If it were today, my dear old mum would have had me taken from her home for the hiding she gave me for stealing grapes from an empty lot. I was ceremoniously told, “Go out to the hedge and get a stick.” You never brought back one that was oversized, for obvious reasons, but you never brought back one that was undersized either. Forcing her hand meant that she got to choose – that was just adding extra pain to the problem. I danced and screamed as she beat the back of my legs that day. She had an eight year old thief-in-the-making in her house, and his sin was to be purged before it was too late!She was carrying out God’s recommended cure:“Do not hold back discipline from the child, Although you strike him with the rod, he will not die” (Proverbs 23:13).I have lived to tell the tale.From petty theft through to white-collar crime, the illegal taking of other people’s property is sinful and prevalent. When a society minimizes thievery, it automatically sanctions a host of other associated evils.How many lives and livelihoods have been destroyed through violent robberies? How many honest landlords have lost their properties through unpaid rent? How many businesses have gone under through unpaid accounts? But not to forget the customers that have been robbed blind by greedy and unscrupulous businessmen—I know some plumbers who have a lot to answer for!Jesus sees stealing for what it is—sin that proceeds from a corrupt heart:“For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander” (Matthew 15:19).John StaigerIf you have been blessed by this message, please feel free to: Like, Comment or Share it with your friends. (331)
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