I Don't Believe in the 8th Commandment
By Kelly Crull
What would you say if I told you I don't believe in the Eighth Commandment? You know, "You shall not steal" (Exodus 20:15). I must not have been brainwashed enough in third-grade Sunday school when we glued strips of paper with the commandments on them to cardboard "stone" tablets. The more I think about the 8th commandment, the more I think Christians should steal. They should use their God-given talents to be the best robbers around. Think about Jesus on the cross. Who was his right-hand man? A robber.
This past week I was typing an English paper in the basement of the library. I was absolutely ripping it up, probably typing around 93 words per minute, when a friend of mine, blonde with glasses, stopped me between keystrokes. He said, "I've decided to take a study break," and in my mind I added my own afterthought, "you're my conversational victim for the next twenty minutes regardless of how many times you look at your watch." I hummed and hawed my way through the first ten minutes and realized we were in this for the long hall. Actually, our usual twenty-minute gab session lasted thirty-seven minutes--last time I checked.
You know what, though? I oughta give my friend a "Good Christian Award" for stealing my time. He stood there in the middle of the ASK center like a street-corner evangelist on a soapbox and preached God's faithfulness. He told me he's an Ag major, like he has a dozen times, and that there's no family farm for him to take over when he graduates in May. He said he doesn't know what he's going to do. Then he went on to tell me more about God's faithfulness and that all you can do is give God your best, and He'll take care of you.
My friend is not the only one who steals. Plenty of biblical characters--God-fearing ones--are into stealing. Take Joseph, for example, who abuses his power as governor of the land to keep his brothers from returning home. Sure he's a thief. He goes incognito, not telling them he's their brother, and orders his housekeeper to plant a silver cup in the brothers' sack of grain. They're almost sent to jail for lugging that cup half way home, and all because Joseph wants to steal a few days of their time.
In the end, Joseph is just like my friend. He's stealing time for the Lord. He's stealing time because he loves his brothers and has an important story to share. He breaks down before his brothers and tells them, "I am your brother Joseph" (Genesis 45:4). He holds his brothers captive long enough to forgive them for selling him as a slave when he was younger and to give them hope. He says, "But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance" (45:7). I guess sometimes stealing is the best way to love your neighbor.
Just when my friend was about to leave, you'll never guess what he did. He said, "Do you want to come over some night this week and look at pictures from my summer missions project?" Right there in broad daylight with plenty of eyewitnesses he asked if he could steal more of my time--and it was wonderful.