Young Adults' Group

Be Contented With What We Have

by Pastor Mark
April 11, 2019

The challenge of overcoming covetousness

As we live in a world that is full of attractive material things, the danger of falling into covetousness is very real. We can quickly be drawn into coveting the physical things of life…especially when we see how others are having more than us.

This perennial problem was a concern of the author of Hebrews who wrote this challenge, “Let your conduct be without covetousness;” (Heb 13:5) The phrase “without covetousness” in Greek is “aphilarguros”.  “Philarguros” literally means “love for silver or money”. With the alpha privative in front, it negates the word to mean without love for money, for material things. Covetousness can affect our way of life adversely. We tend to want more, which drives us to conduct ourselves in a self-centred manner. Let us be challenged to have good conduct that is free of covetousness.

The challenge to be contented

“be content with such things as you have.” (Heb 13:5)

A great way to overcome covetousness is contentment. The word “content” in Greek is “arkeo” which means “to be satisfied, to suffice, content”. We are to be fully satisfied with what we have in life. God has richly blessed us with much…with all the physical things of life. Let us be challenged to be truly thankful for them and to be content. Let us not be caught up with a love for more material things of the world.

There is no need for us to make comparisons with others. When we see others having more and better things in life, we should be genuinely happy for them and not be jealous in anyway. Let us choose to be contented and to have heart-felt gratitude for whatever we already have in life.

The promise of the Lord

The tension between covetousness and contentedness will always be there. They are always at odds with each other. The author of Hebrews recognised the great need for the Lord to help us overcome covetousness. He referred to the time that God made a loving promise to Jacob, “For He Himself has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.”” (Heb 13:6) Jacob was running scared from Esau because he had cheated him of his birth right and the blessing of the firstborn. (Gen 28) Essentially, Jacob was covetous. Nevertheless, God promised to Jacob that He would be with him always and to provide for him. Let us look to the Lord who would undoubtedly be with us consistently and to provide for us that we may be contented.

The Lord is our helper

“So we may boldly say: “The Lord is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?”” (Heb 13:6) The author also cited a text from Psalm 27. It is with boldness that we can make this statement knowing that we can overcome covetousness. The context of Ps 27 is the wicked. The author David experienced fears in facing these evil persons. The Lord is his source of help to overcome the enemy.

The author of Hebrews was implying that covetousness was like an enemy. It is like a man that we need to fight. There may be fears in dealing with covetousness. But the Lord can truly help us overcome this problem. He will give us the necessary strength to triumph. Let us be challenged to have faith and confidence in the Lord to help us not to foolishly covet the things of the world but to wisely be content with all that we have.

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