Article December 25, 1978 Issue

What do you want?

Dorothea T. Leamy

Do you ever wish you could have something that belongs to your friend? Maybe your wanting even gets in the way of your friendship. Would you want your friend to be without something so you could have what you want? That kind of selfish wanting is called coveting. The tenth commandment tells us, "Thou shalt not covet."^{Ex. 20:17;} Happiness never comes from wanting or getting what belongs to someone else.

Once when Christ Jesus was talking to the people about God, a man whose brother had all the family property said to him, "Master, speak to my brother, that he divide the inheritance with me." Jesus must have known that this man came to him not for the truth he taught, but for things, because he said to him, "Take heed, and beware of covetousness,"^{Luke 12:13, 15;} adding that a person's real life doesn't depend on the number of things he owns. Jesus then told him and everyone else listening a story about a rich farmer, who found after the harvest that he had a huge amount of grain—so much that his barns couldn't hold it all. So he thought something like this, "I'll tear down these small barns and build bigger ones, and there I'll store my grain. I'll have all I need for years to come, and I can just relax and enjoy myself."

But God pointed out to him that since his life on earth was ending that same night, his huge supply of grain would mean very little. And to the young man who was thinking so much about getting property, and to the rest of the people, Jesus said, "So is he that layeth up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God."^v.21;

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