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 any thing that is thy neighbour’s. [Exodus 20:17 (KJV)]
And he said unto them, Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth. [Luke 12:15 (KJV)]
Let your conversation be without covetousness… [Hebrews 13:5a (KJV)]
“We covet your prayers,” said the new pastor. This was the second time in two weeks I’d heard someone say they coveted my prayers and the phrase bothered me. For more than twenty-five years, I recited “Thou shalt not covet” as part of the Communion liturgy, so coveting anything speaks of sin to me. Granted, neither speaker was expressing a desire for my spouse, home or donkey; nevertheless, the phrase touched a nerve. If coveting is a sin, why did these men (both pastors) say they coveted my prayers?
When we covet something, we set our hearts and minds on it. The familiar meaning of covet, the one so clearly prohibited, is of desiring that which is forbidden or belongs to another. Throughout scripture, from Moses to Jesus to the Apostle Paul, we’re clearly warned about this sort of coveting. It can have serious consequences—think Eve and that apple, David and Bathsheba, or Achan and the spoils of battle. Coveting prayers, in this negative context, would use “coveting” as an adjective. We’d be saying prayers about wanting things that weren’t ours to have. Coveting prayers would be greedy, selfish and self-indulgent prayers—a little like Janis Joplin’s song that asks the Lord to buy her a Mercedes Benz, a color TV and a night on the town.
“Covet,” however, has another less commonly used meaning. We can covet and intensely desire something quite legitimate and set our hearts and minds upon it in a good way. “Covet” is used this way in the King James translations of the Bible. The Apostle Paul, while condemning the sinful kind of coveting, urges us to covet (or earnestly crave) spiritual gifts. Coveting prayers, in this sense would use “coveting” as a verb. We’d be longing for others to pray for us (and not so we’d get that Porsche or a holiday in Cabo San Lucas). We’d be urgently asking for their prayers to increase our faith and spiritual gifts.
While coveting or the love of worldly riches may be the root of all evil, not all coveting is evil. We can always covet the prayers of others to increase our spiritual riches. As to using this bit of Christianese myself, I’m not so sure. No matter what the context, for me it’s difficult to remove the negative connotation from the word covet. Although I will pray for our new pastor and his wife, rather than saying I covet your prayers, I will simply ask for them to empower me in my writing.
We have never had a single murmur from our missionaries in regard to salaries, but how earnestly do they covet the prayers and sympathies of our people! [The New England Presbyterian Messenger (1866)]
I know a lot of knowledgeable people, educated and erudite, some of whom may even be MENSA members. I also know several wise people, many of whom are neither learned nor especially well-read. While they might never come close to passing MENSA’s membership requirements, I would much prefer their wise advice to that of someone who is merely book smart or scholarly.
Back in 1964, it was the slaying of Kitty Genovese in New York City. For thirty-five minutes, at least 38 people watched a killer stalk and murder her. Twice the attacker was frightened off by lights or voices but, when the police didn’t arrive and no one came to the woman’s aid, her assailant returned to continue his vicious attack. Apparently, the only call to the police was made after the woman was dead.
An illustration of a man stooped over with an enormous sack on his back adorned the cover of the church program. The man had a troubled look on his face as if thinking, “I’ve got this all this, now what I am supposed to do with it?” The words “Life does not consist in the abundance of possessions,” were superimposed over the picture.
Last January, an official in a northern city was found guilty of twenty counts of bribery, extortion, and conspiracy along with mail, wire and tax fraud. His crimes netted him over $2 million in ill-gotten gains. Last month, he was sentenced for those crimes and, while he didn’t protest his innocence, he did protest his punishment. His crimes were merely “ethical mistakes” made because he was inexperienced and just doing his job. His lawyer compared his offenses with those of other corrupt officials, asserting his client’s felonies were less criminal so a shorter sentence was in order. In addition, he wasn’t really all that guilty since, in spite of his dishonesty, the city still managed to collect over $700 million in fines from the program he managed. Being just a little guilty, however, is much like being just a little bit pregnant—no matter how you spin it, you’re still guilty or pregnant.
The Israelites were told to trust God for their daily manna and not to save any for the following day. Those that kept any manna found it spoiled and full of maggots the next morning. God wanted them to trust Him to meet their daily needs. Throughout the Bible we are assured that God will provide for us. Why then do we have such difficulty believing in His provision?
Devotions of the Heart 