By David Faust

According to a thought-provoking Chinese proverb, when you have made it 90 percent down the path, you’re halfway to your destination.

Often the hardest part of a task is bringing it to full completion rather than settling for “almost” or “good enough.” In business meetings and personal conversations it’s tempting to settle for surface agreement instead of pushing harder and digging into the last 10 percent of an issue.

Likewise, we tend to ignore the last 10 percent of the Ten Commandments. The final command may be the least understood of the whole list—and one of the most frequently broken. Sins like adultery and lying are pretty straightforward, but when is the last time you confessed the sin of coveting? Most of the Ten Commandments show themselves in outward actions, but the tenth commandment focuses on our inner motivation.

An Attitude of the Heart

Coveting is the selfish desire to get something we want, even if it’s at the expense of someone else. While you can be arrested for murder or stealing, coveting won’t land you in jail; yet it often leads to other sins.

Rick Atchley points out how King David broke the eighth commandment by stealing another man’s wife, ignored the seventh command by committing adultery, broke the ninth by lying about the affair, and violated the sixth when he arranged the killing of Bathsheba’s husband. Throughout this whole sordid business David betrayed the first commandment because he let other priorities take the rightful place of God. Covetousness was the root cause of it all. David coveted his neighbor’s wife, and after violating the last 10 percent of the Ten Commandments he ended up breaking several more of God’s rules. Atchley observes, “Sin lies in the heart long before it shows in the hands.”

The tenth commandment forbids coveting “anything that belongs to your neighbor” (Exodus 20:17). Don’t fixate on someone else’s wife; cultivate a mindset that says, “My spouse is terrific and nobody else compares!” Don’t covet your neighbor’s house, servant, ox, or donkey—or his car, job, or retirement package.

A Better Alternative

Christ offers a healthy alternative to coveting. It’s called contentment. “Godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Timothy 6:6).

We squelch covetousness and cultivate contentment when we appreciate our blessings, simplify our lifestyles, and give generously to others in need. Ever complain about poor service and selection in a store? You will see things differently if you go on a mission trip where people make a living by selling drinking water for five cents a glass. Ever gripe about health care? Visit a nation where individuals lack access to even the most basic medicines, and your heart will change. Another way to learn contentment? Practice tithing. The other 90 percent of our money seems to go farther when we give the first 10 percent back to the Lord.

The Ten Commandments provide a valuable ethical summary, but they also show how far we fall short and how much we need the Savior, Jesus Christ. The final commandment reminds us to quit pursuing things we can hang in a closet, save in a bank, or park in a garage. Instead, we should set our minds “on things above” (Colossians 3:2) and desire most of all the treasures we can hide in our hearts.

David Faust serves as the Associate Minister at East 91st Street Christian Church in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Based on International Sunday School Lesson, © 2013, by the Lesson Committee. Scripture quotations are from the New International Version ©2011, unless otherwise indicated.

As you apply today’s Scripture study to everyday life, read Engage Your Faith by David Faust and the correlating Evaluation Questions.