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A Cloak For Covetousness - 1 John 5:14-15
A Cloak For Covetousness - 1 John 5:14-15
14 This is the confidence which we have before Him, that, if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. 15 And if we know that He hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests which we have asked from Him.
Here John makes an apparently open-ended promise! The underlying question that must be answered: “What would a godly person ask for?”. In a country that is filled with worldliness, covetousness, and a never-ending desire for more, some have latched onto this verse as the way to ‘have it all’. Just ASK God, and HE, like an overindulgent grandfather, will give it to you. A new car? Just ask. A bigger house, a better job, a bigger TV? Just ask!
James warned that to ask wrongly is to ask in relationship to the lusts of the world – 3 You ask and do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, so that you may spend it on your pleasures” (James 4:3).
Notice the attitude of the brethren in 2 Cor. 8:1-5 - they first gave self to God, then willing to give beyond their ability…
Paul warns that those who desire to be rich will fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction. (1 Tim. 6:9)
Jesus warned about the worries of the world and the deceitfulness of riches, and the desires for other things enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. (Mark 4:19)
Covetousness is idolatry! (Col. 3:5) and no covetous person can enter the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10).
Therefore: above ALL ELSE we must Seek FIRST the kingdom of God and His righteousness (Matt. 6:33).
Some use the promises of God as a cloak for their covetousness! Be not deceived, God is not mocked by such (cp. Gal. 6:7). The very desire of our hearts is known to God.
Hugh DeLong
