This is why Jesus rebuked the young man who wanted Jesus to tell his brother to divide his inheritance. “Beware of covetousness.” “Thou shalt not covet” is one of the Ten Commandments. Yet, look at how far our society has drifted from obeying these simple commands. Instead of encouraging everyone to turn to God for their daily needs, we have a welfare system that steals from the haves and gives to the have-nots. Instead of every man and woman being responsible to God for their lives and for their daily needs, many are taught to covet what others have, elect government officials to steal what others have, and redistribute the wealth. The system takes God out of the picture, and fails to recognize spiritual qualities as our substance.

This is not a political issue; it is a question of proper governance; whether our human government mirrors God’s government or whether it is governed by human greed, envy, and other false beliefs. We are on dangerous ground when we, individually or collectively, covet what others have and turn to a human government, rather than God, for our daily needs.