What is coveting? What is the difference between “wanting” and “coveting”?

1 Kings 3:9“Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between right and wrong.”

Psalm 119:34Give me understanding and I will obey your instructions; I will put them into practice with all my heart.

Psalm 119:36Give me an eagerness for your laws rather than a love for money!

Romans 13:9-10The commandments say, “You must not commit adultery. You must not murder. You must not steal. You must not covet.” These—and other such commandments—are summed up in this one commandment: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Love does no wrong to others, so love fulfills the requirements of God’s law.

Colossians 3:5Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world.

1 Timothy 6:9People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.

James 4:2You want what you don’t have, so you scheme and kill to get it. You are jealous of what others have, but you can’t get it, so you fight and wage war to take it away from them. Yet you don’t have what you want because you don’t ask God for it.

Wanting something is not always bad. God has placed many natural desires in people’s hearts. But when wanting and longing for a particular thing leads to questioning God’s provision for you and looking for ways to bend his rules, it turns to coveting. If you want something and you can’t stop thinking about it, if you want something just because someone else has it, if you are tempted to do wrong to get something, if you feel like you deserve it, and if you feel unhappy not having it, then you are coveting.

Mark 7:21-23“For from within, out of a person’s heart, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, wickedness, deceit, lustful desires, envy, slander, pride, and foolishness.”

Luke 12:15, 33-34Then he said, “Beware! Guard against every kind of greed. Life is not measured by how much you own.” . . . “Sell your possessions and give to those in need. This will store up treasure for you in heaven! And the purses of heaven never get old or develop holes. Your treasure will be safe; no thief can steal it and no moth can destroy it. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.”

Philippians 3:18-19There are many whose conduct shows they are really enemies of the cross of Christ. They are headed for destruction. Their god is their appetite, they brag about shameful things, and they think only about this life here on earth.

Colossians 3:2-6Think about the things of heaven, not the things of earth. For you died to this life, and your real life is hidden with Christ in God. . . . Don’t be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Because of these sins, the anger of God is coming.

1 John 2:15Do not love this world nor the things it offers you, for when you love the world, you do not have the love of the Father in you.

Envy, greed, jealousy, and lust are all close relatives of coveting. The very nature of covetousness is that it chains you to this world, and to your own selfish desires. If you belong to God, then he is at work renewing your heart, and you must strive to live as his servant—straight from your heart.