Noble Words

Noble words

“You shall not covet your neighbour’s house;

 you shall not covet your neighbour’s wife,

 nor his male servant,

 nor his female servant, 

nor his ox, nor his donkey, 

nor anything that is your neighbour’s.

Exodus 20:17

The above words from Exodus I think is an ideal that even those who do not believe in God can agree with are noble.
The Oxford dictionary defines Covet as: “yearning to possess something that belongs to someone else.”
We live today in what at times is a very self centred society. It’s a society that tells us what we need. We need the latest designer clothing, the most up to date smart phone, fancy cars complete with the latest gadgets to help us drive them.
Both children and adults are told by the media that if we don’t have all these gadgets we’re out of step.
In our “must have” society where day after day, we are told by advertisers that we “must have this” “we can’t do without this” it’s easy to see how someone can covet things of their neighbours.
Temptation is always there.  The world doesn’t make it easy not to covet things of our neighbours.  Especially for our kids and youth.
Our youth see the latest brand name thing, and it becomes a status thing for them.  One teacher told me one of the biggest problems they were having in her school was with clothing.
Kids were looked down on, if they didn’t have “the right clothes.”  Translation the right designer label.
Teens have been beaten by other teens, so they could take their two hundred dollar running shoes.
When it comes to anything in this day and age, society doesn’t make life easy, be it for teen or adult.
Materialism especially since the end of the second world war has slowly crept into our society. It has become a virtual god.
Particularly with the rise of the world wide web materialism has slowly become more evasive in our lives.
I click on a search engine and advertisements appear suggesting that I might like such and such an item.
Do we really need five hundred dollar smart phones that can do so much that most people don’t use half of what they can do?
While I know quality does matter when it comes to clothing do we really need to pay hundreds of dollars for designer running shoes or designer clothing?
Our society already has bowed down to the god of materialism and has in many ways, whether we are willing to admit it or not, paying the price in the form of crime.
Materialism is a harsh god. Sadly a god far to many people in the twenty-first century are following.
There is however an alternative. The one true and living God. The God who took it upon himself to sent his Son Christ Jesus call all men to him.
Jesus said,
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.  
Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  
For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” 
                                                   Matthew 11:28-30
Think about it.