirit is never going to ask you to covet things of the flesh. First on the list is fornication. If anyone covets and craves fornication, he is not of God. And most definitely, he cannot claim to have a handle on the right form of covetousness.
Uncleanness Is Not The Right Form of Covetousness
Next is uncleanness, which is also translated as impurity, especially of thoughts. Please note that in the old testament, impurity related to ceremonial laws such as touching something dead or eating unclean foods. It also related to skin diseases and discharges of bodily fluids.
But with the coming of Christ, the physical impurity took a back seat to the impurity of the thoughts. The end of the law has come, as we observed in an earlier post. To make the point that the heart is now the seat of impurity, Jesus gave the example of what goes into a man. He explained that a man is defiled, not by what goes into a man’s mouth but what comes out of his mouth.
For out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks. In other words, what proceeds out of your mouth is coming straight out of your heart. Which is why He said that if you lust after a member of the opposite sex, you have committed adultery already. In your heart, where it matters most.
Other Works That are Not the Right Form Of Covetousness
Those two works of the flesh are not alone among the acts that a Christian must never covet. They do not form any part of the right form of covetousness. The others include adultery, which does not need explanation. Next is lasciviousness, an old-world version of pornography, I may say. The third is the major sin of idolatry, aka giving priority to the created rather than the creator.
Anytime you give first place in your heart to anything or anyone other than God, you are guilty of idolatry. You may recall that this is where we started, that covetousness is seen as idolatry. That is because each time you participate in this form of covetousness, you give first place to something you crave. That is pure evil.
Next on the list of works to avoid is witchcraft, which is a hidden version of rebellion. The complete list of the works of the flesh is found in the Epistle to the Galatians. In addition, the list includes, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, reveling.
To complete this horrendous list, the writer ended with “and such like.” He needs to reveal that the works of the flesh are all those acts that do not proceed from your spirit man. Too numerous to make an exhaustive list of them. Avoid craving or coveting any and all of these.
Do Not Covet Anything That Is Your Neighbor’s
Additionally, the law of God contains a section about your behavior towards your neighbor. After giving instructions about our responsibilities to Himself, God turned to our neighbors. We are not to covet our neighbor’s house. Fat chance of that particular law being obeyed in these days of one-upmanship!
Secondly, you must not covet your neighbor’s wife. You only need to watch any of the numerous whodunnits to know that we observe that more in the breach. Next, you are not to crave your neighbor’s servant male or female.
That this is written in the same breath as his ox or donkey leads us to only one conclusion. It is evident that God was thinking of any of his energy-saving devices. Coveting your neighbor’s dishwasher or his washing machine or his car is most definitely not the right form of covetousness.
The Right Form Of Covetousness Involves A Greed For God
With so many items on the “do not covet” list, you are right to wonder what could remain on the “covet” list. You speculate about what could be left for composing the right form of covetousness. A lot, as it turns out.
Take Moses for instance. He had the good sense to throw down the gauntlet. He told God that he would not budge unless God gave him His Presence. Moses was evidently greedy for God. He had a wonderful handle on the right form of covetousness.
And Moses’ insistence for His Presence must have pleased God. Because God came through marvelously. He not only provided Moses with His Presence He also gave him rest. Talk about the right sort of covetousness. Are you greedy for God? Am I craving God’s Presence? That would please God immensely, the way it did with Moses’ greed for God.
Joseph too, even in prison, coveted God’s Presence above all else. Consequently, he was able to resist the temptation of committing adultery with his boss’s wife. Here was a man who desired God so much that he ran away from sin. Observe that his abhorrence of sin was not related to fear of his boss. It was mainly that he could not do it to God. He feared God.
Covet The Best Gifts
Paul, writing to the Corinthian church later, actually instructed them to covet the best gifts. It should come as no surprise that he was discussing spiritual gifts when he gave that instruction. All covetousness of earthy or fleshly things is evil.
As a corollary, all covetousness of things of the spirit is desirable. The Apostle was telling them to covet spiritual gifts. These include: first, the word of wisdom, second – word of knowledge, next, faith, followed by gifts of healings.
He continues by listing workings of miracles, prophecy, discerning of spirits, different kinds of tongues and finally, the interpretation of tongues. These all collectively represent gifts of the Spirit, of which you can never have too much. They represent the right form of covetousness.
Maranatha!
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