February 22, 2024 

Today's Reading: 10 Commandments, 9th Commandment  

Daily Lectionary: Genesis 11:27-12:20, Mark 4:21-41

“You shall not covet your neighbor's house” (9th Commandment)

In the Name + of Jesus. Amen. Your friend got the new iPhone. You wish you had that, your phone is slow. It has a cracked screen, and the charger won’t work unless the cord is wiggled just right. It’s frustrating. If only you could have the new iPhone like your friend, then maybe life would be a little easier, a little less frustrating. Your friend is excited, understandably, and they tell you about how great it is, it has new features, and the camera is the best it has ever been. You feel that little pang in your stomach, it isn’t sickness, it’s envy. It leads you to start to have thoughts you wouldn’t want your friend to hear. Thoughts about how spoiled they are, how they get everything, and you get nothing, how everything is handed to them, how it isn’t fair. 

You have been there, I am sure. We live in a culture that is constantly using envy and greed to hook consumers. Envy is a great marketing tool, it plays off emotions, and it traps people into buying things they don’t need. But even more so, it causes us to sin, not only in disparaging those we are jealous of, but it reveals a deeper ailment, we are discontent with what God has given us. Of course, the Commandments are not there merely as rules, but also as protection. People make horrible decisions in the name of “keeping up with the Jones’” and enter crippling debt. But even more so, they look elsewhere to find contentment and fulfillment, and not to God who gives all good things. 

Guard yourselves against envy. It is a subtle yet dangerous attack on your trust in God. Satan loves to use this against you, and he does. Instead, find fulfillment in the Word of God and who has said you are, remembering that you are a baptized child of God who has received forgiveness, life, and salvation. Find contentment by giving thanks for all He has blessed you with, both great and small. And regularly be satisfied with the body and blood of Christ. Do not seek contentment in the things you do not have, but instead find peace and joy in the Lord. In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.

Almighty God, you have given us all good things. Help us, we pray, to find contentment in what we have been given, and guard us from jealousy and covetousness, and in all things, bring us satisfaction in you. Amen. 

- Pastor Caleb Weight is associate pastor of Peace In Christ Lutheran Church in Hermantown, MN.

Audio Reflections Speaker: Pastor Jonathan Lackey is the pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Vine Grove, Ky.

The Lutheran Reader’s Bible helps you develop a habit of devotion and Bible reading so you can slowly but intentionally understand and grow in God’s Word. Through introductions to the sixty-six books of the Bible, guided reading plans, and more, this Bible builds your confidence to study Scripture on your own.