The Curious Case of the 10th Commandment

Covetousness, that’s a big fancy word, is a tiny little virus hiding inside of you that will produce a giant problem when it reaches its fullness. For the sake of this article, think envy instead of covet. Envy is a compounding vice in your heart. It slowly eats away at your worldview. Soon it becomes the lens by which you view your circumstances. The entrance of the knowledge of good and evil into the mind of humanity when Adam and Eve sinned in the garden created a dichotomy of thought. Suddenly there was this idea that things might not be the best. Self rose to the top. Envy turned things green. Mankind had to deal with the idea that someone else has it better. It became self-centeredness. Man told God he didn’t trust Him anymore. And it sits at the center of pretty much every problem the world now faces.

Consequences of Envy

Take a look at the consequences of allowing envy, or covetousness, into your life.

Confusion

Your focus becomes what you don’t have in your life. You look across the street, across the cubicles, or across the aisle at church and presume that person has it better, more together, or has more success. You begin to think that if you just had a little bit more, or worked a little harder, owned the right vehicle, called by a bigger title, spoke to a larger crowd, had more in attendance, or so many other things that could be listed. Envy doesn’t have to be big things. It just as much be the little. How could a loving God not give you what you think is best for you and your family?!

Anger

Confusion leads to anger. Suddenly you are mad that you don’t have the things you believe you should have. You’re a good person. A great person, in fact! You deserve it. Whatever it is. Then you start to point out the flaws in the other person and wonder why they have something when they are so undeserving. your anger begins to take root in your life. Without any sort of check it will grow, fester, and begin to change how you see the world.

Bitterness

Once anger is rooted in your heart it brings forth bitterness. Now everything you view in the world is viewed through the lens of what you feel you lack from God. You don’t just feel envy for the one thing anymore. Now everything has shorted you. Nothing is good anymore. You lose your joy from the Lord, your peace in Christ. Bitterness is anger becoming the lens by which you view the world. Nothing is good enough.

Resentment

Once bitterness has taken its hold you resent every good and positive thing that happens to anyone else, and you can barely see the good that happens to you. You cease, completely, to trust God’s story and what He is doing in the world. You judge all the people around you. No one is as worthy as you are. What you don’t have, but deserve in your own estimation, is what dominates your thinking. Your life is a shell of what it could be, and what God wants it to be.

Dealing with Envy

The longer envy is able to be rooted in your life the more difficult it can be to overcome. But the beauty of Christ is that you don’t have to deal with it on your own. A true follower of Christ has the Holy Spirit to help guide them along the way. Here is how to deal with envy in your life.

Confess

Confession is purifying for the soul. The great promise of Christ is that there is grace already secured for the sin of envy. Lean on that grace of Christ. Confess the trap of the comparison mindset in your own life. Don’t try to blame someone else for it. Don’t point fingers. You are not the victim in this. Acknowledge your fault. Admit that you have been focused on what God is doing in someone else’s life rather than your own. While you are at it, acknowledge all of your sins. It will be good for you. Be brutally honest to God about your envy. He already knows. And He still forgives you in Christ.

Seek contentment

Happiness in your own circumstances is a choice. Choose the joy of the Lord over the context of your life. Circumstances are temporary. Learn to be content in whatever life situation you are in. Whether you have plenty, or are in need, trust the Lord. Trust the story of God, not your own. Contentment is a sense of satisfaction in your life devoid of what the circumstances are. Pursue contentment in Christ.

Thankfulness

A way to pursue contentment in Christ is to cultivate thankfulness in your life. And not only in your own things, but also in the successes of others. Begin to express thankfulness for everything that happens in your life, good and not what you would have wanted, while also being thankful to see good things happen to others. Thankfulness builds contentment in your life.

Refocus

Developing a mindset of thankfulness will help you refocus on all the blessings God has given you in your life. The comparison trap of life doesn’t tell you that the person you are most jealous of is often looking at your life with a sense of jealousy for all the great things you have. But the truth here is not to look at the circumstances of life at all. Look at God who is the creator and sustainer of all things. Refocus your life, not on things, but on the Lord. Ask Him to adjust your heart and trust Him to do just that.

Envy seems to be the underlying acceptable sin in the church today. But it is having dire consequences across the world. It is not just a congregant problem, but a pastoral problem just as much. Through these things you can learn to trust God, who made you and has created the best plan for your life.