Don’t Take What Isn’t Yours

6 “I the Lord do not change. So you, the descendants of Jacob, are not destroyed. 7 Ever since the time of your ancestors you have turned away from my decrees and have not kept them. Return to me, and I will return to you,” says the Lord Almighty.

“But you ask, ‘How are we to return?’

8 “Will a mere mortal rob God? Yet you rob me.

“But you ask, ‘How are we robbing you?’

“In tithes and offerings. 9 You are under a curse—your whole nation—because you are robbing me. 10 Bring the whole tithe into the storehouse, that there may be food in my house. Test me in this,” says the Lord Almighty, “and see if I will not throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing that there will not be room enough to store it. 11 I will prevent pests from devouring your crops, and the vines in your fields will not drop their fruit before it is ripe,” says the Lord Almighty. 12 “Then all the nations will call you blessed, for yours will be a delightful land,” says the Lord Almighty.

I have never felt angrier than when someone stole from me. How could they take what was mine?!

My anger reflects that I have respect and honor for myself and for the things I have.

Every person deserves honor and respect because we are all made in the image of God. We also have property and ideas that should be honored. People make promises to us, and they should honor those promises.

We show honor when we credit others with what they are due. They are due the things they have rightfully earned. If they have earned a good reputation in their field, we need to give them credit. If they have earned a high position, we need to honor that. If they have performed a good deed, we need to thank them.

Belittling or denying the good that others do is a form of stealing. If we do that, we have taken away the honor they deserve.

God is the original owner of all good things. He gives a variety of good things to various people.

If we fail to recognize those good things in others, or if we take or destroy them, we are undoing God’s design for creation.

How could we take what is God’s or what God has given to others?

O God, forgive us for taking what is not ours. Forgive us for not giving honor to others. Help us to respect the gifts and abilities that you have given to all. Amen.