file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940124.TXT
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OUR DAILY BREAD Monday, January 24, 1994
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READ: Luke 12:13-21
BEWARE OF COVETOUSNESS!
Beware of covetousness, for one's life does not
consist in the abundance of things he possesses.
--Luke 12:15
Covetousness is one of those overstuffed words in our religious
vocabulary that has lost its cutting edge. We don't take it
seriously. In fact, we suspect that when God was putting
together the Ten Commandments He had nine good solid ones, but
then to round out the list threw in one about coveting (Ex.
20:17).
Jesus gave a warning about covetousness to a man who interrupted
Him in the middle of His sermon. The man wanted Jesus to settle
a dispute between him and his brother. Evidently their father
had died, and this son felt he was not getting his fair share of
what the father had left behind. The inheritance had become an
obsession to this man. It consumed him. As he stood in the
presence of Jesus Christ and listened to His peerless preaching,
he did not hear the liberating words the Savior had been
speaking.
There is danger in wanting more and more things, or in wanting
what belongs to another. The apostle Paul called this intense
desire "idolatry" (Col. 3:5). That's strong language. Let's
listen to the law. Let's listen to our Lord. He wants us to be
rich toward God. That's why He warned, "Beware of covetousness,
for one's life does not consist in the abundance of the things he
possesses" (Luke 12:15).
Author: Haddon W. Robinson
Help us, O Lord, to look above
And draw upon Your endless love
When we would covet more and more
Of this world's wealth -- of earthly store.
--DJD
THOUGHT FOR THE DAY:
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You cannot covet and be happy at the same time.
THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Job 28-31
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Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of Radio Bible Class,
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