"A Sinkhole"

"Incline my heart unto thy testimonies, and not to covetousness." (Psalms 119:36)

 Odd tile, if you are so inclined. Anywho, there are those things we like to call the Ten Commandments; one of those commands deals with this thing called "Covet," as in, "Thou shalt not covet." God starts out His list of these well known commands with, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me," and finishes it off, with, "Thou shalt no covet." What is the big deal about wanting stuff, you might ask? It is more about wanting the stuff you cannot have, that is the whole point of the devils big fall, wanting to be like God. It was also David's most grievous sin, to have another man's wife. Actually, it is an action that takes place in our heart; one that is fueled by desire. The quick and short definition is that of, "To yearn to possess or have." But in the context of what the LORD says, it is more about "unjust gain." Thus, the term sinkhole, because any such kind of gain is nothing more than that, a giant whole beneath what you think is solid ground. You do know that God gave us those commands to protect us, Right? Each and everyone of those Commandments were the core principles of living a happy and prosperous life; if you abide by them, you will have no regrets! Oddly enough, covetousness is not just the last of the Ten, it is somehow the root behind every failure to keep them all. Stop and think about what it represents, doing what we want, even when we know it is wrong; that is the core of what was behind Eve's desire to partake; her passion overruled God's command. This is really not as easy to understand as you might think. But, if we are going to avoid falling into any kind of covetousness, we have got to stay on the path! There are laws that just make sense; like, don't run into a brick wall, because you will get hurt; don't jump off of a ten story building, because you will most likely die. It really doesn't take a giant education to know the basics, especially when it comes to understanding what God says we should and should not do. I was listening to J. Vernon McGee the other day, and he shared the time a young man came to him and asked, "Jesus said, 'If you look upon a woman, you have committed adultery in your heart,' "What about a woman is a mini-skirt?" J. Vernon said that he gulped. I find that sort of funny, because the point speaks to something interesting about "covet." Anywho, it is best to just keep our eyes also on the path, not just our feet...

"Their destruction is their reward for the harm they have done. They love to indulge in evil pleasures in broad daylight. They are a disgrace and a stain among you. They delight in deception even as they eat with you in your fellowship meals. They commit adultery with their eyes, and their desire for sin is never satisfied. They lure unstable people into sin, and they are well trained in greed. They live under God's curse. They have wandered off the right road and followed the footsteps of Balaam son of Beor, who loved to earn money by doing wrong. But Balaam was stopped from his mad course when his donkey rebuked him with a human voice." (2 Peter 2:13-16) NLT