THE TENTH COMMANDMENT
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male or female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” (Exodus 20:17 ESV)
This Commandment sums up the others because it addresses the attitude of the heart. Coveting is closely related to stealing. The word “covet” means to desire, long for, or lust after something that does not belong to you. Most often, self-interest (i.e., pride) motivates a person to break God’s Law.
The Bible reveals the true condition of every human heart.
“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV)
A person can keep the other nine commandments, but this one points to the root problem: the sin nature inherited from Adam and Eve at the Fall (Genesis 3:1-3). Jesus expands on this Commandment and includes desire and action (See Matthew 5:21-48).
“What comes out of a person is what defiles him. For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.” (Mark 20-23 ESV)
Covetousness includes undue concern for gaining and maintaining wealth.
“And as he was setting out on his journey, a man ran up and knelt before him and asked him, “Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?” And Jesus said to him, “Why do you call me good? No one is good except God alone. You know the commandments: ‘Do not murder, Do not commit adultery, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Do not defraud, Honor your father and mother.’” And he said to him, “Teacher, all these I have kept from my youth.” And Jesus, looking at him, loved him, and said to him, “You lack one thing: go, sell all that you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow me.” Disheartened by the saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.” (Mark 10:17-22 ESV).
It is the Tenth Commandment that makes a person conscious of sin.
“What then shall we say? That the law is sin? By no means! Yet if it had not been for the law, I would not have known sin. For I would not have known what it is to covet if the law had not said, “You shall not covet.” But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness. For apart from the law, sin lies dead. I was once alive apart from the law, but when the commandment came, sin came alive and I died. The very commandment that promised life proved to be death to me. For sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it killed me. So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good.” (Romans 7:7-12 ESV)
The root sin of Adam and Eve was pride, and it is the root cause of sin in every human being. Human beings worship the unholy trinity of me, myself, and I. Let your conduct be without covetousness.
“Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake.” (Hebrews 13:5 ESV)
Christians are to be content with Jesus, and they will find complete satisfaction in life because everything comes from Him. Coveting is a lack of trusting–faith in the Heavenly Father. Jesus wants them to entrust EVERYTHING to Him. They are to be content with Him alone.
“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” (Matthew 6:33 ESV)
People always want more money because they need something better than what they have – things, fame, influence, appearance, power, possessions, etc.
“For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs.” (1 Timothy 6:10 ESV)
God wants people to love Him and not “the world or the things in the world.” If a person “loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world - the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions - is not from the Father but is from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:15-17 ESV)
Every Christian has “been raised with Christ,” and they are to “seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God” (Colossians 3:1-3 ESV). They are to:
“Put to death therefore what is earthly” in us: “sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” (Colossians 3:5 ESV)
FULFILLING THE GREAT COMMANDMENT
Jesus was asked by a lawyer what is the greatest commandment of all the 613 laws, and He said,
“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.” (Matthew 22:37-40 ESV)
Jesus condensed all the laws into two, which are really one because loving ones neighbor as themselves is the same as loving God. Love is the fulfillment of the Law (Romans 13:10). If a person loved God, they will keep all the commands in the Word of God. When they don’t keep His Word, they prove they do not love God. Loving ones neighbor daily is how to fulfill the Great Commission.
"Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age." (Matthew 28:19-20 ESV)
Jesus has commanded every Christian to teach others how to love God with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength. That creates a dilemma because many people have difficulty loving themselves, not just God and their neighbors. So, what did Jesus mean exactly? How does a person truly love God?
It is not uncommon to hear that the greatest thing to obtain is faith within the world's religions. Yet, the Great Commandment is not to have faith but rather to LOVE Him. Faith - in and of itself - is useless unless God's love energizes it. This love command is the foundation of Christianity. God wants people to love Him with all their heart, soul, mind and strength because that is how He loves us!
God's very essence is love (See 1 John 4:7-10). He has always been love, even before He created human beings. He has always sought to have a close relationship with His children. Every person was made for this love. The entire story of humanity is wrapped up within it. Love is the energy of life and is why human beings were created. Love is our eternal destiny.
Christianity is the only religion that sets forth the Creator of the Universe as love. All of creation resounds with the proof that God is love. Within Him is found all the fullness of excellence, beauty, and perfection. He is the author of all that is good in creation. This truth is taught throughout the Bible, beginning with Adam in the Garden of Eden.
When God created Adam, He said, "I will make a partner suitable to you" (Genesis 2:18 NIV). God was declaring the hidden purpose of His heart from eternity past. This promise ultimately speaks of Jesus and the Church, which comprises every Born-Again person (See Ephesians 5:25-6:1).
God proved He is love by choosing to walk among us and die in our place (See John 3:16). He invites every human being to come to Him, reaching out His arms in tender affection with nail-pierced hands in the purest and most intimate way.
Jesus wants people to love Him with all of their sensibilities, affections, emotions, desires, and passions - and cultivate them constantly with steadfast affection in remembrance of His goodness, kindness, and mercy (Romans 2:4). They do that by mentally turning away from the world with all its cares and turning towards Him by desiring to thoroughly understand all aspects of His character and nature using their intellect and critical thinking. Critical thinking makes reasoned, logical, well-thought-out judgments when learning new information and questioning what is told with an open and humble heart.
Thanks to Adam and Eve, all of humanity has fallen short of the honor, worship, and praise of God by failing to give their Creator the honor, worship, and glory due to Him, and the Law has left them guilty before God (Romans 3:19).
Every human being has failed to love God, which is the essence of the Law (Mark 12:30). The Law of God convinces a person that they are without God, hope, and eternal life. The actual function of the Law of God is to convert the soul (Psalm 19:7). The Law of God is the biblical means of awakening people to their need for a Savior who will forgive their sins.
The great and terrible judgment day of the Lord will soon come to those who reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior and do not repent of their sin (1 Thessalonians 1:10). For that reason, Christians must preach repentance to others so that the eternal curse of the Law upon them is broken, once and for all. Sharing only the good news that Jesus died on the Cross for their sins will not make sense to them because "the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing" (1 Corinthians 1:18 ESV). The Bible says no one understands it (Psalm 53:2-3; Romans 3:11-12; 8:7). The lost sinner must be led to the light by preaching the whole Gospel, including the fires of hell, for those who reject Jesus. It is "godly sorrow" that produces repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10 ESV).
"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all people everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed; and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead." (Acts 17:31 ESV)
The weight of sin's guilt causes a person to cry out, "I have sinned against the Lord!" The labor of keeping the Law is a heavy burden for everyone. Only by surrendering one's life to Jesus and receiving Him as Lord and Savior can that burden be lifted and the guilt removed.
Many in the church think they are ‘saved’ but consistently do not do the "things that accompany salvation" (Hebrews 6:9 ESV). Just because a person 'believes' in Jesus as Lord and professes to know Him does not necessarily mean they are a good tree rooted in Jesus. There are many to whom Jesus will say, "I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!" (Matthew 7:23 ESV)
Jesus said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it" (Matthew 7:13-14 ESV).
No one can convince a person of the deity of Jesus; only God can (Matthew 16:17). God reveals that great truth, and it is the Holy Spirit alone who will convict and convince the world of sin, righteousness, judgment, and the reality of Judgment Day (John 16:8).
The fallen human mind cannot understand the judgment of God. Only the Holy Spirit can convict a sinner about their sin and convince them of judgment. The Christian cannot do that. All they can do is plant the seed of truth by teaching the Ten Commandments because they are the mainstay of the Gospel message. When the sinner repents of their sin and becomes Born-Again, the Holy Spirit comes to dwell within and seals them for life eternal (John 14:17; Ephesians 1:13).
CONCLUSION
How to Begin
Every Christian must seek God's face by persevering in prayer for Him to open their hearts to receive those things He wants them to learn at any given moment in time. Jesus told us what to do when spending time with Him.
"And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. And when you pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words." (Matthew 6:5-7 ESV)
Every great and intimate relationship is rooted in gratitude and thanksgiving. Instead of just asking for things all the time, thank Him for what He has already given you. Jesus said, "For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also" (Luke 12:34 ESV). Is your treasure Jesus?
Christians should think of Jesus more often than they draw a breath and continually thank Him for what he has done, is doing, and will do in their lives. Those who love God are constantly communing with Him.
"Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night." (Psalm 1:1-2 ESV)
"I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. My soul makes its boast in the LORD; let the humble hear and be glad. Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt his name together!" (Psalm 34:1-3 ESV)
Every Christian must close the windows and doors through which their fleshly passions enter and look to Jesus to meet all needs. That requires a willing and humble undivided heart. As the hymn by Helen H. Lemmel says,
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim
In the light of His glory and grace
When a person turns their eyes – i.e., their heart and mind on Jesus - the cares of this world slowly dissipate like the early morning mist as the radiant glory of His light fills every dark and foreboding shadow of uncertainty in life. Jesus must be the goal of every endeavor and desire.
It must be understood that the soul cannot have true knowledge of God through one’s efforts or any created thing, but only by the working of the Holy Spirit within them "to will and to work for his good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13 ESV). It must be noted that it is the sole responsibility of the Holy Spirit to sustain and keep the Christian guiltless and from stumbling so that He will finally present them blameless before the presence of His glory with great joy. He will never let them die, be thirsty again, leave, forsake, cast out, or drive them away, nor can anything grab hold to separate them from His love (See John 4:14, 6:37, 8:12, 10:27-29, 11:25-26; Romans 8:38-39; 1 John 2:1; Jude 1:24; 1 Corinthians 1:8; Philippians 1:6).
It is essential to point out that it is most often in times of prayer and worship that the enemy comes with struggles and annoyances to make the mind wander. The truth is that prayer is a weapon used to defend against the enemy.
Redirecting the Heart
Brother Lawrence was a lay monk in the 1600s who practiced the presence of God. He wrote:
"I worshipped God as often as I could, keeping my mind in His holy presence, and recalling it as often as I found it had wandered from Him. I found no small pain in this exercise, and yet I continued it, notwithstanding all the difficulties that occurred, without troubling or disquieting myself when my mind had wandered involuntarily. I made this my business not only at the appointed times of prayer, but all the day long; for at all times, every hour, every minute, even in the height of my business, I drove away from my mind everything that was capable of interrupting my thoughts of God."
A.W. Tozer wrote:
"We must break the evil habit of ignoring the spiritual. We must shift our interest from the seen to the unseen. For the great unseen reality is God.
...for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." (Hebrews 11:6 ESV)
...faith is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God. Believing, then, is directing the heart's attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to `behold the Lamb of God,' and never ceasing that beholding for the rest of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but it becomes easier as we look steadily at His wondrous Person, quietly and without strain. Distractions may hinder, but once the heart is committed to Him, after each brief excursion away from Him the attention will return again and rest upon Him...
While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves--blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do...
When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at us, for it is written that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth. The sweet language of experience is 'Thou God seest me.' When the eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this earth...
Many have found the secret of which I speak and, without giving much thought to what is going on within them, constantly practice this habit of inwardly gazing upon God. They know that something inside their hearts sees God. Even when they are compelled to withdraw their conscious attention in order to engage in earthly affairs, there is within them a secret communion always going on. Let their attention but be released for a moment from necessary business and it flies at once to God again." *
There is no quicker or easier way to obtain loving God with all your heart, soul/spirit, and mind than by pure, humble, and continual prayer as you study and meditate daily on God's written Word, the Bible.
Prayer is not a formula of words or a series of desires springing up in the heart -- it is the orientation of the entire heart, soul/spirit, and mind to God in worship and adoration. It is a conversion of the entire being to God to fulfill the Great Commandment and Great Commission.
The Ten Commandments are the basic standard and basis for morality and primarily for the home to break the cycle of brokenness. Not abiding by them today can still have consequences. Living by the Ten Commandments is how to keep the enemy from breaking into the family. They are not arbitrary or temporary. They teach how to view God, how to know Him, and how to treat others. Keeping them will bring blessing and harmony to all aspects of a person’s life. God values our relationship with Him more than anything. He wants our exclusive trust and undivided worship, manifested publicly by our integrity. We will have a happy and healthy home and life when we follow His essential rules.
*Aiden Wilson Tozer (1897-1963) was an American pastor, author, magazine editor, and spiritual mentor - “The Pursuit of God: The Human Thirst for the Divine” - republished 2021
