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What is covetousness and what exactly does it entail in our society today?
Having been through a fire where we lost everything and had to rebuild our lives over again, we trusted God to help us do that and He did far more than we imagined possible. However, now I am worried that the scars of the fire in my kids, who are now adults, may have since adopted covetousness with things and I need to know what that is exactly so I can correct it and repent of it and have them repent of it in their lives so they are not continuing in it.
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Asked March 18 2017
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michelle perry
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Singapore Moses
Supporter
✿ An expression of covetousness--coveting more things (lust, money, food etc) until they would get them in order to indulge in. ✿ Greek: pleonexia (G4124) is used to refer Covetousness in scripture. ❶ It is translated "covetousness" (Mk. 7:22; Lk. 12:15; Rom. 1:29; 2Cor. 9:5; Eph. 5:3; Col. 3:5; 1Th. 2:5; 2Pet. 2:3) ❷ "covetous practice" (2Pet. 2:14) ❸ and "greediness" (Eph. 4:19). ❹ Here it is equated with idolatry because the thing coveted becomes an idol (pt. 5, Seventeen Works of the Flesh; note, Lk. 12:15). Idolatry includes anything on which affections are passionately set; extravagant admiration of the heart (Eph. 5:5; Col. 3:5). ❺ That this sin is also mainly a sexual sin seems clear from the fact that it is listed with four other sex sins of this passage. ❻ It will damn the soul (1Cor. 5:11; Eph. 5:3-5 1Tim. 6:9-11 2Pet. 2:3,14). ❼ It must be killed out entirely (Col. 3:2-6). ✿ Examples of Covetousness: 1. Eve--forbidden fruit (Gen. 3:6) 2. Lot--lands (Gen. 13:10-13) 3. Jacob--birthright and his father's blessing (Gen. 25:31; 27:6-29) 4. Balaam--rewards (2Pet. 2:15) 5. Achan--money (Josh. 7:21) 6. David--woman (2Sam. 11:2-5) 7. Ahab--vineyard (1Ki. 21:2-16) 8. Gehazi--gifts (2Ki. 5:20-27) 9. Rich fool--security (Lk. 12:17) 10. Judas--silver (Mt. 26:15-16) 11. Pharisees--riches (Lk. 16:14) 12. Simon Magus--Holy Ghost power (Acts 8:18-23) 13. Festus--money (Acts 24:26) 14. Demas--pleasures (2Tim. 4:10)
Cindy Jennings
Supporter
I just recently heard a message that addressed this. Mike Minter of Reston Bible Church, who is teaching from Proverbs, said that jealously is when you are envious of a person, what they have achieved, their position in life, etc., and coveting is being envious of possessions - that the neighbors have bigger houses, later model cars, etc. When you desire something someone else has, that's coveting. A big problem with our society today is that we always want more than what we have. That's coveting. It becomes an obsession in our life, which makes it an idol. The modern day idols are not bronze statutes or foreign Gods as in the days of the OT. Rather, they are rank in society, accumulation of wealth, accumulation of "stuff," - i.e., everything that will burn in a fire, temporal things. What God wants us to focus on is eternity. Develop a relationship with Him that will pass from this life to the next. No "stuff" will do that! It's hard not to get caught up in what our culture constantly tells us but I have found that the more I focus on the Word and on God, the less "stuff" matters to me and the more grateful I am for the "stuff" I do have.
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