Stealing and Restitution

Today’s scripture:

“Let him who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his hands what is good, that he may have something to give him who has need.” (Ephesians 4:28)

Restitution is Restoration which is restoring what was taken. In the mind and heart of God restoration isn’t just restoring that of which was taken but to do it with an abundance! So, restoration is the giving in what was lost or stolen which is the exact opposite of theft. Now, theft or the act of stealing is so broad if we really stop to think about it. When we think of stealing, we usually think of material things or something which belongs to us, but in reality it goes much further than that.

You know the bible says in John 10:10 “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” That is Satan’s only objective! You may say… What about lies and deception and things like that? Well, isn’t that stealing, killing, and destroying? Think about it… Lies and deception and everything like that, steals the truth from us. It kills our happiness when we think we are entitled to something that was taken from us. It destroys our clear thinking of what truth is. Lies and deception has the ability to do all these things if we allow Satan to have those footholds instead of surrendering them to God.

Lets look at the eighth of the Ten Commandments in Exodus 20:15 “You shall not steal.” –  The mercy found in this commandment is for you. Would you want someone to steal from you? These commandments is for us and our protection for us not to destroy our own relationship with God as well as for the things God has entrusted to us.

I have to tell you, my wife Cyndi came up with this scenario as she was helping me do research for this particular commandment. That scenario is this… Lets say you had a next door neighbor come over to you and asked to borrow your lawnmower. And while he was using it he ran over a huge rock that he didn’t see was there. It was so huge that it did some significant damage to the blade.

He could bring the mower back to you and just leave it broken and let you deal with it. In reality, that would be stealing time from you that you would have to spend to fix it and the cost for a new lawnmower blade. Can you think of a way to make it not be theft? Remember what the Lord said in John 10:10… “The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy”? Even if he didn’t mean to destroy the blade, he did it none the less. And being that he knew he wrecked it, and returned it anyway is even worse. For him to know what he accidently did and returned it anyway is in a way stealing.

Think of the mercy God has had on your life. He has brought total restitution to you buy paying the amazing price for your soul so you can have eternal life. That is life in abundance. Lets bring restitution into this scenario. How about if your neighbor brought back your lawnmower with a brand new blade on it but also an oil change just to show his gratitude in you trusting your lawnmower to him. How grateful would you be?

Reflection:

If you really think about it, we all have stolen in one way or another. But, to bring restitution is totally restoring that which was lost, stolen, killed, or destroyed. God has the answer and the power to take some really bad and turn it around and make it better than before.

Challenge:

Consider studying the book of Job sometime. Think of how Satan (with God’s permission) came to Job to ultimately kill, steal, and destroy. Remember how God restored him and even his family? He gave Job back everything twice as much as he had before! Restoration is Awesome!!!

-Doug and Cyndi McGowan