"COVETOUSNESS, WHICH IS IDOLATRY."
GOD'S "law is spiritual," the apostle Paul declared. He had thought it to be a mere matter of forms and ceremonies and outward observances; but when the Spirit of God pierced his hard, obdurate, Pharisaic heart, that Spirit did it with a winged arrow from God's law; and that arrow was the tenth commandment, "Thou shalt not covet." "For I was alive without the law once," says the apostle. He thought himself to be righteous and worthy of living; "but" he continues, "when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." What that commandment was he tells us in this same chapter: "Is the law sin?—God forbid. Howbeit I had not known the sin, except through the law; for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet." Rom. 7: 7. God's law is a unit. It is not made up of ten different laws. Ten different principles are expressed in the wonderful code, but they are all one. "Break one thread
And the web ye mar,
Strike but one of a thousand keys,
And the paining jar
Through all will run."
This is more easily discerned in some commandments than others. For instance, the first precept, "Thou shalt have no other gods before Me," strikes against the basic principle of every false worship. The tenth commandment takes hold of, and interlinks with, every other precept in the law. The coveting of a god with a different character leads to the rejection of the true God, and to the making of graven images expressive of the character which a covetous heart longs for. The coveting of evil things makes the worship of the true God a form; and His name if taken at all, even in prayer, by the covetous is taken in vain. God reserved the seventh day unto Himself. It belongs to Him. He has forbidden man to use it save according to His directions. The coveting of that time leads to the transgression of the fourth commandment. "Honor thy father and thy mother," commands our heavenly Father; but the coveting of our own ways is sure to lead to disobedience and dishonor of parents. "Thou shalt not kill," Sinai thunders; but every life taken in premeditation clearly shows that the murderer coveted the money, the wealth, the place, the reputation, or the power to inflict vengeance, or the deed would not have been committed. The coveting of self-indulgence, of unlawful relationships with the other sex, leads to open adultery, as it is adultery in spirit; and the coveting of another's property leads to stealing. Coveted gain of some sort or kind is the root of bearing false witness. Covetousness is a root of all kinds of evil. It lies at the base of all the greed, all the oppression, all the cruelty, all the tyranny, and all the great wars of the world. It moulds capital-trust and labor-trust. It dwells in the mind of political socialism; for it is an inherent element of the carnal, unregenerate nature. Covetousness calls preachers and accepts wealthy pastorates. It enters into every phase and plan of human life apart from God; because humanity is carnal and selfish; and carnality and selfishness can only be taken away by Jesus Christ our Lord, and then only when the soul chooses to have it extirpated, rooted out. Covetousness—lust of power—changed Lucifer from an angel of light to a demon. Unrestrained, it would wreck the universe, dethrone God, and leave all space a darkling void, barren, hopeless, lifeless. But God can change the "covetous man, who is an idolator," to one who loves unselfishly and who seeks others' good. "Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus." Receive it by receiving Christ.