Friday, January 26, 2007

thou shalt not covet

Why is it so hard to resist wanting things? Do people in other cultures, places, and times struggle with this the same way we do in modern America?

I said to Heath, jokingly the other night, "I am coveting Gina's enormous bathtub right now." But then we had a discussion about what coveting really is - is it just wanting something that someone else possesses, or is it the lust for more stuff in general? In the 10 commandments, God said not to covet your neighbor's things. So, what if I'm wanting something that is available to me in a store, not owned by my neighbor?

We'd probably all agree that lusting after more stuff in general is not a good thing. And I am actually quite happy with our home and our bathtub. :-) But sometimes I see things I want that I don't really need (depending on your definition of "need")... like a new area rug for the living room, or a new TV, or a new pair of shoes or pants. But really, what I want more than those things is to get our debts paid off and not accrue any more debt. So why is it so hard to not buy more stuff?

No comments:

Post a Comment