The “Mother” Sin We Have Forgotten
The last of the ten commandments seems a bit out of place, doesn’t it? “Do not covet.” While the heinousness of the other commandments is relatively obvious to us, the tenth commandment stands out, in our own minds, as relatively benign. How serious can it be?
But, when you probe deeper into this commandment, something very different emerges. It is much more serious than we think. For one, aspects of coveting are mentioning in a number of key places in the Bible. It is the “love of money,” a form of coveting, that is the “root of all kinds of evils” (1 Tim 6:10). And when Paul is looking for … Continue reading...
Approaching Our Sin Biblically Rather than Therapeutically
As Romans 7 reminds us, even believers like the apostle Paul continue to struggle with sin in this life. Progress in holiness is really possible by God’s wonderful grace (see prior post on that issue here), but we will never be fully rid of sin while still in this life. So, the question then becomes: How do I diagnose and respond to the sin patterns in my life? Well, there are two basic answers to that in our world: a therapeutic answer and a biblical answer.
The therapeutic answer is that (a) the cause of your problems is outside yourself (your upbringing, your parents, society), and (b) the solution … Continue reading...
Wonderful New Book: The Envy of Eve
My wife Melissa has just published a wonderful new book, The Envy of Eve: Finding Contentment in a Covetous World (Christian Focus, 2012). The issue of coveting is one that does not get much attention in today’s church (when’s the last time you heard a sermon on it?). Yet, as she points out in her book, coveting is really a “mother” sin. That is, when left unchecked it can give birth to all kinds of other sins.
Thus, coveting is the foundation for suspicion of, and rebellion against, both our maker and our neighbor. In this sense, coveting is the direct opposite of the two greatest commandments: “And you shall … Continue reading...