What's yours is yours

Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. for He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." (Hebrews 13:5 NKJV)

I have struggled with covetousness for most of my life. As hard as I try to be content with my life, I am constantly finding myself (consciously or not)coveting that which belongs to others. I guess that is why I always feel as though I am striving for something that is unattainable. I am constantly desiring things that belong to others. These things are not limited to physical things. Sometimes I desire another person's spiritual gift, or natural talent. Praise the Lord that I finally recognize this as sin. I guess that goes to show that Jesus is still busy at work, changing my heart, and opening my eyes to the truth.

AMG's Encylopedia of Bible Facts, defines covetousness as, "A strong desire for the possession of worldly things. It assumes sometimes the more aggravated form of avarice, which is the mark of coldhearted worldliness." There's a harsh reality!!!

The tenth commandment warns us not to covet thy neighbor, his wife, his servant, his ox, his donkey, or anything else that belongs to him. (Exodus 20:17; Deuteronomy 5:21) This is a commandment, one of God's golden laws, yet I, along with many others am constanly breaking it. Granted most of the time I do not realize I am doing it and when I become aware of it I repent and ask for forgiveness. However, the truth of the matter is that much of our society today teaches us to covet one another's belongings. We are constantly being ranked by the "things" that we own, and pressure is always there to own that which is bigger and better than everyone elses. When we lose competitions, or fail at projects, we are quickly told that it is because we didn't have as much strength as the other person, or as much money, or talent, etc... The list goes on. This world frequently reminds us that we will never be as good as our neighbor and that we will always need more "things" if we want to be better or even happy.

My goal here is not to ramble on about all the negative pressures of this world, but instead to simply point out that God's Word was not meant to adjust to the world, instead the world is meant to adjust and conform to God's Word. God made it clear in His Word that as Christians we are to be in this world but not of it(John 15:19; 17:15-24; 1 Corinthians 7:31; 2:12-16; Ephesians 2:2-10; Colossians 2:20-23; Galatians 4:3-7; and James 4:4). We are not of this world because if we were it would mean that we are ruled by Satan, for he is the one who rules this world. As Christians we are set apart by Christ. We are no longer bound by sin or by the rules of this world. Therefore, even though this world teaches me to covet that which belongs to my neighbor, I refuse to conform to the thinking of this world. Christ is in me, therefore I am in Him. As such I will consecrate my life to Him and will obey his commands. All of them! Whenever I am tempted to covet that which belongs to someone else, I will remind myself of Paul's words in Ephesians 5:5, For of this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. (NKJV)