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Coveting

One might think of the desire to have the things of others as an immature expression of human nature. One might see with the nation of Israel a sort of “elementary school” for the world where the many deficiencies humans have are dealt with by laws. One of the ten commandments is a prohibition against coveting the things of one’s neighbor. The human desire to have things is aggravated by proximity.

One can observe with cattle or children that once they observe something desirable that is next to them, if they have the capacity, they will attempt to get it for themselves. The church in Corinth was remarkably immature (1Cor 3:1-3). This resulted in the chaos using spiritual gifts described in chapter 14. Paul wrote them that if they were going to covet, that they should covet the “better” spiritual gifts such as prophecy (since they did not yet have the complete bible).

We see an example of the immaturity of coveting with the disciples of Jesus (Luke 22:24). To which Jesus explains that “greatness” is obtained through self-sacrifice (Luke 22:26). The reason the disciples did not have maturity was that they had not yet received the Holy Spirit. The reason the Christians at Corinth were demonstrating the selfishness of coveting was that they were so distracted with playing with spiritual gifts that they had not yet developed a habit of walking by the Spirit.

This demonstrates the importance of maturity and the work of the Holy Spirit in us. It is God’s desire to work in us to transform us so that those human qualities we have such as greed, vanity, lust, and even fear that all feed the darkness of selfishness. be transformed into qualities that serve the light of selflessness.

And that he died for all, that they which live should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them, and rose again. - 2 Corinthians 5:15

Lust is a consumptive hunger that is never satisfied. Rockefeller was once asked, “how much money is enough”, to which is is supposed to have answered, “Always just a little bit more”. God wishes us to be free from those selfish qualities that would destroy us. He has provided the indwelling Holy Spirit for Christians for this purpose. However, we have the free will to decline this offer and walk by our flesh indulging its lusts and desires.

If we can identify that which we covet, we might be able to gauge our own level of spiritual maturity. Old age is also helpful in that the ambitions, delusions, and expectations of youth often fade in the face of the reality of passing years. As we grow in truth, we also grow in real humility. This allows us to receive more grace (James 4:6) .

We can sometimes fool ourselves that we do not covet if we see ourselves of being free from “real bad coveting”. However, it can be useful to be honest about small scale coveting as well. The more honestly we can see ourselves, the more we can cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit to make us truly better people.

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. And they that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts. - Galatians 5:22-24

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