Deuteronomy 5:21
Since March of this year the coronavirus has shut down much of life’s activity: closed businesses, churches, sporting events and people have lost jobs. Our economy was doing great. People had jobs before this. Businesses were growing. Out of envy and covetousness a nation used germ warfare on the world, even at the expense of their own people.
When God gave Moses the Ten Commandments for the covenant community, he made a special one out of the ten to deal with envy and coveting. God knew the harm envy can bring into the life of a people. The law states, “You must not covet your neighbor’s wife. You must not covet your neighbor’s house or land, male or female servant, ox or donkey, or anything else that belongs to your neighbor”.
The virus of coveting or envy has been in our human family for as long as humans have lived. One definition of envy is stated this way: “a feeling of discontent or covetousness with regard to another’s advantages, success, possessions, etc.”
The definition of covet is stated this way: “to desire wrongfully, inordinately or without due regard for the rights of others to covet another’s property.”
Moses told the Israelites the reason that God has given them these laws. “He showed you these things so you would know that the Lord is God and there is no other. He let you hear his voice from heaven so he could instruct you. He let you see his great fire here on earth so he could speak to you from it. Because he loved your ancestors, he chose to bless their descendants and he personally brought you out of Egypt with a great display of power. He drove out nations far greater than you so he could bring you in and give you their land as your special possession, as it is today. So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The Lord is God both in heaven and on earth and there is no other. If you obey all the decrees and commands I am giving you today, all will be well with you and your children. I am giving these instructions so you will enjoy a long life in the land the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
It did not take long before the people of Israel, with envy and covetousness, rejected God’s commandments as they sought to be His equal. In the signs of our time we see the same human problems created by our envy. I have always loved the game of baseball. In high school I played the game with wooden bats, metal spikes on my shoes and no hard helmets. I have followed the game of baseball since I could read the sports section in the newspaper. I loved to listen on the radio to games and the voices of Red Barber and Mel Allen. Some of the best television announcers were former players like Dizzy Dean and Joe Garigiola. These guys knew the game of baseball. Once in a world series Joe Garigiola was the announcer. There was a runner on first base. As the pitcher wound up Joe said, “It’s a pitchout.” Sure enough it was a pitchout. The other announcers were amazed and wondered how he could call the pitch. He said that it was simple – the Detroit Tigers were using the same signs that he had used as a catcher 24 years before.
The signs of coveting and envy never change in the human family. We make choices with our lives and our choices affect the economic situation we have because of these choices. I was blessed to have some very good teachers. They had chosen to teach even when teaching did not offer great financial rewards. We have many in the educational field that covet and envy the fact that others have made choices that produce a better income. We have so many of these types of people in education that it is reflected in many ways in what is happening with today’s students.
Envy and coveting affects our attitudes in much of the media, print, radio and television. They are not paid much for their work, unless you reach the upper echelon of the business. This is why we see so many of the people in the media supporting socialism and its claim for equality. Socialism is based on a few people of power telling the rest of us what we can and can’t do. It is about taking from people that made choices that gave them a greater financial reward than most of the people that chose to work in some form of the media. You can see the envy and coveting in the media bias.
Envy and coveting have caused huge problems for us in our lives. What helps you make your decisions about how and what you are becoming? In Peanuts, Charlie, Snoopy and Lucy are standing at the pitcher’s mound. Lucy says, “Hey Manager, next year I think I’ll play for a different team. I’m tired of losing all the time.” Then Charlie says to Snoopy, “I suppose you’re going to play for someone else too.” Then we hear Snoopy reply, “I play for whoever owns the supper dish.” So many people have made their choices for life based on whoever owns the supper dish, even when we are not happy with what we are doing for our supper dish. In the hearts of these people envy and coveting grow. We see the phony concerns in the protestors. They are people filled with envy. The protesting is not about the incidence of a few bad cops killing a man. If these people were concerned about the beautiful gift of life from God, they would not take this reason for killings, week in and week out in all the major cities in America. Envy produces people that will kill, steal, burn and destroy the homes and businesses of others. The actions of envy and coveting have produced so many of our human family’s problems.
God gave the law to Moses for Israel. The law still stands for us today for God never changes. God became one of us in Jesus, the man. God put himself on the cross to save us from our envy and coveting filled lives. Easter and the resurrection give us God’s plan to overcome the sin of envy and coveting. I know what keeps me with God. It is His love that will not let me go and His patient leading that brings me along the path and welcomes me into His kingdom. In His kingdom love takes away the evil of envy and coveting. This virus will rob you of the joy of life.
Stanley Jones said, “nature sides with grace. We are pressed above by grace, from below by nature. We are squeezed into the kingdom. When you say yes to Jesus Christ, the universe says yes to you.”
When we say yes to the grace Jesus gives, we have our cure of envy and coveting. Faith in Jesus is the cure for envy and coveting. The cure can be seen because we stop trying to take away someone else’s success through envy and coveting.
