Hebrews 13:5
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
When I was younger it was much easier for me to memorize Scripture verses. Now, I look for ways to help me do it. I often wonder how strong a Christian I would be if all I had for Scripture was what I had memorized…. Hmmm. That bothers me, so I recently started my own perpetual verse calendar. What I have done is taken index cards that have a spiral binding on them and when I come across a verse in my personal time or study time, I write it on one of the cards. I even put verses that strike me during the preaching of God’s Word in it. This way later when I’ve completed it, I can stand it on the window shelf by my kitchen sink or in the bathroom or even by my desk and flip it each day, see a new verse and be reminded who I am in Christ.
I haven’t gotten it filled yet, so in the meantime what I’ve been doing each day, at least one time is go through each verse and repeat the reference to the verse and the verse… out loud… I try not to do it when other people are present because then I get distracted by their comments and/or annoyed looks.
One of the verses I have in my calendar is the one I’ve quoted above. Now, over the years, I have heard the last part of this verse quoted to comfort people. I had even quoted that part to my young daughter to help her with her fears at night. However, as I’ve repeated this verse each day out loud, it has stayed with me through the day and I’ve thought on it. No, that’s not really true… it would be more appropriate to say it’s been coming to my mind… often!
As I thought on this verse over the years, I have to admit that I have thought there were two completely unrelated thoughts expressed in this verse. Then the other day as I was repeating it, I felt a jolt.
This verse says, Let your conversation be without covetousness…. First, let me clarify this. Conversation here does not refer strictly to verbal communication. In other words, saying things like, I wish I had…. I wish I was…. I wish, I wish, I wish… Conversation here refers to every part of our day to day living. It is not just what we verbalize to another, it is our body language, it is how we live our life, it is our relationships! The word covetousness is another word for idolatry….putting any thing or relationship before our relationship with God.
God is saying here, let your manner of living be without inordinate desire for material possessions, human relationships, job positions, etc. While none of these things in themselves may be wrong to desire, having an unbalanced or excessive desire may be. Why?
Well, let’s continue to look at this verse. It says not only to Let your conversation be without covetousness… but it also says, and be content with such things as ye have. Whew! I have to tell you, I’d never really thought of myself as a covetous person. I’d never really thought I had desires that were out of balance with the rest of my life. Yet, as I find my husband being the executor of two family estates, and having to be involved in the dispensing of contents of two households that are not ours, I feel the Holy Spirit chipping away at my self-righteousness. I find myself seeing things I never even knew existed and thinking… Wow! That’s cool! All of a sudden I found myself not so content with "such things as I had". Hmmm.
So, what’s wrong with looking at things/relationships that someone else possesses and thinking they’re nice? Nothing… in and of itself. In fact, we’re supposed to rejoice with those whom God has blessed. It is when we feel like we would not be complete without having them that it becomes a problem.
Let’s look at the rest of this verse… for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Oh Double Wow! Okay… I see some confusion on your face. Let me see if I can put this all together for you.
To paraphrase this verse (as I heard the Holy Spirit say to me), “Live your day-to-day life knowing that I am ALL that you need. There is nothing you can add to your relationship with ME, that will make it better. If you have need, I will provide. However, if your eyes wander to things or relationships that are outside of MY desires for you, you will not feel MY presence, though I will not have left, because you have placed those things above Me and your relationship with Me.”
Do you understand what I’m saying here? God says to us, I am your ALL in ALL. Because I will never leave you nor forsake you, you will have no other needs that I will not provide for you. This verse is right in the middle of a passage that talks about our day-to-day relationships with others as well as our spiritual relationships with others. It refers to our responsibility toward others.
God is telling us here that He completes us. Nothing… relationships or things.... can be put in place of our relationship with God and complete us. If we allow them to, then we are guilty of idolatry.
Whew! Are you aware of God’s presence today? Are you aware of His presence in your day-to-day activities? Are you aware of God’s presence in your church activities? Things and relationships often cloud our vision of God if we allow them to, but God wants us to see Him. He wants us to know that He’s right there through thick and thin and NOTHING WE TRULY NEED will be held back from us because….He will never leave us nor forsake us!
If you don’t feel God’s presence today in your day-to-day activities, perhaps you need to do an inspection. Is there a relationship, a position, a possession that has clouded your vision of Who God is and His ability to provide for you? Confess it as idolatry and ask God’s forgiveness. He will (I John 1:9 – btw, this is a promise to believers only… not a salvation promise.).
Perhaps you’ve never been aware of God’s presence in your life. Perhaps you have a hard time believing that God would even want to have anything to do with you. Perhaps you have never started a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. He dearly wants a relationship with you. Won’t you come to Him today so you too can know, "He will never leave thee nor forsake thee" ?
Molly Winter
Col. 1:9-10
My Comments: This was one of those messages that hit a grand slam right between my eyes! There is NOTHING that I need, apart from God. HE will NEVER leave me. Anything else I put in His place is wrong and idolatry. He completes me. I can’t wrap my brain around this enough.
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.
When I was younger it was much easier for me to memorize Scripture verses. Now, I look for ways to help me do it. I often wonder how strong a Christian I would be if all I had for Scripture was what I had memorized…. Hmmm. That bothers me, so I recently started my own perpetual verse calendar. What I have done is taken index cards that have a spiral binding on them and when I come across a verse in my personal time or study time, I write it on one of the cards. I even put verses that strike me during the preaching of God’s Word in it. This way later when I’ve completed it, I can stand it on the window shelf by my kitchen sink or in the bathroom or even by my desk and flip it each day, see a new verse and be reminded who I am in Christ.
I haven’t gotten it filled yet, so in the meantime what I’ve been doing each day, at least one time is go through each verse and repeat the reference to the verse and the verse… out loud… I try not to do it when other people are present because then I get distracted by their comments and/or annoyed looks.
One of the verses I have in my calendar is the one I’ve quoted above. Now, over the years, I have heard the last part of this verse quoted to comfort people. I had even quoted that part to my young daughter to help her with her fears at night. However, as I’ve repeated this verse each day out loud, it has stayed with me through the day and I’ve thought on it. No, that’s not really true… it would be more appropriate to say it’s been coming to my mind… often!
As I thought on this verse over the years, I have to admit that I have thought there were two completely unrelated thoughts expressed in this verse. Then the other day as I was repeating it, I felt a jolt.
This verse says, Let your conversation be without covetousness…. First, let me clarify this. Conversation here does not refer strictly to verbal communication. In other words, saying things like, I wish I had…. I wish I was…. I wish, I wish, I wish… Conversation here refers to every part of our day to day living. It is not just what we verbalize to another, it is our body language, it is how we live our life, it is our relationships! The word covetousness is another word for idolatry….putting any thing or relationship before our relationship with God.
God is saying here, let your manner of living be without inordinate desire for material possessions, human relationships, job positions, etc. While none of these things in themselves may be wrong to desire, having an unbalanced or excessive desire may be. Why?
Well, let’s continue to look at this verse. It says not only to Let your conversation be without covetousness… but it also says, and be content with such things as ye have. Whew! I have to tell you, I’d never really thought of myself as a covetous person. I’d never really thought I had desires that were out of balance with the rest of my life. Yet, as I find my husband being the executor of two family estates, and having to be involved in the dispensing of contents of two households that are not ours, I feel the Holy Spirit chipping away at my self-righteousness. I find myself seeing things I never even knew existed and thinking… Wow! That’s cool! All of a sudden I found myself not so content with "such things as I had". Hmmm.
So, what’s wrong with looking at things/relationships that someone else possesses and thinking they’re nice? Nothing… in and of itself. In fact, we’re supposed to rejoice with those whom God has blessed. It is when we feel like we would not be complete without having them that it becomes a problem.
Let’s look at the rest of this verse… for He hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee. Oh Double Wow! Okay… I see some confusion on your face. Let me see if I can put this all together for you.
To paraphrase this verse (as I heard the Holy Spirit say to me), “Live your day-to-day life knowing that I am ALL that you need. There is nothing you can add to your relationship with ME, that will make it better. If you have need, I will provide. However, if your eyes wander to things or relationships that are outside of MY desires for you, you will not feel MY presence, though I will not have left, because you have placed those things above Me and your relationship with Me.”
Do you understand what I’m saying here? God says to us, I am your ALL in ALL. Because I will never leave you nor forsake you, you will have no other needs that I will not provide for you. This verse is right in the middle of a passage that talks about our day-to-day relationships with others as well as our spiritual relationships with others. It refers to our responsibility toward others.
God is telling us here that He completes us. Nothing… relationships or things.... can be put in place of our relationship with God and complete us. If we allow them to, then we are guilty of idolatry.
Whew! Are you aware of God’s presence today? Are you aware of His presence in your day-to-day activities? Are you aware of God’s presence in your church activities? Things and relationships often cloud our vision of God if we allow them to, but God wants us to see Him. He wants us to know that He’s right there through thick and thin and NOTHING WE TRULY NEED will be held back from us because….He will never leave us nor forsake us!
If you don’t feel God’s presence today in your day-to-day activities, perhaps you need to do an inspection. Is there a relationship, a position, a possession that has clouded your vision of Who God is and His ability to provide for you? Confess it as idolatry and ask God’s forgiveness. He will (I John 1:9 – btw, this is a promise to believers only… not a salvation promise.).
Perhaps you’ve never been aware of God’s presence in your life. Perhaps you have a hard time believing that God would even want to have anything to do with you. Perhaps you have never started a personal relationship with God through His Son Jesus Christ. He dearly wants a relationship with you. Won’t you come to Him today so you too can know, "He will never leave thee nor forsake thee" ?
Molly Winter
Col. 1:9-10
My Comments: This was one of those messages that hit a grand slam right between my eyes! There is NOTHING that I need, apart from God. HE will NEVER leave me. Anything else I put in His place is wrong and idolatry. He completes me. I can’t wrap my brain around this enough.
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