Notice that coveting is not limited to any one thing. Moses says thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house, or thy neighbor's spouse, or thy neighbor's ox or other farm animals, or thy neighbor's servants. In fact, we are told not to covet anything that is thy neighbor's.

Some of us covet other people's ability to sing beautifully, rather than being content with whatever gift God has given to us. Many people in my profession covet the preaching abilities, the talents and the opportunities for doing ministry that God has assigned to other preachers, rather than being content and productive with whatever talents and opportunities God has given to us. In every walk of life, the Christian ministry being no exception, no two words work against each other more consistently than these words, covetousness and contentment.

We are given this warning for a very good reason. Coveting can so consume us that we leave little or no room for serving God as we should. Several weeks ago, one of the students at Ashland Seminary brought this point to life when he told a story from the movie Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. It is about two archaeologists who are in search of the Holy Grail, the cup from which Jesus was believed to have drunk during the Last Supper. Superstition had overlaid the mystery of the grail, and many had come to believe that whoever drank from that cup would have everlasting life.

After being hidden for nearly 2,000 years, the cup is finally discovered in a remote desert cave somewhere in the Middle East. The problem is that while the cup might offer everlasting life to whoever drinks from it, the cup itself could not be removed from that room. Thus, anyone who found it could have eternal life, but it would come only at the loss of their liberty. A female archaeologist cannot live with that restriction, and she attempts to remove the cup beyond the boundary, and when she does the whole cave begins to collapse. The cup falls from her hand and comes to rest about six feet below the surface on a ledge. She, too, falls in as the ground beneath her feet continues to quake. The only thing that kept her from falling into that open pit in the ground was the fact that Indiana Jones had managed to grab her hands and hold her up.

Now, as she is holding on for dear life, she sees the cup resting on the ledge, seemingly within her grasp. She releases one hand and begins to reach for it while still holding on to Jones with the other hand. He tells her that he cannot hold her up if she keeps reaching down for the cup. However, she cannot resist reaching for the cup, and eventually he loses his grip and she falls into some deep abyss.

Once again the ground shakes, and at this Indiana Jones falls in and finds himself holding on to his father's hand for dear life. Then the cup, miraculously still resting on that ledge, catches his eye also. Like the woman who had already fallen, he is now reaching down with one hand while his father is holding him up with the other hand. The same cycle is being repeated. The father cannot hold him while he is reaching up with one hand and reaching down with the other. Jones continues to reach for the cup. With one lunge he actually rubs his fingers against it. It is almost in his grasp.