Category Archives: Coveting

Accountability, Allies, Belief, Bible, Covenant, Coveting, God's Will, Ransom, Sacrifice, Salvation, Scripture

HIS COVENANT CONTINUES

MALACHI 2:4

“‘Then you will know that I have sent this commandment to you, so that My covenant may continue with Levi,’ says the LORD of armies.”

Covenants can be made and broken. Marriage is a covenant between two people who pledge to remain with each other for life. If they are both believers (which is preferrable, by they way), this covenant is made before God. He makes it binding in His eyes, only to be broken in death. As a partner in this covenant, God will never break it. He has covenanted with both the man and the wife to help them sustain this covenant together.

God’s covenant He refers to here in today’s verse was specifically with the tribe of Levi, whom He chose to be the priest for Israel. He has been addressing their behaviors and lack of following Him over the last several verses. God desired this covenant to continue through their sons to show His faithfulness to them. God knows this priestly line will be replaced one day with the Messiah who comes from the tribe of Judah. But that is for another day. Right now, He is concerned with showing them His desire to keep this covenant strong.

APPLICATION

God’s covenant with us, of course, is through Jesus. He gave Him as not only the sacrificial lamb to cover all our sins but also as our High Priest. He fulfilled the Law. He is Lord of the Sabbath. Look at Hebrews 8:6. “But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, to the extent that He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises.”

What are those better promises? What is this better covenant? Christ died once for all men. No more goats, lambs, oxen, turtle doves, etc. or needed. No more blood is necessary to cover the price of our sins. Once we accept the sacrificial death of Jesus and recognize Him as Lord and Savior, that new covenant is sealed between us and God. His Holy Spirit seals us in.

Are you in covenant with Him today? If not, now is the time. He wants His covenant to continue through you. His Son died for you and wants to be your High Priest. This new covenant is forever. It is eternal. It will never end. You cannot break it once you enter into it, and He never will. Come on in.

Father, I praise You for my eternal covenant with You through Jesus Christ, the final sacrifice.

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Advocate, Allegiance, Bible, Blessing, Coveting, Encouragement, Gifts, God's Will, Inheritance, Promises, Scripture

A REMINDER

MICAH 6:4

“Indeed, I brought you up from the land of Egypt, I redeemed you from the house of slavery, and I sent before you Moses, Aaron, and Miriam.

I am just like every other man, I guess. When I do something around the house like vacuuming or emptying the dishwasher, I make a point to tell my wife what I have done. I want to remind her just how good a husband she has, lol. Seriously though, we do that. We have to remind folks of our good deeds, as if that brings us any more honor. It doesn’t.

God, however, is simply reminding His children what He had done for them. They were slaves for 400 years in Egypt, but He sent a deliverer, Moses. He used Moses, Aaron and Miriam – these three siblings – to deliver His people from slavery. Had they really forgotten that. Sure, they repeated the history to themselves and their children, but did they really realize what He had done for them?

APPLICATION

I want you to take a minute to think of all the things God has done for you. You probably thanked Him at the time, but have you done that lately? Go ahead – I’ll wait. Done? Okay, make a list of these things. As you remember them through the day, add them to your list. You may be amazed as you begin to record these just how much God has done for you.

To just name a few in my life: 1) my birth into a good home, 2) my home church who taught me about Jesus, 3) my salvation at age 16, 4) my wife of almost 37 years, 5) my children, 6) my son-in-law and daughter-in-law, and 7) my grandchildren. These are a few of my favorite things, to borrow a line from Julie Andrews.

God has blessed us in so many ways. We tend to forget those things. Let us always be thankful for all He has done for us. It would not hurt us to have a thanksgiving meal more than once per year, huh? Every day should be a thanksgiving day. Thank You, Lord.

“And I’m forever grateful to You. I’m forever grateful for the cross. I’m forever grateful to You that You came to seek and save the lost.” (from the song “I’m Forever Grateful”)

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Bible, Blessing, Contentment, Coveting, Disciplemaking, Discipline, Encouragement, Gifts, God's Will, Greed, Inheritance, Jealousy, Modeling, Scripture, Seeking

COVETING

MICAH 2:2

“They covet fields, so they seize them; and houses, so they take them. They exploit a man and his house, a person and his inheritance.

I was sitting with my wife the other night in our family room. I looked around at our home. It’s a nice two-story townhouse with plenty of room, more than we need now. I turned to her and said, “We are so blessed, you know? Just look where we live. God has given us so many blessings.”

These people Micah is confronting with God’s message are coveters. What does that mean? It means they desired these things greatly, so much so that they stole them. They even lied and devised ways to steal a man’s inheritance, thus robbing his children as well. These were unscrupulous people.

APPLICATION

I did not tell you where I live to make you covetous, but I am sure some people would look at where I live and covet it. To be honest, I do not deserve it. God provided this home for us. As I drive around my city of Chattanooga, TN, there are many far beautiful homes than mine. I do not have a covetous bone in my body for those homes. I am content where I am and so grateful.

That is what I want you to see in today’s verse. These people were not grateful at all for what they had. They wanted more and more. Are you that way? Are you not content? Paul tells us in Philippians 4:12, “I know how to get along with little, and I also know how to live in prosperity; in any and every circumstance I have learned the secret of being filled and going hungry, both of having abundance and suffering need.” That should be our heart each and every day.

O Lord, thank You for all the blessings in my life. I am content with what I have and forever grateful. 

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