The Most-Forgotten Commandment

"The Savior summarized the Ten Commandments in two principles—love for the Lord and love for our fellow men: 

"'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself' (Matthew 22:37–39)."*

How many parties are involved? I count three: God, my neighbor, and myself. I guess loving myself is pretty important too (more on this later). 

With Jesus' "summary" in mind, read the Ten Commandments as listed in Exodus 20.

  1 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

  2 Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image. 

  3 Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain. 

  4 Remember the sabbath day, to keep it holy.

  5 Honour thy father and thy mother. 

  6 Thou shalt not kill.

  7 Thou shalt not commit adultery.

  8 Thou shalt not steal.

  9 Thou shalt not bear false witness.

10 Thou shalt not covet.

When the Ten Commandments were given, it was a BIG deal. "All the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off" (Exodus 20:18). 

We still live by these commandments today because they are "eternal gospel principles that are necessary for our exaltation."* For a brief read on each, I recommend the link down below for interesting insights (for example, honoring our father and mother includes honoring our Heavenly Parents). 

Let's get to that forgotten commandment. As you read through the list, were there any you glossed over because you're totally keeping it or don't know what it means? 

For me, and maybe for lots of us, it's the last one. Thou shalt not covet. Maybe we're too tired of reading commandments by the time we get to the last one, and we overlook it. 

I grew up thinking that coveting meant you wanted your neighbor's car, for example, SO badly that you acted on it and stole it. Coveting required jealousy toward other people plus an action. But actually, coveting is much simpler than all of this. 

Coveting is wanting something you don't have. 

The Bible refers to other people's property, but I submit that we covet more than that. We can be jealous and covet the person we want to be. Examples: we may want to be in a different financial situation, to be done with school already, to control our environment, to get a promotion at work, to secure lasting relationships that do not yet exist, or to have a different body. For me (among many things I'm sure), I wanted my health and vitality back so I could get the heck ON with my life and have that "quiver full" of children I always wanted, etc.

But if there is anything I've learned from the last few years, it's that we can't control everything...or maybe even anything. If we go on wishing for things or circumstances to be just the way we want them, we'll be miserable little people!

True to the Faith summarizes this idea so nicely. (I underlined for emphasis). 

"Coveting, or envying something that belongs to another, is damaging to the soul. It can consume our thoughts and plague us with constant unhappiness and dissatisfaction. It often leads to other sins and to financial indebtedness." *

Hmm. Other sins... Envy? Greed? Pride? Being controlling? Being unsatisfied? Wanting more? Thinking I know better than God? I've been there and done all that, people, and hopefully I'm growing out of it.

Sometimes childish statements grow up with us and become our anthems even though we're (mortal) adults already:

I want that toy. 

I want to win. 

I want to be first. 

I want to be bigger and stronger. 

I want to make me happy. 

I want things my way. 

I want it now. 

Perhaps learning not to covet helps us to extinguish some of the selfish childishness within us. (Jesus wants us to be child-LIKE. That's different.) 

Certainly, not coveting gives us more satisfaction, gratitude, maturity, and peace. We are happy with who we are when we do not covet. That helps us develop self-love I spoke of earlier. I'm still guilty of coveting sometimes, but NOT coveting helps me to think in a different way...maybe something like:

"I love the life God has given me. I love my two children. I love my limitations. I love the surprises in the form of lessons my Father is giving to me. I love how perfectly He tends to me and knows my needs better than I do. I love that He loves and trusts me enough to let me suffer so I can grow. I love the person I am today. I love basking the light of God's love."

We are all just children, and our loving Father loves us and knows what we need. If we are open to the gifts He has for us (many times disguised as challenges or trials), I think we recognize them easier and can love them sooner. The more I accept this, the happier I am. 

 

* Source: True to the Faith: "Ten Commandments," https://www.lds.org/topics/ten-commandments?lang=eng