Be without covetousness

Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.


Our lives need to be without covetousness, and living in a world where covetousness is an accepted way of life and even promoted telling someone their life needs to be without covetousness seems like telling them they have to do the impossible.


We fool ourselves by telling ourselves that it's NORMAL to covet better things. What makes it normal? Because it's part of our carnal nature, does that make it acceptable? So many people do so many things based upon their impulses, their desires and they call them normal because they have them and they can't help they have these desires- they just do. Our desires, the things we covet- and I'm not just talking about material things here but we covet people, we covet situations, we covet beauty, we can covet many, many things. And YES, we covet from a sin-filled nature. We have to war against the flesh we possess, the fleshy desires that are contrary to God and His will.


1Pe 2:11 Dearly beloved, I beseech you as strangers and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul


Our fleshly lusts will war against us! We will have these lusts, these desires and they will be powerful! These covetous lusts will try to control us, not have us control them. Satan has done His job well and has convinced us that it's impossible to fight temptations, it's impossible for us to control our NATURAL desires. We have child molesters that will describe in great detail how they couldn't HELP doing what they've done. Murderers, serial killers, they'll tell you they were compelled to do what they've done- unable to stop themselves. We have psychologists/psychiatrists/therapists/physicians and many tests that will be used in court to prove that parts of a psychopath's brain doesn't function like normal peoples. We have so much that goes on to prove why people can't control their coveting, why they can't abstain from their fleshly lusts. We make excuses even as we lock the rapists and murderers up in jail and there is a pinprick of sympathy for the poor soul who was just born bad through NO fault of his own.


I'm no expert at all and don't claim to be. There really could be people who lack the control to abstain from coveting and such- there really could be those who have no control over their actions. I know I have a hard enough time with my own personal *problems*. However we are told in God's word that with every temptation there is a way out of that temptation.


1Co 10:13 There hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.


IF we believe in God we have to believe His word to us. If we claim Christ as our Savior, if we've been born again in our Savior and place our lives in His hands we have to believe what we are told.


The temptations we face are COMMON. Often we feel as if we are the only ones struggling but we aren't! Temptation is common, it's not something rare! God WILL make a way to escape, He will make us able to BEAR the temptation without succumbing to it. He will! And we have to resist unto blood if necessary.


Heb 12:4 Ye have not yet resisted unto blood, striving against sin.


A way to escape, striving against sin. It's not easy- it's horrifically hard to strive against sin.


We are to pray-

Mat 6:13 And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen.


We are told by our Savior-

Mat 26:41 Watch and pray, that ye enter not into temptation: the spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.


The FLESH is weak! We must WATCH, we must PRAY- that we enter NOT into temptation!


Jas 1:12 Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.


We must ENDURE temptation not succumb to temptation, we must endure it without giving into it.



Heb 13:5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.


We have to live without coveting- the root of a lot of our temptations is coveting. We need to be CONTENT with how things are. We need to be content without the things we covet, living in such a way that by the grace of our Lord we stop coveting. We need to be content with this wonderful, amazing fact-- Jesus will NEVER leave us or forsake us! We might lose EVERYTHING we hold dear in this world, but we CAN'T lose our Savior, NO ONE can take our Savior from us, NOTHING can take our Savior from us! He will NEVER leave us! He will NEVER forsake us! Our eternal life is secure in HIM! We might live in horror in this world, but we have the promise of true life in HIM, in our SAVIOR! Too many people believe God is giving up on them when their lives here and now become living torture- whether emotionally, mentally, physically it doesn't matter. Satan would have us believe God has left us, that we are no longer loved by God, that we've been deserted just when we need our Savior most- but that's wrong! Our Savior was HERE In this world suffering, dying when we needed Him most to do so and He did! He was an example to us- He lived a very painful existence emotionally, mentally, and finally physically He lived a torturous life and we are called to do NO less. If we are blessed enough not to be called to endure horror it's not because of something we've done, it's not because God loves us more than others, we can't know all the reasoning behind life, all the whys and wherefores. We suffer, we live, we love, we need to claim our Savior in ALL things! He will NEVER LEAVE US! He will NEVER FORSAKE US! By His grace we live!


May we cling to our Savior as Satan surrounds us with constant temptation to covetousness, may we cling to our Lord, our Redeemer and resist unto blood!


All in His name! In His holy, holy name! In His love! In His righteousness! His grace! His mercy!


Amen!!!