“You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15
Q: What is the eighth commandment?
A: You shall not steal.
What does this mean?
Because we worship and love God, we shouldn’t take other people’s money or property and cheat them, but instead, we should help them improve and protect what belongs to them.
Imagine a stress-free person relaxing on the beach and enjoying a cold drink while the warm ocean air lightly caresses his or her skin. Does that sound good? If there was one word to describe what the person might be feeling, what do you think it would be?
A word that might come to mind would be the word content. To be content means to be peacefully happy. The Bible speaks about contentment in reference to our possessions and generosity. It says that contentment is something that we should pursue and that we should define contentment as God defines it, not as the world defines it.
God says that our greatest blessing will be found when we are content with the simple things in life that He has provided.
If we are not content in God and with what God has graciously provided to us, we might be tempted to try and find our contentment in other things, and if necessary, steal to obtain that which we think will help us feel content. God knows that will make us miserable in the end, and so He calls us to be content with what we have.
Consider 1 Timothy 6:6 which says,
“But godliness with contentment is great gain.”
- What reason does Paul give for why godliness with contentment is great gain?
- How could this verse help us battle a desire to steal?
- Do you feel content with what you have right now? If not, what do you need to be content?
Prayer
Our Father, we want to be godly. You have promised that in godliness we will have great gain. May You incline our hearts to pursue gain as You define it and not as our sinful hearts are tempted to define it. Help our unbelief. We know that apart from You there is nothing good or of eternal value. We want to be content in You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.