SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/11/2019 11:56 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“From Stealing to Sharing”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Ephesians
4:28
Message of the verse: “28 Let him that
stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing
which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs.”
I
find this section very interesting to look at along with what we looked at in
yesterday’s SD concerning anger as some things have happened in my family
(extended family) that make me thankful that God has chosen for me to study
this subject at this time. I will start
this section with what John MacArthur writes in his commentary on stealing to
sharing.
“The
third command Paul sets forth demands a change from stealing to sharing. No one is completely free from the temptation
to steal. Many children go through a
phase of thinking it is fun to steal, sometimes simply for the sake of
stealing. There is a certain fleshly
attraction in taking that which does not belong to us and trying to get away
with it. The old self had a
built-in-inclination to steal, and that is one of the many characteristics of
the old self that ‘the new self, which [is] in the likeness of God’ (v. 24) puts
away. The Christian is to ‘steal’
[klepto, from which comes kleptomaniac] ‘no longer.’”
Needles
to say that stealing is a large problem, not just in our country, but we now
have countries stealing technology from other countries showing us that the old
nature is alive and well throughout the world.
Really looking forward to the rapture when all of this will be behind
all who are believers, as we will then be with our Lord Jesus Christ.
The rest of the verse speaks of not stealing,
but doing things that will help others because we have earned enough money to
help others who are in need.
I
will close this SD with what Paul wrote to the Thessalonians in 2 Thessalonians
3:6-15. The problem was not exactly the
same as what Paul is writing about here in Ephesians 4:28, but some things do
fit in. The problem with the
Thessalonians were that they did not so much have a problem with stealing, but
some of them thought that the rapture was coming really soon, and so they did
not need to do any work.
“6
Now we command you, brethren, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ that you
keep away from every brother who leads an unruly life and not according to the
tradition which you received from us. 7 For you yourselves know how you ought
to follow our example, because we did not act in an undisciplined manner among
you, 8 nor did we eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but with labor and
hardship we kept working night and day so that we would not be a burden
to any of you; 9 not because we do not have the right to this, but in
order to offer ourselves as a model for you, so that you would follow our
example. 10 For even when we were with you, we used to give you this order: if anyone
is not willing to work, then he is not to eat, either. 11 For we hear that some
among you are leading an undisciplined life, doing no work at all, but acting
like busybodies. 12 Now such persons we command and exhort in the Lord Jesus
Christ to work in quiet fashion and eat their own bread. 13 But as for you,
brethren, do not grow weary of doing good. 14 If anyone does not obey our
instruction in this letter, take special note of that person and do not
associate with him, so that he will be put to shame. 15 Yet do not regard him
as an enemy, but admonish him as a brother.”
Quotation for today is from Winston
Churchill who said “Success in never final; failure is never fatal; it is
courage that counts.”
5/11/2019 12:46 PM
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