What Do You Want?

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Exodus 20:17 (NIV) “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

What is it saying to me?

The first commandment tells me not to put another god before the Lord. The tenth tells me to look at what I want. Those might seem like different commandments, but I don’t think it’s an accident that the Ten Commandments begin and end with these two. They’re asking the same question from opposite angles: what has our hearts?

As an American in the 21st century, I doubt coveting someone’s ox or donkey is on our radar. But a house, an investment portfolio, or a car might be. Or maybe it isn’t tangible objects but a skill set. We could want someone else’s ability to speak easily in front of a room, a musical or business talent, opportunities someone’s been given, the relationships they have, or the respect people seem to give them without a second thought. None of those things are wrong to notice. The trouble starts when I can’t be glad for them because I’m too busy wondering why God gave them to someone else.

The scary thought is that coveting doesn’t just sit in our brains. Eventually, it can show itself in the form of stealing, adultery, murder, lying to damage others, or even ignoring the Sabbath to hustle. Breaking the tenth can lead to breaking other commandments. Scary thought.

In a way, coveting is a way of making a god. We begin arranging our thoughts, our time, and sometimes our treatment of other people around getting that thing we desire. The first commandment asks whom I worship. The tenth commandment makes me uncomfortable by showing me one way to find out.

What is it saying to you?

Have you been comparing someone else’s life with your own lately? Why?

Is there something they have that you can’t seem to be glad they have?

How has that desire changed the way you think about them or treat them?

What are we going to do about it?

Think of one person you’ve been comparing yourself to. Name the specific thing you want, and ask God to show you whether it has taken a place in your heart that belongs to him.