“Thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: All these evil things come from within, and defile the man,” (Mark 7:22-23).
Covetousness comes from the heart. It engrosses the heart of the vulnerable. It is a sign of the end time. When we come to God, we regard ourselves as God’s people, we hear the words of God daily, but we do not abide in it. We profess so much love for God, but our hearts are covetous. “Having eyes full of adultery, and that cannot cease from sin; beguiling unstable souls: a heart they have exercised with covetous practices; cursed children,” 2Peter 2:14.
According to the Bible passage above, covetousness can attract a curse in the life of a sinner. It makes one incur the wrath of God. Your status in Christendom does not matter. When you lust for the things of this world or, other people’s possessions, it signifies you are not genuinely born again, and you lack real salvation.
Covetousness is idolatry. “For this, ye know, that no whoremonger, nor unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, hath any inheritance in the Kingdom of Christ and of God,” Ephesians 5:5. The earthly possessions that you are desirous of can eventually become your God. Idolaters cannot inherit the Kingdom of God.
Covetousness makes you unclean before God. It debars one from seeing God. It stops one from enjoying the grace of God, which is available at the foot of the cross, and achievable without the devil’s exploitation or manipulation. Covetousness is the root of all evil.
“For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith, and pierced themselves through with many sorrows” (1Timothy 6:10).
The covetous are never satisfied. They are most likely proud, arrogant and materialistic. They have insatiable greed that drives them to steal, defraud, kill and harm others, to get whatever they want. They shed innocent blood. They oppress others, by claiming and getting what they admire or fancy, which do not belong to them, through violence. Their conscience becomes totally dead, and they become a threat or danger to everyone around them.
God abhors people who have this deadly trait. When a wicked man dies, not many people mourn him/her. People will jubilate in their hearts that he/she is gone. He will have a shameful ending. “Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour’s wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbour’s,” Exodus 20:17. It is evident that covetousness is forbidden and attracts stiff punishment. Job 20:15 says, “He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly.”
When your ways are not pure before God, and you acquire the things of this world, a time will come when you will wish you never had these ill-gotten fortunes. The bible says you will lose all. It could be through death or any other means; the fact remains that you will never go unpunished. You will surely pay for your evil deeds. We are in the last days. We have to pray against covetousness. We must not have a vulnerable heart that is weak in position, physically, spiritually and emotionally. Our hearts must not be susceptible to demonic manipulations that enslave one in sin.
Our hearts must be inclined to God’s testimonies and not to covetousness. A great reward awaits those who hate covetousness in this world, and in the world to come. “The fear of the Lord tendeth to life: and he that hath it shall abide satisfied; he shall not be visited with evil,” Proverbs 19:23.
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