Did you hear about the man who was siphoning gasoline from a random motor home parked on a Seattle side street? The vehicle owner had spotted his would-be thief and promptly called the police. However, this owner chose not to press charges because the hopeful gas smuggler didn’t get any; at least, not of the liquid variety. It seems he plugged his hose into the motor home’s sewage tank as opposed to the gas line. Now that really stinks.
Theft is big business in the good ole U.S. of A. People are raking in sizeable incomes by taking what doesn’t belong to them. Burglaries, larceny and auto thefts total over $14 billion per year while shoplifting is costing another $15 billion. The statistics indicate that one in every 11 Americans lifts everything from gum to Gucci, with employee theft pilfering some $19 billion per year.
Then there’s that modern day genius of Identity Theft. Some 7% of our country’s population has lost who they are at a cost of over $50 billion per year. We’re living in a day of epidemic theft proportion with greater than 10 million acts of theft and robbery perpetrated in the U.S. annually.
Now I suspect you’re thinking to yourself, “Well that ain’t me; I’m not that one out of 11. I don’t steal.” Not so fast. I believe the 8th Great Commandment is one that all of us violate at least occasionally, but we’re near oblivious that we do. Why is this? Because our culture has schooled us to steal in socially acceptable ways.
Why not come this Sunday to hear more about why I make this claim and what God meant what He said, “Thou shalt not steal?”