Covetousness

It would be vain to dogmatically decide which is the most common sin in the world. It would be safe to say that there is none, at any rate, to which the heart is more prone than covetousness.

It was this sin which helped to cast down the angels who fell. They were not content with their first estate. They coveted something better.

It was this sin which helped to drive Adam and Eve out of Paradise and bring death and damnation into the world. Our first parents were not satisfied with the things which God gave them in Eden. They coveted, and so they fell.

Covetousness is a sin which, ever since the fall, has been the productive cause of misery and unhappiness upon earth. Wars, quarrels, strifes, divisions, envyings, disputes, jealousies, hatreds of all sorts both public and private may nearly all be traced back to this fountainhead of covetousness!

—J.C. Ryle, ‘Expository Thoughts on Luke’