When I was in sixth grade, I attended a small
Lutheran school where we had to bring a sack lunch each day to eat at our
desks. Every day I ate the same tasteless sandwich; baloney on white bread.
This was before wheat bread was “invented.”
Robbie Buckner sat to my right, and every day his mother delivered him a hamburger from a nearby cafe. No baloney sandwiches for Robbie. Just mouthwatering, delicious burgers. In those days our family had a meager income, and I only ate a hamburger from a restaurant once or twice a year.
It tortured me to smell his hamburger and listen to him loudly smack each bite, while I forced a baloney sandwich down my throat. Paul said, “I would not have known about coveting if the Law had not said, ‘You shall not covet’” (Rom. 7:7-8). I would not have known about coveting if it wasn’t for Robbie Buckner’s hamburger.
In this Lutheran school, I had to memorize the tenth commandment: “You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife . . . or his ox or donkey or anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Ex. 20:17). “Anything” included my neighbor’s hamburger.
With my head I learned not to covet, but with my heart I learned how to covet. People can see someone killing or stealing, but who can see someone coveting? Coveting goes straight to the motives in our hearts. This commandment says we are not to even want what our neighbor has.
Coveting means I have to have what the “haves” have. Maybe your problem isn’t your neighbor’s sandwich, but could it be your neighbor’s spouse? Does it bother you to see your neighbor driving a nicer car, or living in a more expensive house? Check your heart. Enjoy your baloney sandwich and be thankful that you have something to eat. www.makinglifecount.net
