‘You shall not covet your neighbour’s house…’ (Exodus 20:17)
We come to the last of the Ten Commandments and possibly because it is the last one many think it to be the least important and yet it is possibly one of the most important of all ten. Why? If we look at this in the same way as we have looked at others, looking beyond the basic simple instruction, then this commandment could have far reaching implications.
At the heart of this is a desire to have something that doesn’t belong to you. This desire might be born out of jealousy, envy, lust, a thirst for power or status – the list is endless. The problem is that once you have such desires and once they get the better of you it can then lead to something else. Look at what happened in the story of King David and his lustful desires for Bathsheba. This might be a worst case scenario but the fact remains that once we allow our negative desires to get the better of us it leads us down the path of further sin.
Having looked at all Ten Commandments we see that the first four are concerned with our relationship with God and the final six our relationships with others. Jesus Himself took all of these Commandments and essentially grouped them in to two. Love God and Love Your Neighbour. If we can seek to do this with all our hearts, this is how we are able to uphold these Ten Commandments.
Lord, help me to love You as You deserve and to share that love with others. In Jesus name…Amen.
Question Of The Day: To whom did Jesus give the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven?