The Tenth Commandment

This is the last of the Ten Commandments. This series has taken me a bit longer than I anticipated it would, but I also did not want to just hit each of the 10 commandments in a row. I wanted to give each of you time to meditate on the commandments individually as well. I hope you were able to take some time and meditate on each of these and try to figure out how each one could be better applied to your life. I know I sure have.

Old Testament:
Exodus 20:17 - Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, thou shalt not covet thy nieghbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbor's. (KJV)

New Testament:
Romans 7:7 - What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet. (KJV)

To covet entails wanting anything that is not yours, from what I understand. That could include anything and everything. We are instructed to not want our neighbor's house, wife (or husband), servants, maids, nor his animals or anything in his house. Who is our neighbor? Our neighbor is anyone. Jesus has instructed us on that many times, saying that a neighbor is anyone who is not family.

To say that we do not want anything another person has is probably not the truth if we are being honest with ourselves. It seems it is human nature to want what another person has, as the saying goes "the grass is greener on the otherside". This does not make it right, but this is something that I think most of us struggle with as we are all human.

As with anything we struggle with, we cannot succeed without God's help. We must rely on His help to obey His commandments. I don't see any other way.

Blessings in Christ,