The way I see it, stealing WAS wrong; IS wrong and WILL ALWAYS BE wrong!
It was on Monday of this week, I was in a particular supermarket and as I browsed around, looking for the best deals, I spotted an individual, also intently engaged in checking out the items on the shelves.
I made a complete round of the shelves and as I came back to my starting point, I saw the individual, walking hurriedly towards the door. Soon, one of the Clerks appeared and shouted: ‘Sir, sir!”
Immediately, the man started running and pelted out of the door. For all intents and purposes, he could have been Usain Bolt’s first cousin.
Well I newa!
The brave Clerk chased after him and soon returned looking utterly frustrated and winded. By that time some of her coworkers and what looked like a supervisor were all there waiting for her report.
‘He got away,’ she said. She went on to explain what the man had removed from the shelves and had left without paying.
Now, that is STEALING!
A lady who was present made a couple of points which I want to throw into the mix:
- She said she saw when the guy put the thing in his bag, but stated that she was not planning to say anything because maybe he would get away and come to her house looking for her
- She rationalized that maybe he was really in need and hence the reason why he did it.
- She thought the Clerk acted foolishly, because she was not going to jeopardize her life for a company that may not even be paying decent wages anyway!
Now, as for me, I realized that I would have been a hopeless witness. If the Police had asked me for a description, the most I could have said was that the guy was tall; had on a brown jacket and dark pant; a tam, with locks showing…and that’s about it and I consider myself as being pretty observant.
Well, after the incident I went to do some research and came up with the following:
‘STEAL: To take (the property of another or others) without permission or right, especially secretly or by force.’
The bible clearly states in Exodus 20:15: ‘Thou shalt not steal.’
Now I have discovered that ROBBERY is a brazen form of stealing. Whereas, stealing generally suggests secrecy in theft, robbery connotes a more open, bold faced form of theft.
‘Robbery: The felonious taking of the property of another from his or her person or in his or her immediate presence, against his or her will, by violence or intimidation.’
So, the words in Malachi 3: 8 are very instructive: ‘Will a man rob God? Yet ye have robbed me. But ye say, wherein have we robbed thee? In tithes and offerings.’
Well, am not very bright, but my limited understanding tells me that when God tells us explicitly to return a tenth of our earnings and a free will offering and we refuse to do that, we are not only STEALING but ROBBING God!
Imagine robbing the God of the universe! Literally what we do when we refuse to return what God requires of us, is like sticking him up at gun point.
Well I newa!
Another thing my research revealed is a hosts of synonyms for the word STEAL: Embezzle; loot; pilfer;blackmail; burglarize; defraud; heist; housebreak; pillage; plagiarize; poach; shoplift; swindle; thieve; hold for ransom; hold up; rip off; stick up; extortion; misappropriate funds; larceny; pilfer; forge, loot, misapply.
Shockingly, when persons STEAL from banks and certain big time corporations and certain government offices, it is referred to as ‘misappropriating funds; embezzling; double dealing; corruption; fraudulence; falsify; coercion; con; scam; racket; unscrupulous; trickery; chicanery and such like. In my limited knowledge, no matter what word they choose to use, it all boils down to one colloquial word: TIEFING!
My research also drew me to an interesting revelation: ‘The Eighth Commandment, “Do not Steal,” is unique in that it encompasses all the other commandments on the second tablet: Murder is the stealing of another person’s life.
Adultery is the stealing of another person’s spouse. Giving false testimony is stealing justice. And coveting is the desire to steal what belongs to another person. This commandment is unique in another way: It is the only completely open-ended commandment. All the other commandments are specific. The Fifth Commandment, for example, states whom one must honor—one’s parents. The Sixth Commandment, prohibiting murder, is only about taking the life of an innocent human being. The Seventh Commandment, prohibiting adultery, is also specific to a married person; two unmarried people cannot commit adultery.
But the commandment against stealing doesn’t even hint at what it is we are forbidden to steal. It means we cannot take anything that belongs to another person.’
So, based on that, it is logical to figure out that there is absolutely no excuse for stealing.
So, back to the guy in the supermarket. Even if he was hungry and had no money, all he had to do was ASK.
Okay, I know you will counter by saying: ‘Suppose, they didn’t give him.’ Well, even if they don’t give him that does not give him an excuse to steal.’
Now, don’t get me wrong. I am not being judgmental here, because all of us have STOLEN in one form or another, during our lifetime. Some of us have been punished in one form or another (even imprisonment) in some cases and others of us THINK that we have gotten away scot free…but there is a day of reckoning coming.
And so, my admonition to all of us, is to make our ‘calling and election sure,’ by seeking God’s forgiveness and seeking to do RIGHT from hereon.
That’s the way I see it. How do you see it?