Proverbs 21-26 says, He coveteth greedily all the day long, but the righteous giveth and spareth not. Our proverb is a continuation from verse 25, referring to the slothful. It is the slothful being referred to when we read, he coveteth greedily all the day long. The sloth lusts after things that he's not willing to work for and for things that do not belong to him. He wants things he hasn't earned and doesn't deserve. To covet is to lust. Paul explains this in Romans 7, 7. What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law. For I had not known lust, except the law had said, thou shalt not covet. To covet isn't simply to say, boy, I'd like to have an ice cream cone about right now. To covet is to look with desire at some other kid with a cone and begin moving from a desire for a cone to a desire for his cone. In other words, to covet isn't to save up your money and buy something that you want, but is to plot to get something you want that doesn't belong to you. Listen to the full text of the 10th commandment in Exodus 20 verse 17. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's house. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor anything that is thy neighbor's. It isn't sinful to want a house, a spouse, or anything else like a nice car, nice clothes, good food, et cetera. But when the thing that you're going after belongs to someone else, or at least doesn't belong to you, you've gone from being a consumer to being a thief. And instead of working for nice things, the sloth begins lusting for the things of others that he isn't able or willing to work for. And that causes temptation to do something to get it. James 1, 14 and 15 describes this process saying, But every man is tempted when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then, when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin, and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. And our Proverbs says, he, again referring to this sloth, coveteth greedily all the day long. Instead of getting up off of his or her lazy rear end and working and saving up for something and doing what needs to be done with his own hands, his own capabilities, the sloth is just always plotting and manipulating and maneuvering. Sloths are the kind of people who file false claims to insurance and workers comp in an effort to game the system. And if they ever are really injured, they're sorely disappointed when they realize that it's not the lottery and they only get medical bills and lost time payment, maybe a small amount for pain and suffering. Sloths mooch for necessities, but somehow they find the money to play the lottery a lot of the times that I've known them over the years. So I would like to think, though, that I'm preaching to the choir and that nobody listening to this falls into this category of being a covetous, greedy sloth. But I've seen them in most of the churches I've attended in 30-some years. And sometimes they're able to hide their slothfulness and the rest of the congregation doesn't really know until something happens and they're exposed at some later time. All we can do as pastors and teachers is to read and teach these words of God and urge everyone listening to take heart. And if you're guilty, repent and start living your life biblically. The happy, spirit-filled Christian is a hard-working man and woman of God. You can brag about being spirit-filled all you want. If you're not a hard-working man or woman, you're not spirit-filled. Proverbs 10, 16 sums it up nicely. The labor of the righteous tendeth to life, the fruit of the wicked to sin. Amen.