Covetousness is a Mirage - Weekend Devotion

By Amy Forbes

I've been going through a period of unsettlement over the last few months. Too many times I've been unhappy with my marriage, unhappy with who I married and just generally unhappy with my life. My friends are better off financially and their relationships seem to be without problems but I was looking at what was going on from an outside perspective. I was so busy looking at what they had and wishing I had the same that I was failing to pay attention to what I did have. I can't count the number of times I whined to God "Why me God, why do I have to be stuck here when I want to be somewhere else?” I pointed and pointed the finger at my husband "He's the one with the problem God, he's done this and he's done that....look what he just did, it's not fair." I complained endlessly. 

Then a few weeks ago instead of changing my husband God once again changed me. He started showing me what I did have instead of what I didn't have. I have a husband who is a good father and provider who works his butt off for what we have. We aren't rich but we manage and we have lots to be thankful for. My children are healthy and we're alive.

God showed me that the times I looked at others and wanted what they had was when I was coveting. Coveting means:

As it says in 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."

This article I found has this to say about coveting: Covetousness is a mirage that produces wretchedness. It fixes our gaze on something we do not have, so that we don't praise God for what we do have.

That pretty much says in a nutshell what I was doing while I was coveting/wanting what others had. God doesn't want us to be unsettled and greedy. There's a reason why He wants us to feel contented with what we do have and that reason is so we can learn and grow in His wisdom not the wisdom of the world.

Amy is a born again Christian and a former wicca (story for another day). She is married with three children and lives in a small town in New Zealand. She works part-time developing websites. Amy is a frequent guest writer at Spiritually Unequal Marriage. She is faithful to share how God has worked in her life, her husband's life and in their marriage. You can find Amy at her personal blog, Home With Amy and I Love Vintage Things.