Do Not Steal

My grandparents were overflowing with Jesus’s love. They were generous and often welcomed strangers as family. But when my grandpa died, some of those people tricked my dementia-inflicted grandma into giving them more and more. My grandparents weren’t rich, but these people considered their relative poverty a wrong that had to be righted through stealing.

If you aren’t in the habit of shoplifting, it’s easy to glaze over the commandment, “Do not steal” (Exodus 20:15). But it involves more than obvious theft. For starters, it implies that private property is a God-given right. Like God owns the universe, we’re supposed to own certain things and rule over them (Genesis 1:27-28). Trying to take those things away from others violates a fundamental aspect of human existence. No matter how hard we argue, other people’s things don’t belong to us.

There are more ways to steal than simply taking things that aren’t yours. Cheaping out when paying people for their services robs them of their much-deserved reward (Leviticus 19:13). You rob God when you ignore His call to give (Malachi 3:8-10). Mooching off your friends, family, or government when you’re fully capable of supporting yourself is also stealing. My grandparents were victims of this.

The root of stealing is believing you deserve more than God has given you. There’s nothing wrong with wanting more for yourself, but taking it into your own hands—literally—is an act of faithlessness. You don’t trust God to care for you, so you try to take care of yourself.

How do you change? Do the opposite of stealing. Give generously when God calls you to, and he will reward your faithfulness in a way that goes far deeper than having more possessions.

Watch the full sermon here.