Morning

March 22

Deuteronomy 5:21 ²¹"You shall not covet your neighbor's wife. You shall not set your desire on your neighbor's house or land, his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor."

Hello America! Lust will be our undoing. What God has given to others should cause you to be glad, not envious. Envy and selfishness are clear signals that we are walking in the flesh (our old nature). To desire to take your neighbor's possessions shows you have allowed your heart to become idolatrous (putting a thing before God). What follows is theft, adultery, working on your Sabbath, and ignoring God to get what your heart has fixed itself on.

Every day commercials bombard us with things to lust after. Advertisers always imply that owning their product will bring you happiness. That has some truth. Material things often do bring a shallow and temporal happiness. Physical things never affect the deeper joy of the heart. Satan said in Genesis 3:5, (NIV), "For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." He promises far more than he delivers and he never tells you the full price.

The Ten Commandments are almost possible until we get to this last one. The problem with man is "his "wanter" is broken. We should desire the truth, the fruit of the Spirit, and to be righteousness. Instead, we set our hearts on creation rather than the Creator.

Consider: Before you go after obtaining anything in life, whether a title, a possession, or a relationship, ask yourself if you expect this to bring you happiness. Is it a need or a lustful desire? Will the possession of this that you seek glorify God or self?