"If you are a thief, quit stealing. Instead use your hands for good hard work, and then give generously to others in need." Ephesians 4:28
This scripture is one of the few that you can pluck out of the Word and you don’t have to "put it in context." It sits alone and is the antidote to a life of taking, stealing and cheating. It is wisdom for counselors who might otherwise spend months, if not years, helping a person understand what drives the stealing and cheating. It can be very helpful to uncover the cause for stealing, grieve the hole in one’s life and move on; but to complete the healing it has to come full circle. The thief must become the philanthropist to be free.
How do we make a change like this in life? It starts with a decision to take it on day in and day out until we come through the other side. Any time we are tempted we need to do more than try and not fall into the temptation. We need to turn around, stare it down, seize the moment and fight. The fight that Paul suggests, and Rob brought to our attention, is to walk out the opposite way of living. If we are tempted to steal from our income taxes, let’s stop it, but also combat the urge by giving a double portion to charity. Let’s rid ourselves of these heart problems that plague us. God will be with us in this fight.
It reminds me of something I recently read. Leonard Sweet, in his book The Church of the Perfect Storm, outlines a five-point plan for surviving a storm at sea.
-Lift anchor and go into the deep
-Steer into the storm
-Throw extra cargo overboard
-Lash yourself to the mast
-Enjoy the ride
The storms of life are often internal. Paul describes it well when he says, "I want to do what is right, but instead I do the very thing I hate." The more we try to run from our storm the more likely we are to drown in it. Steer into the storm. Lash yourself to Jesus.
Sweet points out that during snowstorms cows try to outrun the storm or lie down until the storm passes, while buffalo turn, put their heads down and walk into it. Statistically buffalo have a much greater chance of surviving a storm than cows. Let’s be buffalos.
It doesn’t matter which commandment we struggle with. I once heard someone teach that stealing is an underlying problem with breaking all of the commandments. In the first we are stealing from God and His rightful place in our life. In committing adultery we are stealing from our spouse. In cheating on our income taxes we are stealing from the government, and by extension our neighbor. We may struggle with all of the commandments, but there may be some we need to tackle first. Go into the deep. Face and conquer this weakness. God is with us. He is our mast. If we need help in the flesh, let’s get it. The first storm we may have to go into is the storm of pride in asking for help. Let’s get out of the closet. It’s time we shared our troubles with others who can help.
The flip side of the original sin of pride is shame. Satan successfully shamed Eve, causing a counter action. Let’s not just counter our failure to follow the commandments with a cessation of bad behavior, let’s be buffalo and walk through to the other side and become, in the case of this commandment, known for our hard work and generosity.
Father: Would you convict each of us of the one thing in our lives you want us to fight against. Please make it very clear and help us to know you are with us in this fight. Help me not to ever slander another person again (coming soon). Make me into a person that speaks well of everyone. If we need help in the flesh please keep convicting us of this until we are willing to release our pride, feel our shame, and grasp for help. How grateful we are that you are relentless in your desire to heal us and bring us into freedom.
This scripture is one of the few that you can pluck out of the Word and you don’t have to "put it in context." It sits alone and is the antidote to a life of taking, stealing and cheating. It is wisdom for counselors who might otherwise spend months, if not years, helping a person understand what drives the stealing and cheating. It can be very helpful to uncover the cause for stealing, grieve the hole in one’s life and move on; but to complete the healing it has to come full circle. The thief must become the philanthropist to be free.
How do we make a change like this in life? It starts with a decision to take it on day in and day out until we come through the other side. Any time we are tempted we need to do more than try and not fall into the temptation. We need to turn around, stare it down, seize the moment and fight. The fight that Paul suggests, and Rob brought to our attention, is to walk out the opposite way of living. If we are tempted to steal from our income taxes, let’s stop it, but also combat the urge by giving a double portion to charity. Let’s rid ourselves of these heart problems that plague us. God will be with us in this fight.
It reminds me of something I recently read. Leonard Sweet, in his book The Church of the Perfect Storm, outlines a five-point plan for surviving a storm at sea.
-Lift anchor and go into the deep
-Steer into the storm
-Throw extra cargo overboard
-Lash yourself to the mast
-Enjoy the ride
The storms of life are often internal. Paul describes it well when he says, "I want to do what is right, but instead I do the very thing I hate." The more we try to run from our storm the more likely we are to drown in it. Steer into the storm. Lash yourself to Jesus.
Sweet points out that during snowstorms cows try to outrun the storm or lie down until the storm passes, while buffalo turn, put their heads down and walk into it. Statistically buffalo have a much greater chance of surviving a storm than cows. Let’s be buffalos.
It doesn’t matter which commandment we struggle with. I once heard someone teach that stealing is an underlying problem with breaking all of the commandments. In the first we are stealing from God and His rightful place in our life. In committing adultery we are stealing from our spouse. In cheating on our income taxes we are stealing from the government, and by extension our neighbor. We may struggle with all of the commandments, but there may be some we need to tackle first. Go into the deep. Face and conquer this weakness. God is with us. He is our mast. If we need help in the flesh, let’s get it. The first storm we may have to go into is the storm of pride in asking for help. Let’s get out of the closet. It’s time we shared our troubles with others who can help.
The flip side of the original sin of pride is shame. Satan successfully shamed Eve, causing a counter action. Let’s not just counter our failure to follow the commandments with a cessation of bad behavior, let’s be buffalo and walk through to the other side and become, in the case of this commandment, known for our hard work and generosity.
Father: Would you convict each of us of the one thing in our lives you want us to fight against. Please make it very clear and help us to know you are with us in this fight. Help me not to ever slander another person again (coming soon). Make me into a person that speaks well of everyone. If we need help in the flesh please keep convicting us of this until we are willing to release our pride, feel our shame, and grasp for help. How grateful we are that you are relentless in your desire to heal us and bring us into freedom.
1 comments:
Thank you for these insights. It is fascinating to see how the Commandments are inter-woven together. It is a sobering thought that our innate desire to steal is a (or maybe the one) underlying reason we break the other Commandments. Can't wait to see how the sin of coveting works into this all (that's the one it seems is hardest to confess, or the one we never talk about). But that last Commandment's coming up in a couple Sunday's I guess.
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