“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house. You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male of female servant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” – Exodus 20:17 (NIV)
Sometimes we struggle to understand how ancient Scriptures could possibly be relevant to our modern lives. Not so, with the 10th Commandment. Social media’s ability to give us a daily look into the lives of our neighbors means that coveting is a sin that has taken a firm grip on many of us, even our children.
Merriam-Webster defines coveting as “a feeling of inordinate desire for what belongs to another”. Call it jealousy, envy, or the green-eyed monster. I’m not sure there’s anyone who hasn’t felt that pit in her stomach that comes with comparison.
I can’t remember the last time I felt jealous about a neighbor’s ox, but I’ve certainly coveted another’s house, her job, her vacation destination, and even her super cute shoes.
I’ll tell you who showed me the greatest example of how to fight the sin of coveting. It might surprise you. Studies indicating a rise in anxiety among teens due to social media make it necessary for parents to monitor their children’s activity online. And yet, it was a group of high school baseball players on Twitter who demonstrated the antidote to coveting for me.
My son and many of his high school friends had been teammates since they could barely tie their own cleats. Most aspired to play baseball in college. In the months leading up to their senior year, offers from college teams around the country came in for some, while others waited. Just about every week we saw a social media post declaring a kid’s commitment to play in college. I wondered how those posts affected the kids who were still waiting, worrying if their own dreams would come true.
What I saw was that despite how they might have felt on the inside, those kids commented with congratulations and fire emojis. They reposted their friends’ commitment announcements, promoted their accomplishments, and celebrated the news as if it was their very own.
These adolescent boys reminded me that no one is taking the gift the Lord has intended for me or for you. God hears every dream and knows the desire of every heart. The idea that someone else has the thing that was meant for me or you is simply a lie. It flies in the face of the promise of Jeremiah 29:11 which tells us that He has a specific, good plan for each of us.
The next time I feel that green-eyed monster lurking, I’ll remember what a bunch of guys named Drew and Alex and Ryan taught me about an ancient commandment written by a guy named Moses. Instead of coveting, I’ll clap. Instead of choosing resentment, I’ll cheer. Instead of stewing, I’ll celebrate and throw high fives around like confetti. Before I know it that pit in my stomach might just disappear.
About the Author:
Jennifer Skinner started her blog, The View from Behind Home Plate, in 2012. There she chronicled the ways she noticed evidence of an extraordinary God even in her ordinary, but chaotic life of shuffling her three young boys, Joe, Kyle, and Drew to Little League parks and basketball gyms all over the Mid-Atlantic. When she is not traveling to watch Drew’s college baseball games, she spends her time writing for and speaking at local churches, leading a Women’s Bible Study, and cheering for her beloved Texas Longhorns. Jennifer and her husband Steve live in Northern Virginia in their newly empty nest with their dog, Mack.
Connect with Jennifer:
https://www.instagram.com/jennskinner95/
https://www.facebook.com/jennifer.p.skinner
https://www.jenniferpskinner.com/
