Lynn Jones: The threat of theft
By Lynn Jones
I read of a car that was burglarized. The only thing taken was the car alarm. Perhaps it is a sign of the times. A reporter decided to survey people on their opinion about crime. He walked the streets and asked over 50 people if they thought there was too much crime on the streets. Sixty-two percent of those surveyed said “yes.” Twenty-three percent said “no.” The other 15 percent tried to mug the guy taking the survey.
We are concerned and critical of those on the street who steal. Sometimes, however, stealing takes place much closer to home. Sometimes it even takes place at church. In one church that I pastored, we had to retrieve from a pawnshop some items that had been stolen from the church by a custodian. In another church, an offering had been taken for a visiting musical group. After the offering was taken, the plate was not watched closely and somebody helped himself to the entire offering.
In one church where I served, somebody even stole my Bible. They kept it for five years before their conscience evidently started bothering them. They mailed it back to me in a plain brown envelope. It didn’t look like it had been used much in its absence.
When I served one church, there were several churches in the area that were robbed during their worship services. A gang of men came into the sanctuaries as worship was going on, held guns on the worshipers, and took their money and jewelry. Fortunately, our congregation was never on their hit list, but we all breathed more easily after they were arrested.
With robbery so rampant, many do not take it as seriously as they should. In fact, all of us may be guilty of a little larceny on occasion. You take the matter of work. We agree to do a certain amount of work for a certain wage. If we do not work as promised, are we guilty of a form of robbery? Or, you take the matter of paying taxes. Some people feel perfectly justified in cheating on their taxes. As long as the crime is committed against a big, faceless agency like the IRS, they see it as different. Is it?
Or, you take the matter of tithes and offerings. Malachi said that those who were not faithful in bringing their tithes and offerings to God were guilty of robbing God. That’s not the last time that crime has been committed.
A man went to trade cars, and the car salesman offered him only $5,000 for his car. The salesman said, “That’s what the Blue Book says it’s worth.” The man pulled out a Bible and responded, “Here is a black book, and it says ‘Thou shalt not steal.’” So it does. And all of us ought to listen to it.
Lynn Jones is a retired pastor who lives in Oxford. He does supply preaching for churches in his area and often serves as an interim pastor. Jones is also an author, has written two books and writes a weekly newspaper column. He may be contacted at: kljones45@yahoo.com.
