Do Not Steal

Good Morning,

Considering this commandment, "Thou shalt not steal," (Exodus 20:15) I am wondering why God has not tossed our nation into the trash heap long ago.  We consider stealing when someone goes to the bank and takes money, but what about defrauding an insurance company?  Our society has become so cold, they feel it is not wrong to abuse insurance to get gain.

To take what is not one's own is stealing.  

We will often neglect the subtle things we take, like years off our parents life through worry and our reckless life.  Or the gray hairs and wrinkles we give by shameful living and thus rob our loved ones of their youth.  

When we think about, "Thou shalt not steal" it may be that we should consider the years a young person took under the leadership of coaches, youth workers, pastors, or teachers.  Few understand the drain it is to invest in youth year after year, and then to have that youth toss all their training to the wind and chase the folly of this world.  It might be wise to ponder the bottle, how many nights have been stolen from family for a bottle at the bar, or to sit in the garage getting drunk with friends when vows were made to "love, honor, and cherish."  

How about ruining the name someone spent years seeking to build with equity and honor?  Those "likes" and "follow" buttons that repeat slander and deceitful words, are they not stealing what is not theirs?  Can the slanderous tongue be exempt from the command to not steal?  To "defame" another cannot be considered anything other than stealing.  Can the thief think they will escape the judgment of God on their unjust behavior?  

1 Thessalonians 4:6 "That no man go beyond and defraud his brother in any matter: because that the Lord is the avenger of all such, as we also have forewarned you and testified.”

You may be doing what your boss asks, or you may be doing what the law allows you to do, but you have a conscience, you have a brain, and you know you are using "accepted means" to do the unacceptable in the eyes of God Almighty.  

What about going to work and not working?  Would it not clearly be "theft" to take pay for an hour not worked?  Of course it would and we all know better.  

Perhaps that is why God deals so harshly with adultery, for it is taking someone that is not one's own.  To use the power of influence to draw someone away from their spouse would be worse than robbing the convenience store – at least I think so.  

What about fraud?  Is not the word fraud used to define taking something that belongs to another under a false pretense?  Yet Paul uses the word fraud when exhorting married couples to stay close in their personal life.  

1 Corinthians 7:5 “Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.”  

We might never reach into an offering plate at church and take money out, but is it really much different from when we know God asks us to give and we refuse, keeping the money in our pockets?

It might be good to reconsider the simply little command, "Thou shalt not steal.” (Exodus 20:15)

Pastor

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