The Eighth Commandment
It was my next to the last day in
Barcelona, Spain. I had a beautiful two
weeks wearing blisters on my feet walking all over that city. I fell in love and to this day, it is one of
my favorite places on the planet. If I
had enough money, I would live there, just so I could walk its streets, view
its art, and eat the delicious tapas!
I had become pretty good at
navigating the subway. I was getting on
this afternoon, when an old man in front of me stopped. Of course, I am not going to push him out of
my way as he bent to retrieve something.
Several teens bumped into me, almost causing me to knock the man
down. But I waited. The man got on, I got on, and the teens got
on. Before the train left, the teens
left cursing with the old man following them.
A lady turned to me and said, “You
were just robbed.” I had both hands in
my front pockets. My left pocket had my
camera and my right my wallet. I showed her
both were safe.
Another man said, “Finally, a
smart American.” That led to a
discussion about what those teens and old man had been doing. They saw me, an American, and targeted me,
since many of my compatriots do not take care of our things when
travelling. Long ago, I learned to move
everything to my front pockets and cover them with my hands when it got crowded.
You can imagine my relief, but
also how violated I felt. What had I
done to them that would make them target me?
The Eighth Commandment reads like
this, “You shall not steal.” We know
what this means. You do not take what
belongs to another. This commandment is
about honesty. None of us break this one, right?
This commandment teaches us about
respecting what belongs to others. God
has given each man the right to acquire and own property. That can be something as small as a toy or
$100 billion made creating the Internet.
He also expects us to be satisfied with what we own, so that jealousy or
greed does not cause us to take what belongs to someone else.
It can be manifested in many
different ways. It can be outright taking something, like what almost happened to me on the subway. Someone comes to work on
our house charges us more hours than they worked, or for materials they didn’t
use. A company might overcharge us for a
product. Con artists call our
grandparents, pretending to be us needing help.
For most of us, it is not the big
things we have to worry about; it is the little things. Things like taking the pen from the
bank. Or taking a few sugars from the
restaurant. Or making copies of our
Sunday school lesson on our employer's copy machine. We “borrow” a book from a friend, but never
return it. Checking our Facebook at
work, when we should be working. I know,
because I have been guilty, it is just something little. Nobody will care, right?
God cares. He wants us to be honest in all things. “To do what is right and just is more acceptable
to the Lord than sacrifice” - Proverbs 21:3.
“Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God” - Matthew
5:8.
It is something little, but to God it is big. He is watching to see if you and I are honest.
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