‘You shall not steal…’ (Exodus 20:15)
Another commandment that leaves little room for anyone reading it to be uncertain as to what it means and how they should behave – and yet is there something else we should be considering here too. One of the definitions of the verb to steal is to take the property of another wrongfully with the intent of keeping it. In terms of doing such a thing in a shop or in the home of another this is something that the vast majority of us would never contemplate.
But what about ‘borrowing’ and using office supplies from the work place for our own personal business? What about ‘holiday souvenirs’ from hotels that we might stay in? What about pursuing our own interests in our work time? The immediate response to such questions might be to laugh them off and say something like, but that doesn’t really count and doesn’t hurt anyone, and maybe it doesn’t. However, isn’t it yet again another indication of how our thoughts and actions can lead us unwittingly to sin?
Lord, again we simply acknowledge how easily we wander from the path You have set before us. Help us we pray to walk in step with You each and every day. And all this we ask in Jesus name…Amen.
Question Of The Day: Whom did Jesus heal from a distance in Capernaum?