Eyes Fixed

Verse of the day: Joshua 7:21 When I saw among the spoils a beautiful Babylonian garment, two hundred shekels of silver, and a wedge of gold weighing fifty shekels, I coveted them and took them. And there they are, hidden in the earth in the midst of my tent, with the silver under it.”

Interesting to see the process that took place leading to Achan’s sin. Although warned not to take of the accursed things in Jericho, Achan made a fatal mistake. He set his eyes on that which was accursed (the Babylonian garment), and that which was supposed to be set aside for the Lord (silver and gold), and kept it for himself (Joshua 6:18). How shortsighted Achan was in his actions, and how tragic an end it was for him and his family; all because he coveted what was forbidden and prohibited for him to possess. He traded the blessings that were to come in the Promise Land for immediate gain. Before we criticize Achan, we need to ask ourselves, “How often have I traded eternal blessings because I coveted, and went after, the things of this world?” In Genesis 3:6 Eve coveted the fruit that was forbidden by God, thereby bringing on consequences (because of Adam’s refusal to stop her) that brought sin and death into the world. The verse tells us, “So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate.” Eve’s downfall was first that she listened and believed Satan’s lie, but her second downfall was the lust of her own eyes, which when it took over, Satan stepped aside and allowed Eve’s covetousness to do the rest. 1 John 2:16 tells us, “For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” Covetousness does not come from God. Covetousness stems from our own greed, and our own ungratefulness for what God has already provided us. Philippians 4:19 tells us, “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” In its context, the Apostle Paul was telling the Church at Philippi that God would meet all their needs for their generosity in taking care of his needs as he served the Lord. Sadly, far too many Christians have put themselves in a position where they are losing many eternal blessings (Philippians 4:17) because they have created so much debt for themselves (because of covetousness) that they cannot be a blessing in their giving. Like Achan, we end up using that which is rightfully the Lord’s for our own gain. All that we have belongs to God. He gives us what we need, and in many cases more than what we need. However, that excess is not for our own selfish wants. We are supposed to be good stewards of what God gives us and use our blessings to be a blessing to others. I am not saying that we can never buy anything for ourselves. What I am saying is that God provides us with what we need, but it may not always be the newest thing on the market. Nonetheless, He provides us with just what we need that will be sufficient to meet our need. Like Eve and like Achan, we put our eyes on that which is not ours to have, and we end up allowing covetousness to grow within our hearts. We may think that being covetous is a harmless sin, but it leads to idolatry and immorality. Idolatry because money and worldly possessions become our gods, but God tells us that we cannot serve two masters. Matthew 6:24 tells us, “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and mammon.” When we covet relationships that are not ours to have, we commit adultery and fornication. Colossians 3:2-3 & 5 read, “Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth. 3 For you died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” “Therefore put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.” The greatest defense we have against covetousness is coming to the place in our Christianity where we are completely satisfied with having Christ alone, and seeing everything else He allows us to have as “icing on the cake”. Hebrews 13:5-6 communicates this best, “Let your conduct be without covetousness; be content with such things as you have. For He Himself has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ 6 So we may boldly say: ‘The LORD is my helper; I will not fear. What can man do to me?’” The bottom line is that we need to be a people who are continually giving God thanks for what we already have, keeping our eyes fixed on Him, being satisfied with Him, and taking our eyes off the things of this world, which lead us astray in our walk with the Lord. When we covet, we put more care into gaining the things of the world, and fulfilling our own desires. When we covet, we fail to show the love of Christ because we will care little for the needs of others, and the love of the Father is not in us (1 John 2:15).

Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).