“I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” John 10:10 NKJV
As my dear friend Kim, who suffered from a recurrence of an aggressive form of cancer and faced her final days in her earthly home, I said to nearly everyone I encountered: “Kim covets your prayers.”
What an odd way for me to express a desire for fervent prayers.
When I think of the word covet in a biblical context, my mind immediately goes to the 10th commandment and “thou shalt not.”
Here’s
what Merriam-Webster has to say about covet:
1. to wish for earnestly.
2. to have an inordinate desire for what belongs to another.
What an interesting dichotomy. There are things, according to definition No. 1, that I should covet (prayers) and things that No. 2 would prohibit me from coveting (my friend’s designer shoes).
I struggle mightily with the covet commandment. No – I do not covet my neighbor’s spouse. But I do often find myself coveting a neighbor’s car, lifestyle, landscaping, fitness regimen, new gadget, or good fortune. Doesn’t it sometimes seem that “the grass is greener” and that life is more charmed among our friends and acquaintances?
When the lives of others appear to be richer, easier, fuller, it’s hard not to covet. But doing so leaves us feeling empty. Instead of possessing an inordinate desire for what belongs to another, we should earnestly wish for the fullness and abundance of life in Christ. Through such a life, we will find riches beyond compare. An unshakable faith in God, like that exhibited by Kim as she confronted her cancer, is something to covet.