This is part of an ongoing series on the Cornerstone Confirmation Curriculum we are developing at First Trinity Lutheran Church. (Main Confirmation Page)

Small-Group-Material-580

Key Theme: God calls us to practice contentment in Him, rather than focusing on the things we do or don’t have.

Read Exodus 20:17

  • Underline: You shall not covet your neighbor’s house
  • Circle:You shall not covet your neighbor’s wife … male servant … female servant … ox … donkey … anything that is your neighbor’s.
  • Write and underline: 9th Commandment or “9C”
  • Write and Circle: 10th Commandment  or “10C”

Read 1 Timothy 6:8-10

  • Underline: For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils
  • Write: Don’t love money! (9/10C)

Read Luke 12:15

  • Underline: Be on your guard against all kinds of covetousness
  • Write: Don’t love stuff! (9/10C)

Coveting at its heart is about desiring something more than God. What the object is is less important than this simple fact: it is sinful to make something a higher priority than God. While money, stuff, or relationships are not evil, loving those things more than God is considered sin.

Read Genesis 3:6

  • Underline: when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes
  • Write: Coveting led to first sin (9/10C)

Read Romans 7:7-8

  • Underline: But sin, seizing an opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of covetousness.
  • Write: Sin leads to coveting (9/10C)

From the earliest moment of creation, Satan used coveting to trick God’s people into sinning. Eve listened to the devil’s prompting and coveted what God had reserved for Himself: the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve gave into that temptation and sinned. Ever since then, our sinful nature has led us to consistently covet what other people have or things that are forbidden. It is not God who put that desire in you, but sin living in you.

Read Philippians 4:10-13

  • Underline: I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content.
  • Write: Contentment cure for coveting (9/10C)

Read Hebrews 13:5

  • Underline: be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”
  • Write: Contentment found in Jesus (9/10C)

Read Psalm 37:4

  • Underline: Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
  • Write: Seek God first (9/10C)

If coveting is part of our very DNA because of the sin living inside us, how do we fight it? Paul tells us in Philippians that the secret lies in contentment. Being content is an act of the will whereby you choose to be satisfied with what God has provided, rather than focusing on what you don’t or aren’t allowed to have. But even more, it’s is not merely being content with stuff. Stuff in itself cannot provide contentment. True contentment only comes from a relationship with God. Knowing that he will never leave you, and delighting in Him will change your attitude towards money, stuff, and relationships.

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