Synonyms for coveting include want, desire, and crave. Of themselves these are not bad. And Psalms 19:10 and 68:16 speak of excellent desires. However, other words such as envy, greed, avarice, lust, whoring, and prostituting are also used when desire is wrong. This command doesn’t condemn desire, but desire that is inordinately directed toward my neighbor’s car, spouse, success, or anything someone else possesses.

Psalm 19:10 is instructive. We are encouraged above all else to desire what is better than finest gold—the commands of the Lord. To desire other things, as when King David desired his neighbor’s wife, is to miss the whole point of the Decalogue. It is to miss the heart of love that reaches out to us commanding love in us. "Against thee, thee only, have I sinned," was David’s response when he recognized his sin (2 Sam. 12:13; Ps. 51:4). And he was right. When the heart turns to lust for satisfaction it no longer entirely loves or trusts the Lord God—and this is sin. This command is aimed at curtailing the greedy desire for something belonging to another. Eve’s and Adam’s desire for the fruit of that fateful tree in the Garden of Eden was already a turn from God and his word (Gen. 3:6). Where your treasure is, there also is your heart. Wrong desire enthrones false gods in our hearts.

"We Westerners preached Christ with our lips, with our actions we brought slavery of Mammon. . . . In reading the history of Europe, its destructive succession of wars, of avarice, or fratricidal persecutions of Christians by Christians, of luxury, of gluttony, of pride, who could detect any but the rarest traces of the Holy Spirit?" (C.S. Lewis, The Latin Letters of C.S. Lewis)

"Materialism and consumerism, the collapse of biblical ethical standards, and the breakdown of the family have increased at a galloping pace." (Ronald J. Sider, Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger)

The tenth commandment is very practical regarding human relationships. It sets clear boundaries for life in the midst of our neighbours. But it doesn’t simply set a hedge about human behavior. It goes deeper, speaking to our sinful hearts and calling us to faithfulness to the Lord who loves steadfast love. Keep your heart pure. In like manner, Paul admonishes us: "whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is gracious, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil. 4:8).

But when a heart is empty, when it no longer is fixed on God, it needs to be filled with other things. It is an empty house (Lk. 11:24-26). Squatters may move in. And eviction is more difficult than is keeping clean and it is no sure thing. In some of Canada’s major cities empty houses become crack houses—places for substance abuse. They are in danger of being torched. Much pain and loss can be avoided by giving ourselves totally over to our rightful master and lover. He has purchased us by the blood of Jesus Christ. Let us keep ourselves pure for him.