July 2012: The Seventh Commandment

The seventh commandment: "Thou shall not steal."

What does this mean? Whenever we take something that does not belong to us knowing the owner does not want us to have it, that is stealing.Whenever we take something from a store or business without asking for permission, without buying it, and keep it such a way that the owner does not know about it or cannot get it back, that is stealing.

We may even think "Oh, they won't mind if I take it." They may not even care if the other person is hurt by the theft. This is bad, not only because they have broken the Seventh Commandment, but because they have purposely blinded themselves to God.

When a person steals knowingly, a part of them dies. At first when a person steals, his conscience may feel bad, but it's also fun, because you get what you want. But each time a person steaks he is making a decision to follow Satan rather than God. Each time he steals, there is a little rip in his soul. Each time he steals he does a little more damage to himself.

What eventually happens when a person continues to steal is that they lose the ability to see that it is bad. They get so used to stealing that their conscience can no longer tell that they are doing bad. And they will do it even more. Even more, they can get so used to sinning, they can't even tell they are sinning. As they move away from God they block their relationship with God. Their conscience becomes blind to God.

This is where it gets bad. As we separate from God our attitude changes. The things of God are no longer important. We forget the wonderful things which God has done for us. We forget that God is here to protect us and provide for us. And as we forget these things of God, the things of this world become more important. I start to look at what I have and I think that I do not have much. Then I want more things of this world, increasing the temptation to steal. Satan wants you to believe that having things is the only important thing in life. Satan wants you to believe that the only way to get things is to work, to fight and to steal.

But God does not want you to think that this world is all there is. You were made for eternity. You were made for greater things. God wants you to know the abundance that you live in. Because Jesus died on the cross, we have become children of God. God has promised to provide for us. God has promised to give us all we need. Anything else we just don't need. When we see that God will provide for all that we need, that God will always provide moral ways to get the things we need. When we see this there is no need to steal.

It is our attitude about life whether we think of ourselves as rich or poor, which will equip us to follow the Seventh Commandment. If you see your life as full of gifts from God, you believe you are rich and there will be no need to steal. If you are blind to the gifts of God, you will think that you are poor, and you will be tempted to steal. It is all in your attitude. God calls you to see that you are rich.

There was a book called The Little Prince. A little boy is visiting the earth from another planet. He meets a man who has crash-landed his plane in the desert. One evening the boy calls the man to look out into the desert and asks the man what he sees. The man says "Sand and more sand." The boy replies, "I see something different. I see little oases filled with water to quench the thirst of visitors." For the man the desert was a place of heat, suffering and death. But for the boy it was a place to search for and find the gifts of water hidden away in the desert.

This world is not a place where we have to fight and take the things that we want. This is a place to search and find the many, many gifts which God has provided for us in our lives. Thou shall not steal? Piece of pie.

1. God provides everything I need.
2. So if I cannot get it God's way... I don't need it.
3. In fact, God provides me more than everything I need.

I am rich. Praise the Lord!

August 2011: The First Commandment

I'll be starting a series on the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments were a gift from God which marked us as His people. This is how He wanted His people to live.

The First Commandment: "Thou shalt have no other gods before me"
What does it mean to have no other gods? Back in the Roman Empire, one of the Caesars wanted people to consider him to be a god. They had to bow to him. They had to bow to statues of him. They had to worship him. Not only that but they couldn't pray to any other gods. In particular, they couldn't worship Jesus. If they did, the government would hunt them down and kill them. That was bad.

What else does "Thou shalt have no other gods" mean? People also used to worship non-living things like statues, or animals. We call them idols. They thought that these statues or animal spirits controlled the universe. They figured if they could make these "spirits" happy, the spirits would bless them and take care of them and maybe make them rich. But in reality all they were praying to were rocks and animals and trees which could do nothing for them. The sad part is that other people have made money by tricking them into thinking that they could control the universe. This was a lie. We call these superstitions.

Now most of us do not worship rocks or trees or humans. Most of us try not to be superstitious. But there is one more meaning to the First Commandment "Thou shalt have no other gods" which applies to us. The first commands that "we are not to have anything more important in out lives than God." We are to put our trust in Him only. But sometimes people put their trust in other things. For example, they put their trust in money. They think: "If I have enough money, then everything will go well in my life." "If only I had enough money, I wouldn't have to worry about bad things happening to me." "If I have enough money then I will be happy."

But scripture warns us that the love of money is the root of all evil. Making "money" your god is evil. Even the world realized this was so: "Money can't buy happiness." Yet, while the world recognized that "money isn't everything," it never seems to tell you what is "everything".

However, the Bible tells us what that "everything" is. The Ten Commandments tell us what that "everything" is. That "everything" which brings happiness, that "everything" which brings security and protection, that "everything" which brings love to you, is God. That's why the Ten Commandments says "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." Because God is the source of all good, all happiness, all security and protection, all love. And because of Jesus Christ, you know God. You shall have no other gods because you do not need any other gods. You shall have no other gods because God who is "everything" is here with you. And the God who is "everything" loves you and has plans of good for you and will take care of you always.