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

The tenth commandment says: Don’t covet your neighbour’s belongings.  When we spend so much time longing for what others have, then dangerous things can happen.

One of the meanings of covet is to desire (what belongs to another) inordinately or culpably.  Coveting is about wanting what another person has in such a way that you would do something unhealthy to obtain it.

It is one thing to want good things, to see something that your neighbour has and wish that you had something similar, but when you begin to long for what they have with a bitter heart toward that person, then have you entered the realm of sin.

Perhaps somebody you know has a job that you would like to have.  It would be wrong for you to try to destroy that person’s reputation in order to have what it is you believe they have.  You might obtain the position but cause great damage in the other person’s life and your own life.

Instead of desiring the same job perhaps there is an equally good job somewhere else that you might obtain with the right training.  Certainly God understands your desire for a good job.  He can help you to get it too.

Coveting is also serious because you are saying that God does not have a perfect plan for your life.  You are looking at the success of other people and you have determined that there is only so much success to go around, and therefore you want to take something that is not yours, because you have a hidden belief that God can’t provide something similar for you.

God has the ability to raise every person to the place of their greatest satisfaction.  When you are longing for something that is not yours then you are spending energy unwisely, because God certainly has great things in store for your life as well.

God has infinite resources and capacity.  Your friend might have a nice house on top of a hill overlooking a lake that is very beautiful, but certainly there is another house on another lake with an equally beautiful house view.  A prayer to your Father in heaven can unlock the ideal place for you.

When we take what is not ours, we cause a curse to come upon ourselves.  When we long for what another has so ardently that we are willing to see them destroyed in some way in order to have what they have, we are certainly not walking in the spirit of Christ toward them.

We need to rejoice with those who rejoice.  We need to rejoice when people get something that is wonderful for them because if you understand the heart of God, He has great things in store for all His children.

We have all been in the place of jealousy and wrong desire.  We must confess our sin to our Father in heaven and He will forgive us.  He has great blessing in store for your life.  Seek His fullness today and watch what He will do for you and your families.

On the road to our destiny, we would do well to heed these words of Jesus in Luke 12:15: “Beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consists not in the abundance of the things which he possesses.”