Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Covet spiritual gifts

No coveting anything that belongs to others.

Exo 20:17  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.

House, wife, servants, livestock, nor ANY THING.

Yesterday we discussed this some but it needs more because look at this next verse--

1Co 12:31 But covet earnestly the best gifts: and yet shew I unto you a more excellent way.

And this one too--

1Co 14:39 Wherefore, brethren, covet to prophesy, and forbid not to speak with tongues.

These gifts are what?

1Co 12:28 And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.
1Co 12:29 Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles?
1Co 12:30 Have all the gifts of healing? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret?

Apostles, prophets, teachers, miracles, healings, helps, governments, diversities of tongues.

Are these tangible things, are these objects we can possess? No and no. A house, wife, servant, livestock, all are tangible, these are all things we can take hold of and possess. But you cannot take someone's ability to prophesize, or their ability to teach, or their ability to heal, help, govern, and speak foreign languages. You cannot take these things from someone else it is IMPOSSIBLE.

We are being told to covet that which we cannot take from someone else and we are COMMANDED by God to not covet- not lust after, not desire the things that belong to others. The next step after coveting can often be stealing, right? Thieves will tell you readily enough they stole what they did because they wanted it for one reason or another. Surely they wouldn't steal something they didn't want, that's just plain crazy- right? When we covet that desire, that lust begins in us and then it brings forth nothing good out of us. People might jump up and say that coveting things can also lead someone to want to make something of themselves so they can afford to buy the things they covet and that's true too. However we know that possessions mean nothing-we talked about that yesterday. Our possessions cannot go to the grave with us. Not a single possession we own will give us eternal life, not one. Yes, we can find in God's word - the Bible the gospel message but that message is that our Savior saves us, not the Bible. The word made flesh saves us. Not one item we own will give us eternal life and in truth it is eternal life that matters more than any thing we could ever own.

The love of God in us matters, not the car we own, not the clothes we wear, not the television we watch, not the make up we put on, not the many items of entertainment we might own, not our computers- only the LOVE of God truly matters.

It's the love of God that gives us the love we need to possess towards one another.

Coveting what others possess is a sin because it takes our mind completely off God and brings it to this earth and earthly possession making our hearts desire earthly treasures, not heavenly.

It is WRONG to covet no matter HOW ingrained it is in us from childhood on up to do so harmlessly. This is an evil, evil sin to be guilty of. Coveting has a way of entrapping us in Satan's snares and because we are told it is harmless to covet, breaking free of this sin is incredibly hard.

Of course it is ONLY through the grace and mercy of our Savior that we can break free of any sin, we can't do it on our own.

Not coveting is a commandment of our Savior's that will never ever be done away with.

None of the ten commandments are worthy of being discarded, not a single one of them. These commandments were made out of love and should be kept out of love. Our Savior kept them all and desires that we keep them all, He makes it possible for us to keep them- all through His love, His amazing wondrous love.

Amen.

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