Coveting…
It is human nature
We all do it
It is a part of our American culture
It is destructive
It is idolatry
Living simply so that others may simply live
Covet the best gitfts
Covet knowing Jesus
The soul of the covetous is far removed from God, as far as his memory, understanding and will are concerned. He forgets God as though he were not his God, owing to the fact that he has fashioned for himself a god of Mammon and of temporal possessions.—Saint John of the Cross in The Dark Night of the Soul, cited in Christianity Today, February 9, 1998, 78.
Recently I laid a small circle of poison around a hill of stinging ants. Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the ants began to pick them up and carry them throughout the colony. I returned later to see how well the poison was working. Hundreds of the stinging ants were carrying the poison down into their hill. Then I noticed a hole in the circle of poison. Some of the poison was moving the opposite way—away from the hill. Some smaller, non-stinging ants had found this “food” and were stealing it from their ant neighbors. Thinking they were getting the other ants’ treasure, they unwittingly poisoned themselves. When we see someone with more than we have, we must beware. The hunger to beg, borrow, or steal our way into what is theirs may poison us spiritually.
It is human nature
We all do it
It is a part of our American culture
It is destructive
It is idolatry
Living simply so that others may simply live
Covet the best gitfts
Covet knowing Jesus
The soul of the covetous is far removed from God, as far as his memory, understanding and will are concerned. He forgets God as though he were not his God, owing to the fact that he has fashioned for himself a god of Mammon and of temporal possessions.—Saint John of the Cross in The Dark Night of the Soul, cited in Christianity Today, February 9, 1998, 78.
Recently I laid a small circle of poison around a hill of stinging ants. Thinking the tiny granules of poison were food, the ants began to pick them up and carry them throughout the colony. I returned later to see how well the poison was working. Hundreds of the stinging ants were carrying the poison down into their hill. Then I noticed a hole in the circle of poison. Some of the poison was moving the opposite way—away from the hill. Some smaller, non-stinging ants had found this “food” and were stealing it from their ant neighbors. Thinking they were getting the other ants’ treasure, they unwittingly poisoned themselves. When we see someone with more than we have, we must beware. The hunger to beg, borrow, or steal our way into what is theirs may poison us spiritually.
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