Hope Singapore: Beyond The LawSample

Contentment: Beyond Restraining My Desires

We live in a very individualistic and consumerist society, and if we are not careful, we may bring the attitudes of the consumer into the Church. Confusing our wants with our needs goes to the heart of coveting and explains why we are so often driven by the desire for more and more, even if for things that are not rightfully ours.

That is why when Jesus went on in the Sermon on the Mount from murder to deal with the revered commandment concerning adultery, He moved beyond the letter of the Law to expose the heart of the matter, i.e. lust.

It is significant that the Greek word translated as “lust” in this text is actually the same word that was used to translate the Hebrew “covet” of the Tenth Commandment in the Septuagint (i.e. the Greek translation of the Old Testament). That means that although originally spoken in the context of marital faithfulness, the underlying issue covers all forms of human covetousness. How should we battle against this?

Jesus started by stressing that it is not enough to depend on the Law to restrain our desires in our struggle against covetousness. We need to realise that our goal should not be to restrict acts of covetousness but to develop genuine contentment with what we have and harbouring no “cravings” for what is not ours or for what is clearly declared by God to be out-of-bounds to us (Matthew 5:27-28).

In addition, we need to be willing to take drastic actions against temptations, and in this context, to be willing to separate ourselves from anything that encourages us to covet. We need to learn to protect ourselves from temptations, rather than to flirt with them. We definitely should not be playing the game of “how close can I get to the fire without getting burned” (Matthew 5:29a, 30a).

To finally nip covetousness in the bud, we must seek to adopt a long term perspective against instant gratification, and that we must learn to count the cost and know how much is actually at stake in our decisions (Matthew 5:29b, 30b).