2315) If I stopped within any hour of my day, I could notice how many things cross my mind which are related to temporal things.

The food I need to prepare. The clothes I need to wash. The traffic on the road. All these things involve the temporal.

Yet, Jesus said in Luke 12:15 Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions. (ESV)

When I read this verse, I zero in on the “things” I want and perhaps “covet” what others have but the word used here in the Greek is pleonexia, which can be translated as a lust for a greater number of temporal things. (biblehub.com).

Whenever I want more of things that will only exist in this life, I am breaking Jesus’ command. These “things” need not be limited to tangible items; they can be for anything in this life.

When I am motivated to receive recognition before people. When I want to be noticed because of where I live or what I wear. When I want to win in the games of this life. All of these things can be forms of covetousness.

It doesn’t make sense for God’s people to seek the temporary when the eternal is so much more important.