Coveting means inordinately desiring to possess what belongs to another person. This commandment deals with motivation rather than deed, with attitude rather than action. It gets at the spirit that often leads to the sins forbidden in commandments six through nine. The attitude coveting reveals is selfishness, self-centeredness. One writer entitled a chapter in which he expounded this commandment, "The Selfish Life Denounced."89
The seriousness of this sin is obvious from the fact that God forbade it many times in Scripture (e.g., Ps. 10:3; Prov. 28:16; Mark 7:21-23; Luke 12:15; Rom. 1:28-29; Eph. 5:3, 5; 1 Tim. 6:9-10; 2 Tim. 3:1-5). Coveting is attractive because we may practice it without ever experiencing public exposure. Notwithstanding, God knows our hearts (Acts 1:24). The attitude itself is sinful (cf. Matt. 5:21-48), and it often leads to overt sin (e.g., Eve, Lot, Achan, David, Ahab, Judas Iscariot, Ananias and Sapphira). Coveting is the root attitude from which every sin in word and deed against a neighbor grows.
We cannot escape this sin completely. It is one of the most virile spiritual viruses that attacks us, and it flourishes in our cultural environment. Nevertheless as bacteria we can keep it under control with God's help. A prescription for the control of covetousness might include four ingredients. First, as with all other temptations, we must recognize our need for God's help (grace) in combating it (John 15:5) and ask for that help (James 4:2; Ps. 55:22; 1 Pet. 5:7). Second, we need to "learn"to be content in our present condition (Phil. 4:6, 11, 19; 1 Tim. 6:6; cf. Deut. 5:21). Third, we need to evaluate why we want what we want. Desiring something we do not have is not necessarily wrong in itself (cf. 1 Cor. 12:13). The reason we want it may make it right or wrong. Do we want it to exalt self or to serve God, our family, friends, or the needy better (cf. Mark 10:45)? Fourth, we need to make sure we are valuing spiritual things higher than physical things (Col. 3:2).
