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LAST BUT NOT EASIEST #4

COVETING ALL THE PRESENTS IN WHOVILLE

It's a bit early for Christmas illustrations; in fact, some of you probably haven't yet taken down your lights from last December. But today we just have to borrow from that classic fable, How the Grinch Stole Christmas.

And I bring up that wonderful old story for a couple of reasons. First of all, March 2, 2002 will be the 98th birthday of one Mr. Theodor Giesel, also known as "Dr. Seuss." Ken and I aren't wearing "Cat in the Hat" headwear here in the studio, but that was too good a tie-in to pass up.

But the second reason is more important. Because this evil creature, the Grinch, had a heart condition. It was wicked through and through; that's why he coveted the joy and happiness of all the Whos living contentedly there in Whoville.

Maybe you remember Boris Karloff singing to him:

"You're a mean one, Mr. Grinch. You really are a heel. You're as cuddly as a cactus, you're as charming as an eel, Mr. Grinch." And now notice the cardiac condition: "Your heart's an empty hole. Your brain is full of spiders, you've got garlic in your soul, Mr. Grinch. You have termites in your smile. You have all the tender sweetness of a seasick crocodile, Mr. Grinch." And now the crowning insult: "You're a foul one, Mr. Grinch. You're a nasty, wasty skunk. Your heart is full of unwashed socks, your soul is full of gunk, Mr. Grinch. The three words that best describe you are as follows, and I quote: STINK . . . STANK . . . STUNK!"

Well, that's vintage Dr. Seuss, isn't it? However, since you and I don't live in Whoville, do we have to worry about similar heart problems? We've kind of spent our study time together contradicting the idea that this Tenth Commandment about coveting is somehow the "easy" one. Or the unimportant one, stuck down at the last, almost as a Mt. Sinai P.S. Where God says, "Oh, by the way, this too. Don't covet your neighbor's stuff."

Well, it's true that coveting is a kind of invisible sin. But friend, I'd like to suggest to you that this makes the Tenth Commandment one of the harder ones. Sins of the HEART, "Grinch sins," are always deadlier than ones of the hand or the eye. Dr. Leonard Felder, author of the book, The Ten Challenges, writes this in his tenth chapter, quoting the Jewish passages:

"The Tenth Commandment is the most INWARD of the commandments because it addresses our most secret desires, longings, and self-criticism."

It's true that we can break the Sixth Commandment – regarding murder – in our hearts by hating our enemy or by THINKING how we'd like to harm them. We can violate the Seventh Commandment by keeping lustful thoughts in our heart. I guess we could plot a theft or a lie there too. But this Tenth Commandment is all ABOUT the heart, about our secret thoughts and desires. Here's the Clear Word paraphrase:

"You are not to be jealous or covet another man's house, his wife, his servants, his cattle or ANYTHING ELSE that he has."

One of the great thinkers of all time, John Locke, also noticed that the battlefield happens in the heart. Notice this comment:

"Coveting or envy is an uneasiness of the MIND, caused by the consideration of a good or desire, which has been obtained by one we think should not have it before us."

So the sin of covetousness can go on in a person's life without the world knowing it. The church might not know it. The family might not know it. But inside, where the secrets are held under lock and key, you or I might be quietly DYING because we're discontented with what God chose to give to us.

I mentioned the other day Dr. Laura Schlessinger's book, co-written with Rabbi Stewart Vogel, entitled The Ten Commandments: The Significance of God's Laws in Everyday Life. She, too, comments about the fact that Commandment Number Ten happens on the inside. Here's what she writes:

"Unlike murdering, stealing, or perjuring, which are concrete acts or behaviors, this commandment concerns the arena of the MIND: thoughts, desires, and feelings." She then proceeds to give us a pretty good radio Bible study, when she adds this: "It is very clear throughout biblical Scriptures that God is concerned with our hearts and thoughts. That emphasis is made clear in Proverbs 6:16-19, where it is written that seven things are an abomination to God; one out of the seven is ‘A MIND that hatches evil plots.' That God values and judges our hearts is further evidenced in I Samuel (16:6): ‘. . . a man sees only what is visible, but the Lord sees into the HEART.'"

So friend, this Tenth Challenge, as Dr. Felder puts it, is truly that: a CHALLENGE. One of the hardest, because, as the Word of God tells us: "As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he." Let's consider that for a moment. You know, the great William Penn once "penned" these wise words:

"Covetousness is the greatest of monsters AS WELL AS the root of ALL evil."

What does he mean? Can this be right that the Tenth Commandment is the SPRINGBOARD to ALL sin? Well, think with me of the many times where covetousness is a FIRST sin leading to a second one. Actually, Dr. Schlessinger and Rabbi Vogel give us a pretty good Old Testament list of their own.
In I Kings 21 a king named Ahab coveted the vineyard of his neighbor, Naboth. Now, he had vineyards a-plenty of his own, but he had to have THIS primo plot of land as well. If you read the story, covetousness led to what else? Lying – as in bribing false witnesses. Then murder: Ahab actually had Naboth killed. And then stealing, as the monarch seized the vineyard by his own version of eminent domain.

II Samuel 11, and a story we've used before here on the radio a long time before Monica-gate burst on the scene. King David covets the wife of another man. Did that battle stay just in his heart where it was invisible? True, it would still have been SIN there, but it didn't STAY there. He tried to set up a false scenario where Uriah the Hittite would go home and think the soon-to-be-born baby was his. When that didn't work he had Uriah killed. Then he stole by taking Bathsheba for his own wife.

One of the most wretched AND wonderful, courageous stories we've ever found is contained in the book An Affair of the MIND, by Laurie Hall. Her husband went through a battle with pornography that almost destroyed the family. It is brutal, frank, heart-breaking reading . . . and notice again the title: An Affair of the MIND. Here's Laura's testimony:

"Lust never has enough. When the magazines weren't enough, you went to the strip shows; and when they weren't enough, you bought the girls and took them back to your hotel room. And it didn't matter how many of them you had, it was never enough."

But it started with coveting, with lust. It started with the mind.
Think with me about the First Commandment. Why do we make other things in our life more important than God? Because we covet them in our hearts. Why do we break the Fourth Commandment and refuse to give God the seventh day as a time of spiritual celebration? Probably because we covet the things we could EARN or attain in that 24-hour period. Or simply because we covet the time itself, and want to do our own thing instead of the Lord's thing. Why do we not want to honor our parents and care for them as the Bible tells us to do? Isn't it because we have other plans for our time and money and energy, little heart dreams or covetous plans we've been fondling in our minds?

No wonder Dr. Laura observes:

"The actual ‘doing' of a forbidden, immoral, unjust, or unkind act doesn't begin with the act."

No friend, it begins in the mind. Always. She adds just a page later:

"It is obvious that proper thoughts more likely lead to proper behaviors, and IMPROPER thoughts to IMPROPER behaviors. Thoughts can take on a life of their own. Thoughts of doing wrong things are a blemish on the divine spark within us all."

And you know, I mentioned the other day that ALL sin really began in our universe right here: at the Tenth Commandment. Did you know that? Go to Isaiah chapter 14, which has a passage about Lucifer, that once-mighty and once-holy angel who used to live in heaven with God.

"How you have FALLEN from heaven, O morning star, son of the dawn! You have been cast down to the earth, you who once laid low the nations!" Now this: "You said in your HEART, ‘I will ascend to heaven; I will raise my throne above the stars of God; I will sit enthroned on the mount of the sacred mountain. I will ascend above the tops of the clouds; I WILL MAKE MYSELF LIKE THE MOST HIGH."

End of saga. Actually, BEGINNING of saga. Lucifer coveted God's position. He wanted what God had, not what God wanted him to have. And he subsequently came down to this earth, took the form of a serpent, and lied to Eve, promising her that she, too, could have more than God had promised. That she could covet AND HAVE knowledge beyond what God had given. Sin started with the Tenth Commandment, and spread from there. It began in the heart, as it always does.

So what do we do with these covetous, Grinch-like hearts? It hurts to hear Dr. Seuss's condemnation, which might apply to us too:

"You're the king of sinful sots. Your heart's a dead tomato, blotched, with moldy purple spots."

Well, friend, give that moldy, spotted heart to Jesus right now. And ask Him for a new one.