God Doesn't Like Stealing: One Year Bible Reading for July 29

Today we read from these verses in the One Year Bible:

2 Chronicles 24:1-25:28
Romans 12:1-21
Psalm 22:19-31
Proverbs 20:8-10

Let's look at the proverb. It says that God detests differing weights and differing measures. What does that mean?? Well, I'll tell you. It's talking about the marketplace. When people come in to buy some flour, for example, they would use a "weight" to show how much flour you're buying to determine how much to charge you. An honest merchant would use a 10 ounce weight to sell you 10 ounces of flour. But a dishonest merchant might use an 11 ounce weight and therefore charge you MORE for less flour.

God doesn't like that.

Now let's apply that logic to our world today. Some people think it's OK to steal from large businesses. "They'll never miss it!" or "They're robbing us anyway!" or "It's not hurting anyone!" or "They budget this kind of loss." And those things are probably all true. But God doesn't like it.

He wants us to be honest. He wants us to be above reproach. He wants us to be holy. Not because the businesses deserve to be treated honestly. But because He wants US to be holy, like He is.

And it's not holy to steal. Even from Walmart.

God, thanks for teaching us to always be honest in our dealings - even from big companies.