If the contentment goes and the giving of thanks goes, we are not loving God as we should, and proper desire has become coveting against God.  This inward area is the first place of loss of true spirituality.  The outward is always just a result of it.

The second test as to when proper desire becomes coveting is that we should love men enough not to envy, and this is not only envy for money; it is for everything.  It can, for instance, be envy of his spiritual gifts.  There is a simple test for this.  Natural desires have become coveting against a fellow creature, one of our kind, a fellow man, when we have a mentality that would give us secret satisfaction at his misfortune.  If a man has something, and he loses it, do we have an inward pleasure?  A secret satisfaction at his loss?  Do not speak too quickly and say it is never so, because you will make yourself a liar.  We must all admit that even when we get on in our Christian life, even in these areas where we say we are longing for the church of Jesus Christ to be more alive in our generation, often we have this awful secret satisfaction at the loss of other men, even at the loss of brothers in Christ.  Now if this mentality is upon me, in any way, then my natural desires have become coveting.  I am inwardly coveting, and I am not loving men as I should…

…When we read these things and understand that failure in these areas is really coveting, a lack of love, everyone of us must be upon his knees as Paul was upon his knees when he saw the commandment not to covet; it destroys any superficial view of the human life.

Francis Schaeffer- “True Spirituality” pg. 11-12

What more can I say.  Are you convicted by this, as I am?  I have had to search my heart and repent for areas of covetousness in my life.  The Light has revealed the true starkness of my sin and removed the guise of my thoughts and attitudes.  The words of a song come to mind:

A pure heart, that’s what I long for.
A heart that follows hard after Thee;
A pure heart, that’s what I long for.
A heart that follows hard after Thee.

VERSE:
A heart that hides Your Word
So that sin will not come in.
A heart that’s undivided
But one You rule and reign;
A heart that beats compassion,
That pleases You, my Lord.
A sweet aroma of worship
That rises to Your throne.

©1992 Integrity's Hosanna!
Words and Music by Rusty Nelson

The human heart is so deceitful that we can hardly recognize covetousness in our own lives.  The first nine commandments deal with our external actions; the tenth commandment, “Thou shall not covet,” concerns the heart.  No one knows of our secret covetous thoughts.  We may not even know that we are coveting until the Holy Spirit shines His light into the corners of our hearts and reveals our secret faults.  However, God is faithful to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  May we pray like David, “Create in me a clean heart, O God,  And renew a steadfast spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10)

God Bless,

Erik Brown