Apparently, Sometimes Coveting is Not a Sin.

Recently, I heard an elder in my congregation say “We ( the elders) covet your prayers.”  OK.

Then the following day I read a blog post that ended with “I covet your prayers.” Really?

The other day, I was on Facebook, and Dr. Joel Beeke from the Heritage Reformed Church said that he also coveted my prayers.

I thought to myself, ”It sure is nice that all these spiritual men want to pray like me… ”  

Sorry what was that? They are not coveting how I pray?  They want me to pray for them?  Oh. I see. That makes more sense. I guess…thanks for the clarification.

But I am sure we were not supposed to covet.  Isn’t it a sin to covet? Is coveting a good word now? Perhaps if we use it in conjunction with prayer.  But I think it is odd. Are other sins ok if we use them in conjunction with prayer? What if I said that,  “I idolize your prayers?”  That would be weird. I could steal your prayers.  Is it plagiarism to pray  another person’s prayer? I could murder your prayer…If you have heard me attempt to pray extemporaneously*(see below)  I have at least ended a prayer on life support… What if I started ending my blog posts with “I lust after your prayers?” That is just plain wrong, but is it any stranger that coveting a prayer?

Let’s look up what it means to covet. To covet means to yearn to possess or have something that belongs to another.  “I yearn to possess your prayers.” “ I yearn to have your prayers.”  Ok I get it, but I still think it is odd to use that terminology.

Thanks for reading, and as always, I lust after your prayers…I mean covet them.  I covet your prayers. Wouldn’t it be easier to just ask, “Please pray for me?”

 *extemporaneously means “off the cuff”, but in regard to my praying in public it means: “I am totally unprepared to pray in front of all these people but since I am Christian and I do not want to appear silly I guess I better give it a shot. ”  Extemporaneous prayer often involves over active sweat glands and massive disruption in time, where time begins to slow down and short 1 second pauses turn into  hours.  Using the word “Extemporaneously” also gives one the appearance of having intelligence.

**Please note that this post was written completely sober and in sound mind…you can still pray for me, but I do not covet your emails of concern.  🙂