Q. What is the tenth of the Ten Commandments?
A. The tenth of the Ten Commandments is, “You shall not
covet.”
While the tenth commandment is typically shortened to “you
shall not covet,” that is an incomplete statement. To simply covet is not
sinful; in fact, I have heard many believers say, “I covet your prayers.” To
covet means, “to desire or take pleasure in.”
The tenth commandment actually states, “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."
The command is not, “don’t covet,” but rather, “don’t
covet certain things.” More specifically, the command is to not desire that
which is off limits to us.
In our culture, there probably isn’t a whole lot of
coveting our neighbor’s ox; however, the essence of the command is that we are
to be content with what the Lord has given us. Understanding that every good
gift comes from above (James 1:17), we need to remember that everything we have
is a gift from God, and everything we do not have (and everything our neighbor
has) is also a part of God’s plan.
Instead of keeping up with the Joneses, let us be content
with Jesus. After all, if we have Him, then we have more than enough.
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