I just finished teaching through the Ten Commandments as our class studies the book of Exodus. Here we are at the holidays, and I was struck how the tenth commandment—you shall not covet—connects so easily with the modern holiday season. After all, in the U.S. we celebrate Thanksgiving on a Thursday and thank God for all that He has provided, and the very next day is what? Black Friday. We immediately start scrambling for deals on all the things we and our loved ones want.
We collectively recognize the irony of this problem. How many adaptations of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol and Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch Who Stole Christmas are there now? The majority of Christmas movies are reminders that Christmas is not about possessions. We tell ourselves repeatedly Christmas is not about coveting. It’s about family and friends and generosity. Yet, none of that seems to sticks. We just can’t convince ourselves.
I read a post by Meghan O’Rourke a few weeks ago that said at Christmas, “It’s hard to fend off the ubiquitous messaging that the path to happiness is consumption and more consumption.” Our lives are filled with advertisements for things you can’t live without. We’re constantly being told to be discontent with our normal lives. Your family should look like this. Your spouse should act like that. Your job shouldn’t be like work. Your vacations should be Instagram worthy.
The world tells us if you’re not discontent, then something is wrong with you. You’re not ambitious enough. You’re not coveting the right things. You’re not dreaming big enough.
We may be tempted to think the tenth commandment isn’t as important as the others. It’s last, and after all, it’s not murder or adultery. However, the commandment to not covet is unique. Idolatry, murder, and lying are all outward actions. We have to think our way back to the heart condition that led to the action. Jesus says if you’ve looked at a woman with lust, you’ve committed adultery in your heart. (Matthew 4:27-28)
Coveting is the heart condition that leads to the action. Essentially, this is the capstone of the commandments. It’s not last because it’s less important, but because it is the exclamation point on the commandments. What the other commandments imply, the tenth commandment makes explicit—God judges the heart. God’s law is ultimately spiritual, and the spiritual drives the physical. Coveting often leads to all kinds of sins.
James writes, “What is the source of quarrels and conflicts among you? Is not the source your pleasures that wage war in your members? You lust and do not have; so you commit murder. You are envious and cannot obtain; so you fight and quarrel. You do not have because you do not ask. You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures.” (James 4:1-3)
Ultimately, coveting is about contentment and discontentment. The devil loves to use discontentment, especially around Christmas, because discontentment makes you forget all you should be grateful for and instead focuses on all the things you wish were different in your life. If only this thing didn’t happen. If only that thing did happen. If only.
It’s a constant desire and hope for something to fill a longing in our lives, which leads to a perpetual disappointment. We get disappointed in ourselves, disappointed in our spouse, disappointed with our jobs, on and on. It steals our joy and peace during the most wonderful time of the year.
Why is Christmas the most wonderful time of the year? In A Charlie Brown Christmas, Linus reads Luke 2. The angels appear to the shepherds and announce good news of great joy, a Savior has been born who is Christ the Lord.
This is the greatest announcement in human history. The Israelites longed for this moment for thousands of years—generation after generation. If only a savior would be our king. If only a savior would lead us out of exile. If only a savior would deliver us.
This is what we truly need. What do the angels say? “Glory to God in the highest, And on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased.” (Luke 2:14) If we covet peace with God, if we desire contentment, Christ is where we will find it. He is the only thing that will fill that longing in our soul.
That doesn’t mean life will be easy. Christmas is a difficult time for many. Life just isn’t a Hallmark movie. Yet, the angel’s announcement isn’t a sentimental Christmas cliche. It’s life changing. In fact, all of Jesus’ disciples, except one, died horrific deaths as martyrs. They didn’t turn back. They didn’t wish if only. They had found the answer to all of our coveting and longing, and He was worth dying for.
Jeremiah Burroughs writes in the classic The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment: Nothing in the world will quiet the heart so much as this: when I meet with any cross, I know I am where God would have me, in my place and calling; I am about the work that God has set me.