Rooted in Truth: A Devotion in the Ten CommandmentsExemplo

Being Content

For Instruction

In some ways, coveting is a fundamental sin, a root sin that leads to other sins. Why is it that we commit adultery? Because we covet our neighbor's spouse. Why is it that we steal? Because we covet our neighbor’s possessions (perhaps their ox, their donkey, their field, their yard, their car, their address!). The propensity to see something and desire it is such an ever-present part of our experience. Advertising has taken advantage of this propensity and sought to turn the covetousness of our hearts to economic gain. When you see something that the folks next door have that you don't, or that amazing new product as seen on TV... do you have to have it?

For Giving Thanks

We don't need to covet if we trust and believe that God has provided for us everything that we need. He invites us to ask from His fatherly hand for the things that we need and to trust Him to provide them rather than to covet after them. We can be thankful that He has granted to us our daily bread out of such kind provision.

For Confession

How bad is your case of the "I want..."s? Confess this to the Lord. Confess any lack of trust that this might spring from. Are you trusting that God will give you what you need? Or are you pining over what another person has? The New Testament connects coveting with idolatry (Eph. 5:5). In some ways this brings us back to the beginning of the Ten Commandments. Therefore confess any idolatry of covetousness in your life. Confess the ways that you have valued material things more than the One who created them.

For Prayer

Lord God, you are the All-Sufficient One. May my heart covet after nothing except a closer relationship with you. We have you alone in heaven, and there is nothing on earth we desire besides you (Psa. 73:25). Please make this true in my life, Lord God.

Congratulations! You have completed Rooted in Truth: A Devotion in the Ten Commandments. If you would like to continue praying the Ten Commandments as well as go deeper in prayer, please visit our store for additional materials as well as a link to In the Garden: A Journey to a Deeper and More Powerful Place of Prayer or consider another excellent option Heart of a Woman.