Results 1 - 2 of 2
|
|
|||||
Results from: Answered Bible Questions, Answers, Unanswered Bible Questions, Notes Ordered by Verse | ||||||
Results | Verse | Author | ID# | |||
1 | Is coveting with a pure heart Godly? | James 4:3 | stjones | 29990 | ||
Greetings, Nolan, my friend; To "desire" God's blessings is not necessarily to "covet" them. Somewhere I read/heard that to "covet" is to not only the desire to posess something but to posess it at someone else's expense, i.e. to covet one's neighbor's wife. A quick word search in the NIV seems to support this notion. "Covet" is always used in the sense of desiring what someone else already posesses. It's a zero-sum game. If I'm to win, someone else has to lose. This is not true with God's blessings; they are limitless. I remember explaining to our older daughter when her little sister arrived that we wouldn't love her any less. We had a box of love and until then she had gotten the whole thing. She wouldn't get less now because when we got her sister, we got another box too. They would both get the whole thing. So it is with God's blessings. Had I been a Christian then, I'd have known what I was talking about! ;-) Peace and grace, Steve aka Indiana Jones |
||||||
2 | Is coveting with a pure heart Godly? | James 4:3 | Makarios | 30017 | ||
Greetings Steve! I agree, to desire something is not the same thing as coveting something, but one can lead to another.. The "sub-question" by our fellow Forum member, Discipled, on Thu 01/10/02 12:33pm did mention the word "covet", and my response was geared towards the word "covet" and not towards having a desire for blessings in general. However, I believe that we should not do the Lord's work merely out of a desire to receive His blessings, but because we love Him! Of course, the Bible does say that we will all receive blessings if we are faithful and do His work (James 1:16-17; Luke 6:22-23; Heb. 6:10; James 1:12; 2 John 8; Rev. 22:12). Even with that said, I believe that we should not do His work solely out of these promises that we will be rewarded, but out of love for Him! Would we still be so avid to do the Lord's work if we were not given these promises of blessings? I would! :-) The spiritual walk of a Christian is not a "what can I get out of it" proposition, but it is a "what can I do in service for my Lord?" proposition, and in truth and sincerity, that should be our focus (our Lord, and not what we will receive). Blessings to you, Nolan |
||||||