January 20 - Gotta Have It (Exodus 20:17)
January 20
Gotta Have It
Bible Reading: Exodus 20:17
“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.”
SOFT DRINK COMPANIES wage a constant battle with new slogans and clever commercials in their efforts to get you to buy their brand instead of their competitors' brands. See if you can match the following slogans and soft drinks:
1. GOTTA HAVE IT! A. COCA-COLA
2. DO THE DEW B. SPRITE
3. OBEY YOUR THIRST C. 7UP
4. UH-HUH! D. PEPSI-COLA
5. SQUIRT YOUR THIRST E. MUG ROOT BEER
6. JUST WHAT THE DR. ORDERED F. DR. PEPPER
7. IT'S AN UP THING G. DIET PEPSI
8. THE FOAM GOES STRAIGHT TO YOUR BRAIN H. MOUNTAIN DEW
9. IT'S THE REAL THING I. SQUIRT
Some of those soft drink slogans are more well known than others, but Pepsi's "Gotta Have It!" is among the most appropriate-and not just for a cola. Have you ever seen a friend wearing a cool hat or pair of shoes and thought, Gotta have it? Have you ever seen a classmate's science fair project and thought, Gotta have it?
That's the kind of feeling God was talking about when he commanded us not to covet. But the tenth commandment does more than tell us what God doesn't want us to do. It also reveals something important about God. It reveals that God values con-tentment. And God values contentment because He never wants; He has everything He needs because He is everything He needs. And He wants us to be content with what He gives us. When we are content, instead of constantly wanting or demanding more, we reflect what God is like.
Francis Schaeffer, a Christian philosopher, wrote, "The climax of the Ten Commandments is the Tenth Commandment…. Any time that we break one of the other commandments of God, it means that we have already broken this commandment, in coveting."*
Think about it. When a person steals, he first covets what he steals; when a person lies, she first covets what will be gained by lying, and so on. In that way, the sin of coveting is at the root of all sin.
REFLECT: How does God want us to look at possessions? Is it wrong to admire what someone else has? When does admiration become coveting?
PRAY: "God, help me appreciate what I have, to enjoy the beautiful things around me, and to be content with you and all you have given me."
*Francis Schaeffer, True Spirituality (Wheaton, Ill.: Tyndale House Publishers, 1971), p. 7.
ANSWERS: 1D; 2H; 3B; 4G; 5I; 6F; 7C; 8E; 9A