Beware of Covetousness

Scripture has many profitable uses.  It can be a healing balm or a harsh warning; a stern correction or an everlasting promise that brings comfort.  Many times the Bible will even say what a particular verse is intended to convey.  I have found sometimes we miss the mark in application.  We may apply a verse to ourselves in a way not intended with the immediate context.  It is true that as we interpret scripture with scripture, a single statement may have many facets of true application.  Yet we must be mindful of the primary purpose of a verse when applying it to our lives.

Case in point, take Hebrews 13:5.  It says, "Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you."  Now people often take the quotation from Christ and apply it for the purpose of comfort and peace.  It is completely legitimate to do so.  It is true that we receive great comfort from the presence of our loving Saviour.  But that is not the primary application of this passage.  The writer of Hebrews is warning against covetousness and exhorting believers to be content with what they have because Jesus has said "I will never leave you or forsake you."  How often have you seen the verse applied in the way it was intended?  Probably not often.  We must be aware of our tendency to apply scripture in the way we are most comfortable with or even avoid direct application God intends!

How does the presence of Jesus keep us from covetousness?  The writer infers that all we have and need is found in the person of Jesus Christ by grace through faith, One who will never leave or forsake us.  Money grows wings and flies away, but Jesus remains our all in all.  Godliness with contentment is great gain, and the more we value Jesus the less we will treasure and desire things of this world.  That is the intended connection.  Jesus warns in Luke 12:15, "Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses."  Because covetousness is an ingrained habit in our flesh - desiring for ourselves what is not ours - we are to be acutely aware of knowingly cultivating this sin in our hearts.  The world tells us the exact opposite of Christ.  The world is always affirming that the quality of my life is directly tied to the material goods I possess.  The better the holidays, more money and things, improvements in my physical appearance and health, and obtaining my hearts desire is the recipe for a better life.  But this is a lie.  Real life is only found in Jesus, who is the Way, Truth, and Life.

If Jesus is always with us and will never forsake us, our focus should be primarily on Him.  He feeds the sparrows and knows when a single one falls.  Instead of setting our hearts on what is not, may we value and treasure Christ above all.  Jesus says in Matthew 6:25-33:  "Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? ²⁶ Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? ²⁷ Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? ²⁸ So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; ²⁹ and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. ³⁰ Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith? ³¹ Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' ³² For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. ³³ But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."