There are two ways in which we can miss the heart of God’s commandment
against stealing. If we minimize the gravity of stealing, we fail to see
that an intrinsic part of what it means to be human is to be given things
by God to look after. Stealing from others robs humanity from them,
dehumanizing them, and marring God’s image within. This is why all
stealing, big and small, is beneath God’s lofty ideal for the people of his
kingdom- it goes against something fundamental to how God has created
humanity.

But, if we treat what we have been given, not as gifts from God to be held
loosely, but our very own to hold onto tightly, we will find ourselves
stealing not from others but from God himself. ‘The earth is the Lord’s and
everything in it’, says the Psalmist. So we’re to treat what we have openly
and generously, continually giving it back to the One who first gave it to
us. We’re called not just to stop stealing, but to work - to work to
further God’s kingdom so that we might have something to give back to him
and to those in need.

This new perspective comes as we live daily according to who we have now
become through God’s extraordinary generosity in Jesus. This is what Paul
means when he encourages us to put on our ‘new self.’

By Ed Flint

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