Catechism--Seventh Commandment--You shall not steal. What does this mean? We should fear and love God so that we do not take our neighbor's money or possessions, or get them in any dishonest way, but help him to improve and protect his possessions and income.
For the Bible reference, please read Acts 5:1-11. You can probably just scroll over the reference here to read it.
Devotion--This commandment seems pretty cut and dried. Don't take things that don't belong to you. While we may find ways to haggle over the definition of possession, one thing that God makes clear is that some things belong to us, and most everything else belongs to others. God distributes these according to His will, and to steal is to say that we disagree with God's will and distribution.
Yet, the meaning above also gives us something else to think about. Part of stealing happens when we have the opportunity to help our neighbor "improve and protect" his things, and we fail to do so. We steal from him when we idly watch someone harm his property. We steal from him when we could help him to improve the things he has, and we instead stand idly by.
In some respects, that seems like a rather harsh assertion to make. Who of us hasn't seen someone who could use a helping hand and chose to move on without giving any assistance? To give a very common example, who hasn't passed by some litter on the side of the sidewalk and left it there rather than picking it up? We didn't help our neighbor (whether it's the local municipality or our actual neighbor next door) to improve and protect.
Why would that be considered stealing in God's eyes? Could it be that, when He has given us the gifts, abilities, and opportunity to assist, and we keep it to ourselves, that we are stealing something that God desires for the good of another? Could it be that the good that we can do in some way belongs to our neighbor, and if we keep it to ourselves, we are stealing from him?
Truth be told, we have so many opportunities to do this each day that we can never take them all up. This is where the forgiveness of God flows richly to us. We recognize that we cannot perfectly do everything this commandment calls for. So we give thanks to God that He did not withhold His hand and assistance, but gave it freely through His Son, Jesus.
For the Bible reference, please read Acts 5:1-11. You can probably just scroll over the reference here to read it.
Devotion--This commandment seems pretty cut and dried. Don't take things that don't belong to you. While we may find ways to haggle over the definition of possession, one thing that God makes clear is that some things belong to us, and most everything else belongs to others. God distributes these according to His will, and to steal is to say that we disagree with God's will and distribution.
Yet, the meaning above also gives us something else to think about. Part of stealing happens when we have the opportunity to help our neighbor "improve and protect" his things, and we fail to do so. We steal from him when we idly watch someone harm his property. We steal from him when we could help him to improve the things he has, and we instead stand idly by.
In some respects, that seems like a rather harsh assertion to make. Who of us hasn't seen someone who could use a helping hand and chose to move on without giving any assistance? To give a very common example, who hasn't passed by some litter on the side of the sidewalk and left it there rather than picking it up? We didn't help our neighbor (whether it's the local municipality or our actual neighbor next door) to improve and protect.
Why would that be considered stealing in God's eyes? Could it be that, when He has given us the gifts, abilities, and opportunity to assist, and we keep it to ourselves, that we are stealing something that God desires for the good of another? Could it be that the good that we can do in some way belongs to our neighbor, and if we keep it to ourselves, we are stealing from him?
Truth be told, we have so many opportunities to do this each day that we can never take them all up. This is where the forgiveness of God flows richly to us. We recognize that we cannot perfectly do everything this commandment calls for. So we give thanks to God that He did not withhold His hand and assistance, but gave it freely through His Son, Jesus.
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