Are you a thief? Heavens, no! I can almost hear the shocked replies resounding through cyberspace. I ask this question because twice last week I happened to hear sermons/lectures on stealing, and I thought, is the Holy Spirit trying to say something to me? Well, I join with you in saying, "Heavens, no!"
I heard this joke a long time ago. A man wrote to the IRS that he was sending them a check for money owed. The letter ended, "And if I still cannot sleep tonight, I'll send you the rest." You may have never cheated on your taxes, but have you ever taken anything home from your job? Pens, paper clips, paper, what-have-you? You might say, "Those things were given to me." Yes, but were they given to you personally, or were they given to be used on your job? There's a difference.
In one of the sermons, the preacher mentioned tools he had borrowed from friends and were still sitting in his garage months later. If the owner has to come to retrieve them, that's as good as stealing.
What about time? Do you steal your employer's time? Talking on the phone during working hours, surfing the internet or facebook, gossiping with co-workers. This is not to say that every minute of your eight hours will be spent with your nose to the grindstone, but when you do four hours' work everyday for eight hours' pay, your boss may not see it immediately, but God does.
The Bible says, "Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God:" (Colossians 3: 22)
Finally, do you steal from God? If you plead guilty to any of the above, you already steal from God because everything belongs to Him. He put you in that job to be a light for Him, but there is a more spiritual way, if you will, that we steal from God. And that is with our tithes and offering.
Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say , Wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings. (Malachi 3 : 8).
Many people say they cannot afford to tithe. My take on this is, you cannot afford not to tithe. God has proved this to me more than once.
We all have things in our life of which we are not proud. Stealing, in the ways mentioned above, may not get you into prison, but it can prevent God's blessings from flowing to you the way they should. If you feel the Holy Spirit convicting you of this, or any other sin, ask Him to deliver you and to make you pure and holy as He wants you to be.
4 comments:
I once heard James Dobson tell the story about his daughter had taken a liking to a pen that had been bought for the ministry. He politely told her that it was purchased for ministry use and ministry use ONLY and she had used it wrongly. It made me stop and think about the issue.
Yes, these things really do make us stop and think. If we are honest with ourselves we will ask the Holy Spirit to guide us and help us to always do the right thing.
Hi Angela! It has been a while! I am so in tune with your post! It's wonderful how God works with us. I USED to be one of those who thought they were being obedient if I put anything "in the plate". As my walk with God grew closer, I learned to Tithe the ten percent that GOD REQUIRES, and thought to myself, I'm doing good. The thing is, if I needed the money for something else, I would tell myself I would make up for it. That doesn't always work. I finally figured out that delaying is disobedience to God, which is a sin just as NOT Tithing. (I say that because God told us to do it, which makes it a command, not a suggestion. It is so easy to justify it when we "rob God". We need to get and KEEP our priorities straight and remember in this is important. "out of sight, out of mind cannot be an issue. We must keep God in mind at all times because there will be no excuses when we stand before Him and are judged by HIS WORD.
God Bless,
PJ
Hi PJ,
It's wonderful to see you up and about again. Glad you're feeling better. You're right. I used to do that at one time, pay my bills and leave God for last, then I would not have it to give. The Holy Spirit convicted me of that. And I find that when I'm obedient, He makes a way for me to pay my bills.
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