“Let your CONDUCT be WITHOUT COVETOUSNESS; be CONTENT with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, “I will never LEAVE you not FORSAKE you.”
Hebrews 13:5 (NKJV)
• A believer should not be covetous; they should be satisfied with whatever God has made available for them (Luke 12:15).
“Now godliness with contentment is great gain.”
1 Timothy 6:6 (NKJV)
• One of the commandments of the LORD to the Israelites is that they should not covet anything that belongs to their neighbors (Exodus 20:17).
- And the new commandment given to us by the Lord Jesus Christ is to love one another, that is, you love your fellow human beings (Luke 10:27; John 13:34).
- Apostle Paul in his Epistle says:
- “… commandment, are all summed up in this saying namely, “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”
- Love does no harm to a neighbour; therefore love is the fulfilment of the law.”
Romans 13:9,10 (NKJV)
- Also, the writer of the book of Hebrews said we should let our conduct be without covetousness, we should be content with what we have (Hebrews 13:5).
- If you are walking in love, you will not covet anything that belongs to your neighbour (Romans 13:9; Exodus 20:17).
• The love of God is poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit when we gave our lives to Christ (Romans 5:5).
- Let the love of God in you as a child of God find expression, that is, exercise the love that the Holy Spirit has poured out in you.
- A number of believers yield to the flesh; they do allow their flesh to rule them—instead of allowing the love of God to constrain them.
- Apostle Paul said:
“for the love of Christ constraineth [compels] us.”
2 Corinthians 5:4 (KJV)
• Covetousness and envy go together.
- A dictionary defines covetousness as having a strong desire for the things that other people have.
- And, it defines envy as the feeling of wanting something that somebody else has.
- Note:
Most often covetousness and envy lead to bitterness; and bitterness to hatred; and ultimately, hatred leads to murder. - You may not murder the person you hate physically, but you may with your words—when you begin to speak against the person and whatever they do.
- You make derogatory remarks about what they do.
• Cain was envious of his brother, Abel, because God accepted Abel’s offering while his own offering was not accepted.
- Cain was embittered because of what happened; he hated his brother and murdered him (Genesis 4:3-8).
- God placed a curse on Cain because of what he did—he killed his brother (Genesis 4:9-12).
- Be content with what you have, God has promised not to leave us nor forsake us (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Joshua 1:5; Hebrews 13:5).
- Whatever God did for the person you envy, the same can be done for you—if you go to Him and ask in prayer without wavering. God is no respecter of persons (Acts 10:34; James 1:5-7)
- God is liberal, generous, with His blessings—which He gives to His children (Matthew 7:11).
“Every GOOD GIFT 🎁 and every PERFECT GIFT is from above, and comes down from the FATHER of lights, with whom there is no VARIATION or SHADOW OF TURNING.”
James 1:17 (NKJV) - If you are covetous, it means you are not contented with what God has given you; it may lead to envy, which may further lead to bitterness and hatred and ultimately murder (James 4:2, 3).
• How do you feel about another person’s success, that is, success of someone around you?
- Are you green with envy when you heard about somebody’s progress and achievements?
- If the answer to the above questions is yes, then, it means you have a root of bitterness in you—you have a wrong thing in your heart.
- It means you have allowed your flesh to dominate you, and that may give an opportunity to the devil in your life.
“Looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any ROOT OF BITTERNESS spring up cause TROUBLE, and by this many become DEFILED.”
Hebrews 12:15 (NKJV) - Do not be embittered because of another person’s success.
“Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor [perpetual animosity, resentment, strife, fault-finding] and slander be put away from you, along with every kind of malice [all spitefulness, verbal abuse, malevolence].”
Ephesians 4:31 (Amp.)
• If you allow the devil’s property, you yield to fleshly lusts—he may have an opportunity in your life.
- Devil may accommodate you to perpetrate evil (Mark 7:21- 23).
“And do not give the devil 😈 an opportunity [to lead you into sin by holding a grudge, or nurturing anger, or harboring resentment, or cultivating bitterness].”
Ephesians 4:27 (Amp.) - Ask the Holy Spirit to enable you express the love that He has poured out in your heart ❤️ (Romans 5:5).
- And if you have not accepted Jesus as your Lord and Saviour, do that now, tomorrow might be too late (Romans 10:9,10).
• You will not be an instrument in the hand of the devil in Jesus’ name.
Peace!