I believe the first and last of the Ten Commandments are the same--just from a different perspective. "You will have no other gods besides Me." From a heavenly perspective the transcendent, immanent God reminds His children that He is all they need. As their Savior He has redeemed them for all eternity. As their Shepherd He will daily walk before them, beside them, and even "come after" them to make all things good as only the God of infinite goodness can do. As their True Vine He will empower them with a sense of His love, with answers to their prayers, with the joy that enabled Him to endure the cross, with the ability to be cleansed through His Word, with the ability to bear eternal fruit for His glory, to be transformed into His likeness. What a wonderful Savior! "There is none besides Thee." He alone is worthy to receive praise and honor and glory and worship. God alone.
"You shall not covet" is the same command from the perspective of His child, the one whose life is hid in Him, the one commanded to "set their affections on things above where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father--mission accomplished. "It is finished." As we grow in our understanding of the majesty of our Triune God--more than sufficient for all our needs--we remind ourselves that we need nothing in our lives but Him and what He has--in His love and wisdom--given us. Is not total contentment the full acceptance of the will of God in every area of our life? Then to covet those things He has not given us is, as Paul tells us, idolatry. Whatever we desire outside of what His loving provision has given us is something we worship instead of Him. It becomes my god; I become my god. And what an impact it has on our lives. As one writer has said, I become an exploiter of others--my wants are more important than the needs of others. And I embrace the emptiness of trying to find joy in pursuit of the worthless.
Sadly, we live in a culture that thinks covetousness is a virtue. Those who get all that they can get--no matter the means--are our heroes--our success stories. Those who try to find a life filled with meaning--with joy; and a life without joy is meaningless--those who try to get all that they can for themselves become angry, dissatisfied, even violent, miserable people looking for someone or Someone to blame for their lack of fulfillment--for the emptiness of their lives. They kiss their golden calves with their image on its countenance and wonder why a heart of stone cannot love them back.
We must be sure that we have no other gods besides Him as our God. We must be sure to radiate a confidence in His goodness in our lives--a trust in His will. We must be sure to demonstrate to the world that our relationship with Him and our security that all we need He has provided and will provide is more than enough to give our lives meaning. We must be men and women of prayer for if we fail to daily take all things before His throne, we will never learn to be content.
"You shall not covet" is the same command from the perspective of His child, the one whose life is hid in Him, the one commanded to "set their affections on things above where Christ sits at the right hand of the Father--mission accomplished. "It is finished." As we grow in our understanding of the majesty of our Triune God--more than sufficient for all our needs--we remind ourselves that we need nothing in our lives but Him and what He has--in His love and wisdom--given us. Is not total contentment the full acceptance of the will of God in every area of our life? Then to covet those things He has not given us is, as Paul tells us, idolatry. Whatever we desire outside of what His loving provision has given us is something we worship instead of Him. It becomes my god; I become my god. And what an impact it has on our lives. As one writer has said, I become an exploiter of others--my wants are more important than the needs of others. And I embrace the emptiness of trying to find joy in pursuit of the worthless.
Sadly, we live in a culture that thinks covetousness is a virtue. Those who get all that they can get--no matter the means--are our heroes--our success stories. Those who try to find a life filled with meaning--with joy; and a life without joy is meaningless--those who try to get all that they can for themselves become angry, dissatisfied, even violent, miserable people looking for someone or Someone to blame for their lack of fulfillment--for the emptiness of their lives. They kiss their golden calves with their image on its countenance and wonder why a heart of stone cannot love them back.
We must be sure that we have no other gods besides Him as our God. We must be sure to radiate a confidence in His goodness in our lives--a trust in His will. We must be sure to demonstrate to the world that our relationship with Him and our security that all we need He has provided and will provide is more than enough to give our lives meaning. We must be men and women of prayer for if we fail to daily take all things before His throne, we will never learn to be content.
"You will have no other gods besides Me." Who could imagine that you would need other? Who could not joyfully worship Him?!!
"You will not covet." Covetousness is idolatry. Who would be so blind as to trust in himself as the god who is able to meet his needs and fill his life with meaning?
May the Spirit empower us to live a life that shouts to others: "God and God alone" is all I need. "I will praise Him! I will praise Him! Praise the Lamb for sinners slain; give Him glory all ye people, for His blood can wash away each stain." Each.
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