8.24.2008

Thou shall not Steal!

Commandent number 8, and seemingly one of the simplest...Thou shall not steal. Have you ever really thought about what that means? I mean REALLY thought about it? I just got home from church, where we have been going through a series about the Ten Commandments. It has been wonderful, answered many questions I have had for years, not to mention VERY insightful--usually resulting in me walking out with my head hung in shame. It is easy sometimes as a Christian to "rate" myself. I have never committed adultery, murdered, or stolen something from someone. I must be pretty good, right? Through this series, I have learned just how wrong my mortal thinking process is. While each week has been similiarly convicting, I will discuss just this week: theft.

I must give credit for the following to our pastor and church. I was so inspired, however, that I wanted to share. When we hear the term "theft" or "steal," I think most people think of the taking of a material possession--money, equipment, toys, shoplifting, etc. While theft of material goods certainly qualifies, so do thefts of:

--Time: wasting time rather than working, be it time you are being paid to work or time God has blessed you with to serve Him.
--Purity: taking someone's purity through innapropriate physical contact, or even emotional purity by flirting, providing innapropriate pictures or literature, or intentionally causing a temptation, etc.
--Reputation: gossip, rumors, etc. Anything that could affect another's viewpoint of a third party should not be mentioned, whether it is true or not.
--Workplace: not just employee thefts of money, goods, time, etc, but also employer thefts of cheating government or employees of the same.

I know I am very guilty of a couple of those, and pray that God will help me overcome the habitual choices I make all to often that ultimately result in my "stealing."

Wow, this has been a powerful series. I may have to look into whether I can get CD copies of the whole series for future reference and sharing!

1 comment:

Melonie said...

That sounds really insightful! I guess we don't have to look too deep into the "law" (not even past the 10 commandments) to see how we constantly break it! It's as Jesus said, all the law and the prophets are summed up in "loving the Lord" and "loving your neighbor". (Good thing for us that that's not the end of the story, eh?) I always enjoy studying all that old covenant/new covenant stuff...I bet your sermon series is indeed powerful. Thanks for sharing!