‘Ground Zero’ is the central point from which a catastrophe radiates. The phrase first appeared in 1945 at the first detonation of a nuclear weapon. ‘Ground zero’ described the point of reference from which all effects of the blast were measured. Less than a month later, Hiroshima became ‘ground zero’ for the first strategic use of a nuclear weapon. The destruction was indescribable. Over one hundred thousand people were killed in the blast. And many suffered the ongoing effects of radiation poisoning. And the phrase ‘ground zero’ became proverbial for the point of catastrophic impact.
Every generation has a ‘ground zero.’ For our generation, ‘ground zero’ is the site of the World Trade Center towers in NYC. The horror of the 9/11 attacks and the images of the towers collapsing is indelibly inscribed on the consciousness of our generation. We still remember where we were “when the world stopped spinning that September day.” The fear, uncertainty, pain, and loss that followed were without parallel in our history as a nation. The shock waves from our ‘ground zero’ are still felt.
But there is a more terrible ‘ground zero.’ One that unfolded with an even more catastrophic effect. While it had no mushroom cloud or live TV coverage, it proved more destructive and deadly than either Hiroshima or 9/11. In a quiet garden with a seemingly harmless act, sin and death entered the world and ushered in every wickedness, depravity, violence, abuse, oppression, hatred, and unfaithfulness the world has ever known.
Even the creation groans, longing for redemption and release from the curse unleashed by the Fall. Every sin, every sorrow, every fear, every privation, every affliction in your life and in the lives of every man and woman, boy and girl who have ever lived are shock waves radiating from this ‘ground zero.’
We read about it in Genesis 3.
So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was a delight to the eyes, and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate, and she also gave some to her husband who was with her, and he ate.
Genesis 3:6
This account includes an interesting word – “desire.” It is a word we later find in the last of the Ten Commandments. Usually translated “covet,” it is the same word that describes Eve’s heart as she prefers the serpent’s word over God’s. Eve desired what God had withheld. She liked the reality Satan proposed. Eve desired what God said would bring death. She desired what she wanted. Not what God wanted for her. After all, “the heart wants what the heart wants.” And Adam desired it too. He was with his wife but made no effort to protect her or guard her from covetousness.
Covetousness, discontented desire, is ‘ground zero’ for all sin. It detonates evil in our hearts that poisons intentions, words, actions, relationships, and vocations. The 10th commandment warns us about it.
You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or his male servant, or his female servant, or his ox, or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbor’s.
Exodus 20:17
Following hard-hitting commandments against murder, adultery, theft, and lying, a warning against covetousness hardly seems climactic or even necessary. Yet, a desire for what is not and cannot be ours is ‘ground zero’ for all sin. Our sin is not merely an unavoidable consequence of our circumstance, our need, our limitations, or our ignorance. It grows out of discontented desire. In his very practical pastoral letter, James, the brother of Jesus writes.
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one. But each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brothers. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
James 1:13-17
The final commandment is no mere appendix. It represents ground zero for holiness, obedience, faithfulness, and Christlikeness. The moral law, summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments reaches not only to our outward actions, but to the very depths of our inward thought-life – our hopes, aspirations, desires, plans, intentions, joy, and contentment. And to break this commandment is to break all the others. Discontented desire, covetousness, is indeed ‘ground zero’ for all other sins in our lives. Perhaps this is why the Proverb warns us.
Above all else, guard your heart,
Proverbs 4:23
for everything you do flows from it.
And Jesus points out that every violation of the law begins with the heart when he warned.
For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander.
Matthew 15:19
What is your heart condition? Are you living Coram Deo? Join us as we examine the 10th Commandment and consider the dangers of covetousness. We meet on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.
Pottsville Associate Reformed Presbyterian Church 