One of the most overlooked sins within the Christian faith is the tenth commandment: Though shall not covet - this in light of the fact that the Scriptures place heavy emphasis on avoiding it.
St. Paul explains in 1 Timothy 6:10 that coveting money is a root of all types of sin. This does not mean that coveting is not the root of all sin. Here, St. Paul is addressing a certain need and is obviously not writing a systematic theology paper. The desire for anything that is contrary to God’s will is covetousness (idolatry).
Covetousness is so serious that (1) It is one of the Ten Commandments (2) St. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5:11 that we should avoid covetous men, and (3) St. Paul also says in 1 Timothy that men who practice this sin are disqualified from the ministry.
How does one know that they are coveting or know that another is coveting so that we may avoid them? One may know that they are coveting if they suddenly discover that they have neglected certain responsibilities that God has given them to chase after what they may think to be a higher calling of some sort. Men do this in the ministry quite often. I once knew a man that wanted so badly to climb the ecclesiastical ladder that he neglected his flock and family only to eventualy find out that both his flock and family were given up to foreign faiths.
Many times covetousness involves taking paths that do not involve any type of spiritual or even basic existential growth but only places ones self in harms way, as St. James says in James 1:14; that man is drawn away into sin by his very own desires.
Look at your life and see! We all have coveteousness within us, just some more than others; some to the point of being involved in mortal sin (Ephesians 5:5). It is so obvious in some that one can hardly stand the stench of being in the presence of the person. Every little thing that is discussed in the basics of conversation is so heavily weighed by the covetous person that he/she becomes very insecure and inconsistent in their actions and overall ethics. As St. James says, the person who is insecure in his faith is “double-minded.” The double-minded man says one thing to one group of people in order to satisfy them but then goes on to say something completely contrary to another group. This can many times be a sign of covetousness! The person is spreading their nets wherever they can in order to catch the first prey that comes along. If this person is one of Christ’s he will likely and hopefully never prosper, having a tight disciplinary reign on them from God. Their riches will, as Proverbs 23:5 says, “fly away as an eagle toward heaven.”
The covetous man is a compromising opportunist. We all are “opportunists” in some sense. We should always be ready for blessings that God has in store for us. But we should never covet these blessings to where we begin compromising the beliefs that God has shown to us, becoming double-minded.
The worst coveters are those that are in positions of authority. These men cast their nets even within the front yards of their own disciples. They insist that the disciple disregard godly ethics that they have once learned so that they may embrace the coveter’s personal ethic. These types of men that are in authority, as St. Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:5, use their faith as a means of gain. They say that God calls them to “take dominion” of the earth, only they fail to realize the ethic of Christ: that this is spiritual dominion and not materialistic dominion (not to exclude the spiritual element of the culture).
The covetous man in authority will manipulate - sometimes even unconsciously - his disciples for his gain. He will build mini empires for himself where people are trained to do the same thing he does, thus creating armies of coveters - almost like a tri-level marketing scam. The coveter in authority is a greedy manipulator. He should be avoided at all costs! He is not truly on ones side but he is on his own side.
Good Lord, deliver us.
From all inordinate and sinful affections; and from all the deceits of the world, the flesh and the devil. - 1928 BCP Litany