Deuteronomy 5.19   

“‘You shall not steal.’”

All things have been created to serve God’s purposes in bringing glory and honor to His Name (Ps. 119.89-91). God distributes His blessing among men as He will, to whom He will, and in the proportion that He wills. He calls each person to exercise stewardship over that which has been entrusted to him (Matt. 25.14-30). By prohibiting stealing God teaches us to learn contentment, to seek Him for wisdom and understanding concerning proper stewardship, and to honor and aid our neighbors in their own calling before the Lord.

The more careful we are in guarding against stealing, the more we should expect to see the good purposes and rich blessings of God abounding in our midst. The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it (Ps. 24.1). Men must honor His decisions about the distribution of goods among humankind, and work to accomplish a proper stewardship of what has been entrusted to them.

But we can only do this by knowing Him, keeping His commandments, and using our gifts and goods according to the sovereign purposes of God.

T. M. Moore

The Law of God is the soil which, fertilized by the rest of God’s Word and watered by His Spirit, brings forth the fruit of Christian life. If you’d like to understand this process better, and how to make best use of the Law in your walk with and work for the Lord, order the book, The Ground for Christian Ethics, from our online store.

Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.