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Tip #3 “Don’t Steal”
Welcome to week 3.
I hope you are trying to apply each tip by making it a habit in your life.
Remember, the goal is to live life well.
Like last week’s tip, today’s tip also comes from the Ten Commandments.
“You shall not steal.”
Exodus 20:15 (ESV)
How easy is that for a daily task this week?
Do not steal.
I could make a joke here but I’m not going to because some of you may actually struggle with this issue.
If you are one of those people, you need to stop.
You cannot live a quality life if you are a thief.
Period.
FOR THE NON-STEALERS
But now I want those of you who think you don’t have a problem with stealing to stop and consider a few things.
I would like to share some observations with you.
“STEALING” FROM WORK
I had a former student who worked in a supermarket. Often the store had sales displays of things like candy bars, and he said it was a common practice for the employees just to take one of the items from the display when they went on break.
None of the employees at that supermarket considered it stealing, but the employer hadn’t given them permission to take the items.
Was it stealing?
Another example.
In my one of my jobs I worked behind a food counter selling food and drinks to people. The employer allowed us to take some food for free on our breaks. He set a dollar amount on how much we could take but no one monitored what we took.
I was aware that several of my fellow employees regularly exceeded that dollar amount. They didn’t consider it stealing. They considered it a perk for working there.
Was it stealing?
“STEALING” FROM THE OFFICE
Over the years, I’ve worked in several offices and I’ve noticed that many of my fellow employees felt very comfortable taking “little” items home.
And I mean little.
You know things like staples, envelopes, note pads.
The office had storage areas full of the stuff, and several of my fellow employees didn’t feel it was stealing if they just took a little for personal use.
Was it stealing?
“STEALING” TIME
One summer I worked in the Special Collections unit at the Los Angeles Department of Water & Power. If you didn’t pay your water bill or power bill on time it was our job to get the money from you or shut off your services.
This was before computers — yep, I’m that old — which meant a lot of time was spent on the phone talking with people and a lot of time was spent checking hand-written physical records of payments and follow-up calls that were stored in another part of the building.
I noticed an interesting thing about the job.
The last half hour of the day, the regular employees stopped answering the phones. I didn’t understand why at first. You might be dealing with someone who was in a panic about losing the power or water to their home, but the regular workers were cleaning up their desks, chatting with their friends … anything but taking the incoming calls.
Later I found out why they didn’t answer the phone. Because a call could take a considerable amount of time to solve a problem, and they didn’t want to be stuck on a call that would keep them past their regular work hours for the day, which I believe was 5 p.m.
So I ended up answering a lot of phone calls during the last half hour of each day.
And sometimes it did require me to stay later than my regular quitting time.
The employees were paid to work until 5 p.m. but they stopped working the last 30 minutes of the day.
What that stealing?
BREAKS
I’ve also worked in a couple of places where the business give the employees a morning break, a lunch break, and an afternoon break.
And I’ve known a number of people who took “extended” breaks on a regular basis. A fifteen minute morning break became a 20 minute or 30 minute break. That kind of thing.
Question.
Isn’t taking a break longer than allowed stealing from your employer?
LATE TO WORK
Similar to the extra break takers, I’ve worked with people who often came late to work. They usually had a “good” reason but it was a common occurrence which leads one to question how “good” the reason really was.
Isn’t coming late to work stealing from your employer?
I could go on with people who took sick days when they weren’t sick or extended scheduled vacation days, but I think you get the point.
We can get so used to stealing in the workplace that we don’t even consider it stealing.
“Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.”
Ephesians 4:28 (ESV)
HARD WORK
One more example.
The book of Proverbs says,
“Whoever is slack in his work is a brother to him who destroys.”
Proverbs 18:9 (ESV)
Have you ever considered that when you have a job that you should work hard at it?
I’ve known a lot of people, myself included, who didn’t work hard at times. I just took it easy. The work wasn’t that important to me.
But someone was paying me for work.
If I don’t work hard, isn’t that stealing?
This coming week I would encourage you to ask the Lord to give you insight into your life, and to show you if you are engaging in these “little” thefts that most people don’t even consider stealing.
And at the end of the day, ask the Lord to show you how you did concerning stealing.
You want “Do Not Steal” to be a habit in your life.
I hope you have a great week and, Lord willing, I’ll talk with you next Monday.
Before I go I’d like to share a blessing with you from the Old Testament.
“May the Lord bless and protect you; may the Lord’s face radiate with joy because of you; may he be gracious to you, show you his favor, and give you his peace.”
Numbers 6:24-26 (The Living Bible)
Until next time … be the reason someone smiles today!
TIP 3 “Don’t Steal”