Jesus and the ten commandments: no stealing.

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