Why Stealing Is Wrong [The Eighth Commandment]

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Exodus 20:15

15 “You shall not steal.

 
 

One way to look at the second half of the Ten Commandments is that they are about my responsibility for my neighbor. I don’t take my neighbor’s life, I don’t take my neighbor’s wife, and I don’t take my neighbor’s property. The Ten give me the responsibility to look out for my neighbor.

Theft is also a sign of a lack of trust in God. In essence, when I steal I’m saying, “I want that person’s property and I do not trust that the Lord will provide it for me, so I’m going to take what I want.”

Theft begins in the thoughts. How can you direct your thoughts away from theft today?