Carson's talk on coveting

Zayed--Carson's new pet from Sister Leanne Hansen for his birthday! He has not parted with it since she gave it to her.

Carson wrote and presented this talk on coveting last Sunday.

Thou Shalt Not Covet—

Carson Bishop—Sunday January 22, 2012

         I was asked to give a talk on coveting.

The tenth commandment admonishes us “Thou shalt not covet” (Exodus 20:17). Coveting, or envying something that belongs to another, is damaging to the soul. It can consume our thoughts and plague us with constant unhappiness and dissatisfaction.

Brent L Top teaches that covetousness can be more than looking greedily upon the material possessions of others and desiring to have them for ourselves. It also may be an excessive desire for things that will satisfy our egos: physical attractiveness, power and influence, even the reputation for wisdom and goodness. It may also be too firm an attachment to things that are already ours.

The Lord commanded Martin Harris, “Thou shalt not covet thine own property.” Instead, he was to “impart it freely” to further the work of the Lord, who had blessed him with it (D&C 19:26).

After covetousness is rooted out of our lives, we can replace the old longings for earthly goods and passions with dedicated strivings for the treasures of heaven.

Jacob characterized this as seeking first the kingdom of God. He also taught the best use of the worldly riches so many people seek: Jacob 2:17–19.

 “Think of your brethren like unto yourselves, and be familiar with all and free with your substance, that they may be rich like unto you.

“But before ye seek for riches, seek ye for the kingdom of God.

“And after ye have obtained a hope in Christ ye shall obtain riches, if ye seek them; and ye will seek them for the intent to do good—to clothe the naked, and to feed the hungry, and to liberate the captive, and administer relief to the sick and the afflicted”

A week ago, I was in our family’s living room holding my prized (and only) snow globe that my mom sort of gave to me as a gift a few years ago. I had been polishing it earlier in our dining room (I polish stuff when I'm bored), which is why I had it when I went to ask my dad what flogging was, as it had been mentioned in my book. To make a long story short, I went to my dad to show him how Richard Paul Evans had made fun of the dance, making the stupid decision to carry my snow globe with me. I heard my dad say “careful Carson”, but it was too late. In that very second, I dropped the snow globe, which bounced off the carpeted living room floor into the kitchen, and shattered.

       It took a few days, but I soon realized that this was most likely a test from Heavenly Father to see if I was capable to understand that material things don’t matter- I shouldn’t covet them. If so, I flunked it. It took until my realization of this lesson to mostly get over my snow globe breaking (mostly).

Not coveting is a lesson that we all need to learn. Hopefully, to all you young children, you don’t have to learn it the way I did, but just be warned: if you do, don’t go into near depression like I did. Just know that it is a test from Heavenly Father.

I say these things In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.