BEWARE COVETOUSNESS

Col 3:5
“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

Covetousness is defined as ''generally, an unreasonable desire for what we do not possess'' it covers all things which are sought after inordinately.It can also mean ''extreme greed for material wealth''

Covetousness is without doubt a major vice which should not be named among Christians.It is evil and destructive.It ruins lives,families and even whole societies.The Christian is called to a life of simplicity but covetousness complicates it by diverting attention to things.The things money can buy become the sole reason why a professing Christian exists and this blights our relationship with our God.Col 3:5 calls it IDOLATORY and that is what it is.We begin to believe our lives are hopeless without the toys we think we deserve and we strive to get them and end up pushing God out of our lives.

1 John 2:15 says ''Love not the world,neither the things that are in the world.If any man love the world,the love of the Father is not in him'' This admonition has long left the radar of many a Christian as we now believe our proof of acceptance before God is hinged on how much of the world's goods we can boast of.We have forgotten the charge of our Christ in Luke 12:15''And he said unto them,Take heed,and beware of covetousness:for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth'' .The sad part is we even invoke the name of God to justify our mindless and selfish pursuit of possessions which ultimately does not satisfy ignoring the counsel of the Lord in Matt 6:19 ‘’Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,where moth and rust doth corrupt,and where thieves break through and steal’’

Covetousness begins with craving,and then evolves into conniving to get what you want.Achan coveted 'glamorous' babylonian garments so much he stole.Ahab coveted Naboth's vineyard so much he became a murderer.Ananias and Saphira coveted praise of men so much and lied about the volume of their offering.We see another classic case of the dangers of covetousness in the case of Gehazi,the servant of Elisha.He got himself and his generations a curse of leprosy simply because he refused to tame his desires and lust for material goods.he told a lie to get it and got more than what he bargained for(2 Kings 5:20-27).A prophet is also not immune as we see in the story of Balaam the son of Beor(2 Pet 2:14-15).He was forbidding from cursing the isrealites by God but because of what Balak the king had promised him,he still found a way to get isreal into trouble by ensnaring them with immorality.He lost his life when isreal took vengeance on the midianites(Num 31:

In our contemporary world,covetousness leads us into various dangerous acts that bring ridicule and shame to the body of Christ then misery and pain to the larger society.We are witnesses to the harm corruption has done to our national psyche and it stems from covetousness.It robs us of our ability to empathize with the poor as we become conceited.It can lead to debt as we struggle to acquire things we cannot afford but believe we deserve and cant do without.we should remember Heb 13:5 ''Let your conversation(manner of living) be without covetousness:and be content with such things as ye have:for he hath said,i will never leave thee,nor forsake thee''

As Christians,our lives should advertise Christ in all his Holiness,purity,humility,beauty etc. We shouldn't be seen to be in competition with the world.Let the world look at us and see the gospel boldly proclaimed even before we open our mouths to speak.That is the gospel that is delivered with power and truly causes tremendous impact.We shouldn’t allow covetousness taint our testimony.It’s just not worth our souls.

A cliche goes thus: the greatest things in life are not things.If we think deeply, we'll find this is true.

God bless you

good one.

Candour,
Another great message.
Indeed covetuousness (greed) leads to idolatry as you pursue after things rather than God. And the bible says it,

'What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul' Mark 8:36

Meanwhile we should rather seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and God will give us all we need.
Thanks OP, Keep them coming; we all need messages such as these.

Alwaystrue: Candour,
Another great message.
Indeed covetuousness (greed) leads to idolatry as you pursue after things rather than God. And the bible says it,

'What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world but loses his soul' Mark 8:36

Meanwhile we should rather seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness and God will give us all we need.
Thanks OP, Keep them coming; we all need messages such as these.

Our Lord never lacked anything he needed.His needs(note NEEDS not WANTS) were met whenever they arose and we should trust him for same provision.He has asked us not to fear for we are of more value than many sparrows.

Phil 4:19
''But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus''

He has promised and surely he'll fulfill it

God bless you plenty

tpia@:
good one.

God bless you plenty

I must have been around 10yrs old or so and a guy (in his 20s) who worked for my dad made this comment: "I will give up the rest of my life if I can be promised just 5 years of extreme wealth to live it up. I wouldn't mind at all"

Even in my small head, I knew there was something seriously wrong with someone who would choose wealth for a very short time in exchange for his life such is the love of money & material wealth, it is the root of all evil.

By God's grace, Proverbs 30 is the gold standard...

7"I ask two things from you, Lord. Don't refuse me before I die. 8 Keep me from lying and being dishonest. And don't make me either rich or poor; just give me enough food for each day. 9 If I have too much, I might reject you and say, 'I don't know the Lord.' If I am poor, I might steal and disgrace the name of my God.

JeSoul: I must have been around 10yrs old or so and a guy (in his 20s) who worked for my dad made this comment: "I will give up the rest of my life if I can be promised just 5 years of extreme wealth to live it up. I wouldn't mind at all"

Even in my small head, I knew there was something seriously wrong with someone who would choose wealth for a very short time in exchange for his life such is the love of money & material wealth, it is the root of all evil.

By God's grace, Proverbs 30 is the gold standard...

7"I ask two things from you, Lord. Don't refuse me before I die. 8 Keep me from lying and being dishonest. And don't make me either rich or poor; just give me enough food for each day. 9 If I have too much, I might reject you and say, 'I don't know the Lord.' If I am poor, I might steal and disgrace the name of my God.

@Jesoul

You know i believe there is a deeper reason why God made Solomon the richest and wisest man that ever lived.Maybe to make him use his wisdom to discover how empty wealth and a lifestyle of opulence really is and then sound the warning to the sons of men.He wrote the thesis of his research and experiments in Ecclesiastes.

If only Christendom will take time to study that book.

May God help us

Candour:

@Jesoul

You know i believe there is a deeper reason why God made Solomon the richest and wisest man that ever lived.Maybe to make him use his wisdom to discover how empty wealth and a lifestyle of opulence really is and then sound the warning to the sons of men. He wrote the thesis of his research and experiments in Ecclesiastes.

If only Christendom will take time to study that book.

May God help us

Word! but thing is we hardly take anyone's word for anything until we taste it ourselves lol. One preacher joked once that he has never seen a christian volunteer to be broke . So while many of us may preach it in theory, it is very difficult to walk out. But by the Grace of The Almighty, we shall! amen.

JeSoul: Word! but thing is we hardly take anyone's word for anything until we taste it ourselves lol. One preacher joked once that he has never seen a christian volunteer to be broke . So while many of us may preach it in theory, it is very difficult to walk out. But by the Grace of The Almighty, we shall! amen.

LOL @ the bolded.

That will be false humilty.We've however seen Christians willing to drop all they have to meet needs of needy people and also support the gospel.

We just need the right perspective to the wealth we are privileged to have.

strong thread and strong comments all around. kudos

yeah..the only thing we should actually covet is spiritual gifts.

Bidam: yeah..the only thing we should actually covet is spiritual gifts.

Then stop preaching the tithe and prosperity doctrine of MAMMON.

frosbel:

Then stop preaching the tithe and prosperity doctrine of MAMMON.

you should also stop preaching heresy

Candour: BEWARE COVETOUSNESS

Col 3:5
“Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

I think this should be made crystal: covetuousness does not merely lead to idolatry, it is itself idolatry, as the Scriptures say here.

Covetousness is defined as ''generally, an unreasonable desire for what we do not possess'' it covers all things which are sought after inordinately.It can also mean ''extreme greed for material wealth''

Covetousness is without doubt a major vice which should not be named among Christians.It is evil and destructive.It ruins lives,families and even whole societies. The Christian is called to a life of simplicity but covetousness complicates it by diverting attention to things.The things money can buy become the sole reason why a professing Christian exists and this blights our relationship with our God.Col 3:5 calls it IDOLATORY and that is what it is.We begin to believe our lives are hopeless without the toys we think we deserve and we strive to get them and end up pushing God out of our lives.

How true this is. The part I bolded above is the centrality of everything said above.

Indeed Jesus Himself told us to take no thought whatever for our bodily needs and all, but to pursue the Kingdom. It is easy to water His clear words down to mean that we should pursue God and preach the Kingdom and live right so that God will give us whatever we want.

That only means that it is still for the sake of our anxiety for food, clothing, shelter and whatnot that we serve God which means that we are right back in the vortex of covetousness, only this time, God is a celestial slot machine for us.

The simplicity of the believer's life lies in the fact that whereas he knows that in this world he has need of food and clothing and shelter, he can trust the Lord to be faithful in providing for him while he faithfully witnesses to the Supremacy of Christ with his life and his ways. Perhaps a little more on that later.

1 John 2:15 says ''Love not the world,neither the things that are in the world.If any man love the world,the love of the Father is not in him'' This admonition has long left the radar of many a Christian as we now believe our proof of acceptance before God is hinged on how much of the world's goods we can boast of.We have forgotten the charge of our Christ in Luke 12:15''And he said unto them,Take heed,and beware of covetousness:for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth'' .The sad part is we even invoke the name of God to justify our mindless and selfish pursuit of possessions which ultimately does not satisfy ignoring the counsel of the Lord in Matt 6:19 ‘’Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth,where moth and rust doth corrupt,and where thieves break through and steal’’

I haven't seen any church recently where there isn't at least a subtle emphasis on the acquisition of material wealth. The most dangerous preachings these days mask the real thing the preacher is saying - that with all thy getting, get rich and powerful - with how much better we can serve God if the believer instead of the unbeliever had all the money and power.

In fact, I had begun falling for it myself having gradually let slip the most important thing about God's Ways by the Cross - that He only ever uses the weak things of this world to confound the mighty and the things that be not to put to shame the things that are.

Therefore, when the Lord takes hold of men like Saul of Tarsus who are a great deal in themselves, greatly endowed and much gifted, He first empties them and smashes them in pieces before bothering to use them so that Israel might not vaunt himself against the Lord saying, 'mine own hand hath saved me'.

This is the Cross, that God would have nothing except His Christ. He will not take Adam's best, not will He countenance Adam's worst. He will only have that which is utterly and only Christ. And that thing which says, 'amass that ye may give to the Lord' is the same that would supplant Christ. Scriptures call it Antichrist and an example of how much God hates such is in Leviticus 10 where two sons of Aaron the high priest, Nadab and Abihu dares to offer fire to the Lord which He Himself had not given or commanded. Their judgment was instantaneous.

We must give earnest heed to the Kingdom of God and that alone.

Covetousness begins with craving,and then evolves into conniving to get what you want.Achan coveted 'glamorous' babylonian garments so much he stole.Ahab coveted Naboth's vineyard so much he became a murderer.Ananias and Saphira coveted praise of men so much and lied about the volume of their offering.We see another classic case of the dangers of covetousness in the case of Gehazi,the servant of Elisha.He got himself and his generations a curse of leprosy simply because he refused to tame his desires and lust for material goods.he told a lie to get it and got more than what he bargained for(2 Kings 5:20-27).A prophet is also not immune as we see in the story of Balaam the son of Beor(2 Pet 2:14-15).He was forbidding from cursing the isrealites by God but because of what Balak the king had promised him,he still found a way to get isreal into trouble by ensnaring them with immorality.He lost his life when isreal took vengeance on the midianites(Num 31:

Very apt examples.

'Whose god is their belly', as the Scriptures say. That is why the Scriptures call covetuousness idolatry.

In our contemporary world,covetousness leads us into various dangerous acts that bring ridicule and shame to the body of Christ then misery and pain to the larger society.We are witnesses to the harm corruption has done to our national psyche and it stems from covetousness.It robs us of our ability to empathize with the poor as we become conceited.It can lead to debt as we struggle to acquire things we cannot afford but believe we deserve and cant do without.we should remember Heb 13:5 ''Let your conversation(manner of living) be without covetousness:and be content with such things as ye have:for he hath said,i will never leave thee,nor forsake thee''

Very true indeed. In fact, the trouble that I have been having to deal with for the past several months is well within the ambit of this issue. So I do understand.

As Christians,our lives should advertise Christ in all his Holiness,purity,humility,beauty etc. We shouldn't be seen to be in competition with the world.Let the world look at us and see the gospel boldly proclaimed even before we open our mouths to speak.That is the gospel that is delivered with power and truly causes tremendous impact.We shouldn’t allow covetousness taint our testimony.It’s just not worth our souls.

A cliche goes thus: the greatest things in life are not things.If we think deeply, we'll find this is true.

God bless you

I quite understand what you have said here. And I think that it is of very great importance to note that indeed it is the world which is competing against Christ.

It claims to be able to replace Him even though it may not say so in so many words. If the Christian keeps this in mind, he will be able to learn how to use the world without abusing it as Paul advised.

Now, indeed for me the question has been where do we cross the line from seeking provision for our need into covetousness? At what point does a simple effort to work to provide for one's need and responsibilities turn into greedy grabbing? Where does our application of Jesus's 'take no thought' become the impractical 'I don't need to think about my responsibilities'?

I have a job right now that feels very like I shouldn't be in it at all. I wonder if it is the Lord gently nudging me to leave but there is no other job that I know that I feel that liberty from the inside to take and when my first month with this job is done, it might actually start paying some bills for me. But there's a reluctance within to carry on with it.

Now, I've reasoned practically about it that I should just stick with it for the sake of my everyday sustenance and unfolding plans until I can move on. But I can't help the fear that it is not the Kingdom that drives my being here but instead that it is need. Such fear limits my ability to put myself into the job and make the very best of it.

I believe that it is the Lord's Will that we use the world, but it is not at all His Will that we should abuse it. Moderation is another behavior that Love exhibits, so where is the moderation here?

I may have received an answer now that I write but let me still explore what the Scriptures say concerning about our daily sustenance and covetuousness.

First and most important, God is intimately involved in our need. He knows that we need food and clothing. In fact, in His usual way, He stocked up far more in wealth for us in creation than we could possibly need. Try and forget a little about the economist's insistence that there's too little for 7 billion of us. If it was all distributed equitably, no one would lack.

Second, we are indeed to sow and reap a harvest and eat of our own labor. But we do not exactly work in order to eat only, we are called to work in order to pour out a blessing. Everytime that we labor or sow in some way, we ought to be pouring out some deposit God has put within. That is what the Kingdom of God being righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost means - giving of the measure of God which we have received.

And third, we must not forbear to reap. Where the Lord has poured forth a blessing by us, we should allow ourselves to be watered as well. It is into fellowship that we have been called and Love runs in ever-widening circles.

In short, I am convinced that using the world and not abusing it is possible only if the user approaches it with the thought, 'now, what can I do here today to improve the quality of life here?' Indeed, is it not only such a person that would not slaughter the sheep to feed himself? And remember that the earth is the Lord's and every Christian a caretaker of it for Him. Again, is it not only such a person that would truly enjoy any rewards accruing to his labor?

As the Scriptures say, stolen bread may seem to be the best but it ends up as gravel in the mouth. The man alone who truly labors pouring himself forth, giving without begrudging is the one who truly deserves the wealth of the harvest. And how shall one be so if all they are calculating is how much one must have for this need, that aspiration and that responsibility?

Having said that, I urge that no one take lightly the Scripture that says that the worker is worthy of his hire. There is such a thing as due charge. Failure to judge correctly the worth of a labor is detrimental to the receiver of the work and the doer thereof. That which is reward for the labor must be worthy of the labor or else both the laborer and they that benefit from the labor lose.

wonderful commentaries, thanks all.

Bidam: yeah..the only thing we should actually covet is spiritual gifts.

@Bidam

True talk bro.We really need a change of perspective

frosbel:

Then stop preaching the tithe and prosperity doctrine of MAMMON.

@frosbel

hmmm.....my bro,leave Bidam alone o

@Ihedinobi

Your commentaries on the post are very deep.Finding a balance actually can be difficult if we are looking through the lens of the world.The bible says whatever we do,we should do to the glory of God and this should be our guiding thought.

I now believe too just like you said that the church 'cleverly' masks covetousness in her more popular sermons.When you keep hearing about how 'Christians' should pray and work towards taking over financial empires from 'gentiles', you have to ask the question: to what end? the ready answer will be to propagate the gospel and you'll wonder if we actually need all that money and more to actually spread the same gospel Paul lived and died for.

A true Christian must work since our God too worked and even an irresponsible man is compared to an infidel 1 Tim 5:8.We should however differentiate between honest God approved work and a desperate mindless pursuit of wealth.

I have indeed been blessed by all the contributions

JeSoul: By God's grace, Proverbs 30 is the gold standard...

7"I ask two things from you, Lord. Don't refuse me before I die. 8 Keep me from lying and being dishonest. And don't make me either rich or poor; just give me enough food for each day. 9 If I have too much, I might reject you and say, 'I don't know the Lord.' If I am poor, I might steal and disgrace the name of my God.

Indeed it is, sister dear. Beautiful bit of Scripture that.

Of course, it may please the Lord to make a Christian wealthy beyond imagination, but the wealth would mean only as much as abject poverty to him. Only in Christ does wealth or poverty mean anything.

The Lord bless you.

Candour: ...Finding a balance actually can be difficult if we are looking through the lens of the world...

Exceptional post in all, my brother, but this bit up here is the crown jewel.

Grace be multiplied to you, my brother.

Ihedinobi:

Exceptional post in all, my brother, but this bit up here is the crown jewel.

Grace be multiplied to you, my brother.

Amen my brother.
been away for awhile
cheers

Hi candour, pls post more articles. Ur articles on covetousness and modesty were amazing. Thanks

frmglorytoglory: Hi candour, pls post more articles. Ur articles on covetousness and modesty were amazing. Thanks

Thanks dear.glad u found it helpful.been a bit lazy lately.i'll post another as soon as i can.

Cheers and God bless u

Mark 8:36 KJV
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?

Beware covetousness.

God bless you