file: /pub/resources/text/Our.Daily.Bread: db940918.txt
-------------------------------------------------------


 
OUR DAILY BREAD                        Sunday, September 18, 1994
---------------
READ: Leviticus 19:9-15



                       "KEEP YOUR HANDS OFF"


                       "You shall not steal."

                           Exodus 20:15

Tom and Pauline Nichter were a homeless, jobless couple who had 
been living in their car or with relatives for months. So the 
wallet they found containing $100 bills looked like a windfall. 
But they gave it all back to the tourist who lost it. "We could 
have used that money," said Pauline. "But we weren't brought up 
that way, and we didn't want our son brought up that way."

If everyone practiced honesty like that, it would revolutionize 
society. Employee theft of goods and time would stop. Shop- 
lifting would go out of style. Overcharging for goods and services 
would end. Prices could be lowered. And we would all have more of 
what is rightfully ours. 

The eighth commandment reveals God's desire for that kind of 
society. It's based on the principle that everything belongs to 
God and that when we cheat an institution or a person we are 
stealing from the Lord. It also protects everyone's right to be a 
property owner in the only sense that God allows -- not to amass 
more and more for personal gain but to manage wisely what is His 
for the good of others. 

A living relationship with Christ can keep us from being thieves. 
As that relationship grows, He will teach us how to be givers and 
not takers.

- Dennis J. DeHaan

To take from others what is theirs
Is robbing from the Lord;
For all they have is from His hand --
It's theirs by His own word.

-DJD

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY
-------------------
Christians don't own their wealth -- they OWE it. 

THE BIBLE IN ONE YEAR: Ezekiel 25-27

----------------------------------------------------------- 
Our Daily Bread, Copyright 1994, used by permission of Radio Bible 
Class, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49555, USA. Written permission must 
be obtained from RBC for any further posting or distribution. RBC 
provides a variety of Bible resources, which are free of charge. 
RBC is not funded by any group or denomination, and support comes 
voluntarily from its Members and Friends. Write for more 
information, or call 1-800-598-7221.