Not Taking the BaitSample

Someone once said, “We become what we behold.”

Have you ever been scrolling on social media and come across a post that pricks your heart in an unhealthy way?

Maybe you see an old classmate that is traveling the world with the company that she owns while you sit behind a desk, typing away for someone else's profit.

Or maybe you see the March to December weight loss journey of an old co-worker, and you find yourself looking up fast ways to lose weight prompted by their weight loss journey.

Or perhaps you watch the celebratory moment that a family member experienced and you find yourself unable to genuinely celebrate with her, but you don’t know why.

Masked as disappointment, jealousy, entitlement, or even “fairness,” the world has created glorified names for the sin of covetousness, making it easier to camouflage the severity of the obvious battle within. We reason, justify, and, at times, become internally antagonistic toward the people whose worlds we desire to be in, although they would never know. The truth is that when we choose to call sin anything other than what the Bible calls it, we tend to fall deeper into sin's hole rather than being freed from its hold. The word stings because sin stings.

The thing about God is that He knows what’s brewing under the surface of our hearts. He knows that lust of the eyes can lead to many unexposed and unsurrendered desires.

The sin of coveting is more common and more discreet than we could ever imagine. It's a subtle sin with an eternal implication.

Eve showed us this!

When we want to have and to know more than what God has given us, our desires can become a playground for pitfalls.

However, had Eve shared with God her discontentment, her questioning about the tree, and her lack of understanding of His command, she may have been met with a voice of wisdom and truth rather than the voice of deception and lies.

Sinful, unexposed thoughts become sin-filled actions.

What is the solution?

Well, there are actually three solutions that we see in the Bible:

1. Confession
2. Repentance
3. Contentment

When we choose to confess our thoughts, emotions, and desires to God, He reveals which ones are sinful and which are sanctified. Then we can repent for the sin so that its hold will be released.

The Bible tells us in Psalm 37:4 to “Delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart" (ESV). Our first task is to delight in Him. That delight shapes the desires He will give us. As soon as Satan stopped delighting in the Lord, he became a pawn for evil through covetousness.

Today, we talked about confession and repentance. Tomorrow I am going to share a little story with you.

Before we go, I want to invite you to pause and pray. If God has been revealing areas of covetousness within you, take a moment to repent and ask for His forgiveness. He is your Heavenly Father; He is ready and willing to forgive and restore you.