ONE HEARTBEAT
AWAY -
PART 60
(Mark Cahill's Book)
Eighth Commandment
Thou shalt not steal
(Exodus 20:15)
Sometimes we don't consider that we are
really "stealing " when the value of the
item is small, but theft is theft, irrespective of value. Whether you stole $1 or $20 from mom's purse, back in your childhood, it was still stealing.
If you cheated on a test in school, you stole
an answer from someone else's test. You are
stealing from the government if you cheat on your income tax. Stealing time from an employer is also theft. The Bible describes
Satan as a thief, but all of us have done the same.
Criminals steal. If I have stolen, it would make me a criminal - a thief.
On the way to Florida
my college days, some
buddies and I stopped
to put gas in my car. I
pumped the gas and went in to pay for it. When I got back in the car, one of the football players shouted at me to drive away quickly.
I did, but as I drove, I asked him why?
He said that while I was inside, he had gone into the storage area next to the
convenience store and stolen a case of beer and put it in the car.
My heart started to beat very fast as I sped away. Why didn't I turn around?
Why was my heart beating fast? Everything in my system told me that what we just did was wrong, but still I drove on.
The Bible says:
"For when the Gentiles, which have notthe law, do by nature the things contained in the Law, these having not the Law, are a law unto themselves.
Which shew the work of the Law written
in their hearts, their conscience
also bearing witness, and their thoughts meanwhile accusing, or else excusing one another..... (Romans 2:14-15)
Here God clearly states that He has written His Law onto the hearts of mankind, and our conscience
(conscience = with knowledge) will bear witness with the knowledge of good and evil.
Even though we don't like to admit
it we do have knowledge of our sin.
We know when we do something wrong.
I once saw a video of a missionary who was working in Papua, New Guinea. The missionary stated that the people in that area had no written language. Everything was passed down by word of mouth. Interestingly, though, they had an oral code of conduct to live by. One of their rules was not to touch their neighbour's wife. This sounds like the seventh commandment to not commit adultery.
Another rule was to not take other people's things. That is what the eighth commandment says when it tells us not to steal. Other rules were to not murder other people or tell falsehoods about them. Even though the villagers didn't have written communication the Law of God was written on their hearts, and they knew right from wrong.
As I was talking with one young man in a mall I asked him whether he had ever stolen anything. He told me about an incident one day when he went to pick up his sister who worked at a gift store. When he walked into the mall he saw that the security guard was at the other end of the mall, and he knew that there were no security cameras in that store.
While he was waiting for his sister, he noticed a Camaro key chain hanging on a display rack. His mother had a Camaro and he wanted to get her that key chain. What was this item worth .... around $1.99? Yet he put the key chain in his pocket and began to walk away from the key chain rack. He admitted that all of a sudden his heart began to race and small beads of sweat appeared on his forehead.I asked, "what did you do?" He said that he quickly turned around and walked over to the rack, took the key chain out of his pocket and
hung it back on the hook. At that point his heartbeat began to slow down and his perspiration stopped. No man had to tell this young man that stealing was wrong. His whole system was sounding the alarm - which is just the way God said He had designed us. He has written the Law on our hearts!
Ask yourself this question: have I ever stolen one thing in my life, small or large? That would make me a thief, in the eyes of a holy, righteous God.
next post 27th November
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