Friday, August 14, 2020
Month Theme: Let Brotherly Love Continue
Topic: The Wisdom of Life Without Covetousness
Scripture Reading: 2 Kings 2:1-11; Hebrews 13:1-9
Main Text:
Hebrews 13:5
5 Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
Love is not covetous (Hebrews 13:1-5). In the early times of the Church, just like today, people were covetous when they saw others being blessed. They just wanted things but life is more than the acquisition of material things. It is not what you get that is crucial but what you can use. There is no point in grabbing things only to be unable to use them.
A simple example can illustrate the folly of covetousness. At a certain point during a teaching, I called a lady from the congregation who is smallish in structure and one of our protocol men who carries the physique of a giant.I told them that I was going to throw a carrier bag (it contained a little lady's dress) into the air and if either of them grabbed it, the person had to use the contents of the bag. When I threw the bag into the air, the gentleman snatched it from the reach of the lady. I then told him to open the bag and use the contents. When he opened it, he discovered that he could not use the contents, because they were a little lady’s attire.
Covetousness may make us receive things we cannot use after all. Gehazi received the material things of Naaman the leper but I believe that he could not use them well. Elisha cursed him with leprosy and he could not have enjoyed the clothes he received from Naaman (2 Kings 5:20-27). Judas Iscariot betrayed Jesus for thirty pieces of silver but he could not use the silver (Matthew 27:3-5). The answer to covetousness is to be content with what we have. Godliness with contentment is great gain (1 Timothy 6:6-11). In the love revolution we must remove covetousness from the Church.
Prayer: Pray for the wisdom to identify every appearance of covetousness, and to avoid it.
Recommended Reading:
"The Love Revolution" and "The Millennium Pages of Love" by Eastwood Anaba
(Find e-books at www.amazon.com)
www.eastwoodanaba.com