The last of God’s Ten Commandments begins, “Thou shalt not covet your neighbour’s house, thou shalt not covet your neighbour’s wife…” [Exodus 20:17] The word covet belongs to the same family as cupid, the god of unrestrained love, for either an object, a person or money.
The best remedy for covetousness is contentment. St. Augustine wrote, “O Lord we are restless until we find our rest in Thee.” If we are content with what we have we shall not covet what belongs to somebody else. The Apostle Paul, who gave up a wealthy lifestyle wrote, “I have learned in what ever state I am, to be content.” He said, “I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.” [Philippians 4:11,13]