Building Bigger Hearts Series

Coveting puts a barrier between me and my neighbor. Contentment knocks it down.

I was in a room with Dr. Blackaby and some pastor friends the other day. Our 707 pastor, Dan Burgoyne was there meeting some of these pastors for the first time. I passed out some of the 707 brochures. I could be wrong, but I noticed a subtle spirit of envy. “Boy, we never had a brochure like this!” Ana as Dan talked about his excitement about the launch of 707, he got a half-hearted “That’s great!” But I don’t recall questions asked like, “Where are you from? Where’d you go to school? Are you married? Do you have kids?” Not much interest in him as a person. Why? Maybe I’m wrong. But I know that pastors can be guilty of coveting, too. The desire to have the resources of 707 – ads, facility, a worship pastor – may have caused some people to miss an opportunity to build a friendship with Dan.

We must love! And it’s hard to love someone who I think already has what I think I need in order to be happy. A covetous spirit causes me to envy when my neighbor gets a new car or new furniture or a raise at work. A covetous spirit causes me to secretly rejoice when that new car that he just bought gets banged up. It puts within me a spirit of competition instead of cooperation. But a contented spirit allows me to be glad when someone else has a Hummer when I’m still driving a Plymouth Acclaim.

About three weeks ago, I was privileged to participate in a meeting with 18 spiritual leaders from NE Ohio. I sat beside Joe Coffee, pastor of Hudson Community Chapel. Now, I’d been to that church before on a Sunday when I wasn’t teaching here. Their building cost about 2 ½ times as much as this one. When I was there, I found myself thinking, “I wish we had that. I wish we had this.” Discontent was stirred in my soul. You start thinking things like, “They must not really be teaching the truth if all those rich Hudson people are coming and giving. They must be watering things down over there.” A covetous heart makes us have ugly thoughts.

But when I sat beside Joe, I found him to be genuine, caring, and passionate about reaching people in NE Ohio. In fact, we have a lot in common. We’re both pastor’s kids. We both grew up in a family with three boys. We both played sports in high school and college. We both love to be hands on with foreign missions. Our philosophy of ministry is remarkably similar. We’ve set up a time to meet for breakfast after Easter. Joe has shared with me some ideas on how I can do better at doing ministry at a more sustainable pace. We’re talking about him coming here to do some teaching sometime. Now I wonder, “Has a lack of contentment kept me from having a good friend in ministry for several years?”

I wonder whom God wants you to know – to love – but a lack of contentment has kept you from developing warmer friendships?

When I’m content, it brings me warmer friendships.

2. … wider impact.

Listen to what I wrote in my journal on Thursday: “One reason some of God’s people aren’t in fulltime vocational ministry right now is because of covetousness. It might be the family’s or the person’s.” You see, you can’t effectively serve Christ with a coveting heart.