The Eight Commandment

The Eight Commandment

“You shall not steal.” Exo 20:15

The main point of this commandment is actually contentment. If you are content with what you have, you will not steal.

God tell us “godliness with contentment is great gain.” 1Ti 6:6

The devil sows dis-contentment. He spoke with Eve, tempting her to be dis-content with what God had given her, to want what God had not given her; to take what she was told not to take.

“When the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasing to the eyes and a tree desirable to make one wise, a she took of its fruit and ate; and she gave to her

husband with her, and he ate.” Gen 3:6

The mindset of the world today is materialistic greed; more things, more things, more things. Fueled by the Advertising Industry, we are bombarded to think, “ Not enough,

not new enough, I need something more.”

This thinking is of the devil. He is duping the world with drunkenness for material things.

Be content with what the Lord has given you. Not only can we not take these things with us when we die, but they never satisfy anyway, and they waste our time pursuing them,

and our money buying then; and then we never use them, and end up throwing them away!

Riches can be very bad for us, and the addiction of impulse buying and hoarding, is no less a sinful addiction than are the addictions of drugs, alcohol, porn, etc.

The devil’s lie is, “This will make you happy! Get more, anyway you can!”

“For the love of money is the root of all evil. While coveting after money, some have strayed from the faith and pierced themselves through with many sorrows.” 1Ti 6:10

Note it is the love of money, coveting after money (and obviously things), not money itself (nor things themselves) that is the root of all evil. Loving money and coveting after

money are the opposite of contentment.

We have all heard of the Lottery Winner whose life was ruined by the winnings. We all know that riches do not bring happiness.

“There is a grave misery that I have seen under the sun: when riches were kept by an owner to his hurt” Ecc 5:13

I am not advocating poverty as a virtue, as being better than being rich; or that being rich is a sin. The bible never says anything like that! We need to do our work, use our money

wisely, invest as we are able, and if riches come our way, fine; but if not, let us be content, and certainly let us not steal another’s to satisfy our dis-content or envy.

Hear Solomon: “And also that everyone should eat and drink and experience good in all their labor. This is a gift of God.” Ecc 3:13

Ecc 2:24, 5:18, 8:15, and 9:7 all say the same thing.

So back to stealing: if you are content, you will not steal.

Seek to be contentment, seek the true riches that are from God in Jesus Christ, a new heart, peace with God, a conscience that has been cleaned of the guilt of sin; if you have

those riches, you will never break this commandment!