Satisfied With What You Have

Do you wrestle with discontentment? Wishing you had a better situation? Check out the 10th commandment. Keep Reading…

READ
Exodus 20:17 - "You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.”

REFLECT
The grass is always greener…. The food is always better at…. Why can’t my parents be more like…. Why can’t my kids behave like…. I wish I could move to…

These statements can be quite common - even seem very normal. Statements of discontentment roll out of our minds and off our tongues so easily. We’re all this way, right?

The heart behind this 10th commandment is satisfaction with what you have. To "covet" means to lust after or desire. This wrong desire is prompted by a dissatisfaction of what you have already been given. Lust is a way that you steal from people and defraud them even when they don’t know it. This is forbidden, just like stealing is forbidden in the 8th commandment.

As God was giving this commandment to Moses on Mount Sinai, the Israelites grew dissatisfied in their waiting. They immediately coveted other gods and other lovers. Idolatry and sexual immorality spread throughout the camp. God’s command was broken.

The most common way this command gets broken is through complaint. When your job, spouse, kids, school, and money is not good enough for you, coveting is knocking at your door. Don’t let it in! Slam the door shut through active thanksgiving for all that God has already provided.

RESPOND
Have you allowed dissatisfaction to roam through your mind? Have you given it access? Do you find yourself desiring what everyone else has? It’s time to turn from coveting through repentance. Spend time rehearsing all the good things God has given you. Thank him and thank him again.