It Won't Be Missed?

      “That’s not supposed to be there!” I said these words last week when Linda, our church treasurer, asked me about a charge on our church credit card in the amount of $9.84 and dated December 21. I was trying to figure out and recall what I had charged that day when I remembered it was the day my daughter got married. I had done no shopping on that day. I took the letters from the charge on the church credit card statement and Googled them. Up came a plethora of sites indicating fraud – either directly or indirectly connected to the breach of information on accounts used at Target stores. Someone was trying to steal from us… probably a small amount at first, and who knows how much later. Well, that card had to be destroyed and replaced: hopefully little or no harm done. We can deal with a small inconvenience.

But it’s not a good feeling to be ripped off. When someone steals from you or cheats you, you feel slighted, demeaned, angry, sometimes foolish, annoyed, and at times, fearful. It’s like someone entered your privacy and violated you. The greater the loss, the greater the feeling of violation. And if the perpetrator is known to you, there is a violation of trust and a brokenness that is difficult to mend, accompanied by sadness as well.

The worst thing about stealing is that it is a violation of love. A positive way to say the 8^th commandment (“Thou shalt not steal.”) might be to say… “You shall love your neighbor!” Love for a neighbor leaves no room for harm (even the least amount of harm) to your neighbor. Whether it is information, property, money, or anything of a personal nature, that which belongs to your “neighbor”… belongs to your neighbor. For the worker in the office, the neighbor is the company. For the young man in school, the neighbor is his peer. For the citizen of a country, the neighbor could be one whom his taxes assist. The “neighbor” could be a family member or work associate. We have many neighbors.

Disciples of Jesus Christ are called to integrity in all their ways, and we are called by our Master to love our neighbor as ourselves. As in many instances in life, it can be the “little things” that trip us up: “I need a stamp to send this card. I’ll just grab one from the office desk. It’s just a few cents. It won’t be missed.” The “little” things somehow don’t seem to matter as much. “I just won’t report that gift I received. It was just a couple of hundred dollars. It won’t be missed.” “I’ll take pay for that work I didn’t do. It won’t be missed.” “I’ll just take that roll of toilet paper. It won’t be missed.” The list of possibilities is almost endless.

I don’t like to think of these things in legalistic ways. It’s not a matter of “keeping score” to see if we merit entrance into heaven or gain (in our own strength) God’s favor. If that is what it is about, we’ve already lost. It always comes back to love. As a follower of Jesus, I want to guard my thoughts and actions so that they are motivated by love. The choices I make in the Spirit communicate two very important things: to my neighbor they communicate “I love you.” To God, they communicate “I trust You.” (as well as “I love You.”). If “the Lord is my Shepherd” and “I have everything I need” (“I shall not want”) then I can rest in Him. I can trust Him. I do not need to take things into my own hands, and meet my needs (big or small) dishonestly. Because I can, and do, trust Him. Unbelief is the root of the sin of stealing, even stealing from God. God once accused His own people of stealing from Him. How can anyone steal from God, who possesses infinitely everything there is? Yet in Malachi God says those who hold back their tithes from Him are stealing from Him. That will give you a start if you hear it and pay attention to it. In that passage, something belongs to God, and people are keeping it for themselves. It’s not too different from what Ananias and Saphhira do in Acts 5. If you know what it is like to be stolen from, consider how God feels, as every theft – major and minor – is ultimately a sin against Him. Consider the grace of Christ, which led Him to the cross to shed His blood for those sins. It definitely is amazing grace.

May we guard our ways, and may the goal of our hearts be to be above reproach in this matter. May the motivation of our hearts be true love for neighbor, and absolute trust in the Lord, as the Holy Spirit fills us. May we repent of any lack of love or lack of trust, and experience the fullness of God’s peace and joy. AMEN.

Luke 6:31 (NIV) ³¹  Do to others as you would have them do to you.

Matthew 22:37-40 (NIV) ³⁷  Jesus replied: "'Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.' ³⁸  This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹  And the second is like it: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.' ⁴⁰  All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments."

Malachi 3:8-10 (NIV) ⁸  "Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me. "But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. ⁹  You are under a curse--the whole nation of you--because you are robbing me. ¹⁰  Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this," says the LORD Almighty, "and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that you will not have room enough for it.

Psalm 23:1 (NIV) ¹  The LORD is my shepherd, I shall not be in want.

PRAYER:  Lord God, it is so easy to point the finger at the Bernie Madoff’s of our age and think that stealing is not our problem. Help us not to think little of anything that is significant to you. If there is any wicked way in me, you see it. Give me grace to repent, that my life – from the motives of my heart to the actions I engage in – may be pure in your sight. Thank you for your forgiveness of sin in this area of life. Thank you for the blood of Jesus, which cleanses from all. In Jesus’ name, AMEN.”

Jesus Christ is Lord!  

Scott