Different Life: 7th CommandmentSample

Here’s the 7th Commandment: “You shall not steal” (Exod 20:15; Deut 5:19).

This short, little commandment is about taking stuff that isn’t ours. A quick word study through the Old Testament will show a range from burglary and robbery to kidnapping, fraud, deceit, taking things devoted to God, or even depriving others of a chance to say good-bye. Anytime you take something dishonestly or unjustly – whether done legally or illegally, God thinks of it as stealing.

It seems self-evident. Don’t take what isn’t yours. But since the dawn of human history people have shown they will do what they can to take what they can if it helps them get ahead. People may do what they can to get ahead at any cost. In the seventh commandment, God calls us to be different. Don’t get ahead at the expense of another.