Theft

After Exodus 20:15 and Luke 18:18-30 

It raises a question,

telling us not to steal,

the question being is it

really that simple? If

we don’t shoplift or

rob or burgle or take

what isn’t ours, that

fulfills the command,

right? Theft, however,

comes in many forms,

the most obvious being

the taking of something

we don’t own, something

physical. But there are

other things that can be

stolen, like credit for

something, a reputation

or good name. An opportunity.

A reward. A friend, A place.

A position. And more than

this, there is the theft 

of not giving, of ignoring

a need while having the means

to meet it, turning our faces

away as if we never saw it,

so it doesn’t exist. Remember:

thou shall not steal. Thou

shall not take what isn’t

yours. That shall not ignore

the need you can meet.

 

Photograph by De An Sun via Unsplash. Used with permission.

Some Sunday Readings

 

“Queen-Anne’s Lace,” poem by William Carlos Williams – Sally Thomas at Poems Ancient and Modern.

 

The Difficult, Possibly Unfixable Lot of Chronic Illness… in This Life – Jess Habib at The Gospel Coalition.