But it is wrong for him to desire his neighbor's house, wife, servant, animal or car. This kind of desire is different because a desire for someone else's belongings plants the seeds of a willingness to hurt, kill, lie or steal in order to fulfill the desire, Covetousness is desire that runs rampant over the rights of others and even over one's own reason. It is desire run amuck which will injure or destroy to get what it wants. When we feel this type of desire we may even destroy or injure ourselves to get what we want. Covetousness is normal desire gone wrong.
Covetousness is one result of the fall of man.
It's a perversion of God-given desires. It's the unbalanced aspect of the human spirit that we call original sin. Coveting is at the heart of the carnal mind. It is the inner principle of sin. Covetousness is the defect in our internal power-steering mechanism that pulls us toward the wrong.