Most Christians Are Thieves

I have to admit that I have a problem with stealing. I haven’t told many people, but it has come up more and more in my life recently. At least, I have become more aware of it. In fact, just a couple of weeks ago, I stole something at a local Kmart.

My wife and I were shopping. Well, my wife was shopping, I was looking for something, anything, to put me out of my misery. It just so happened that anything and everything that could go wrong on a shopping trip did. First of all, Kmart was the last stop in a brutally long marathon of stores. However, knowing that we were on the last leg of this shopping trip did nothing for me, since we had already been at Kmart for what seemed like a day and there was still more to get. To make matters worse, I am prone to sinus headaches in the spring and my head started pressing in on me. So I decided that I would head out to the car to try and sleep.

I rested for a little while only to be woken up by a middle aged man a couple of parking spots away from me. I watched as he popped the hood of his beat up station wagon. It was obvious that something was wrong with his car. But I casually rolled back over in my pleather seats and tried to continue my nap. About 10 minutes later I decided to head back into the store and find Jenny. I was ready to go and I was going to put my foot down. No matter where she was in her shopping odyssey, we were leaving.

As I walked into the store I noticed the same man that was having car trouble was now standing at the entrance of the store. I glanced back out into the parking lot and saw that same beat up station wagon with the hood still up. As I walked by the man, I asked him if everything was okay with his car. Have you ever regretted asking someone if everything is okay because if they answer that things are not okay, you will feel obligated to help them. Well that is how I felt. I wish the question would have never left my mouth.

No sooner than he began to tell me that his battery was dead, I noticed Jenny finishing up at the register. I knew that she was done and home was only a few minutes away. I was in a dilemma. Jenny was finished and I could finally leave and at the same time, this simple man was telling me that all he needed was some time and jumper cables and he would be on his way. Jenny walked outside. I looked at my wife, looked at the man, then said to him, “Well I hope everything works out.” My wife and I strolled through the parking lot and I unloaded the cart, setting 5 shopping bags right on top of my jumper cables.

It didn’t hit me until later the full extent of what I had done. In “The Celebration of Discipline”, author Richard Foster suggests that when we withhold our goods from others in times of need, we are not only doing them a disservice, we are actually stealing from them. That is a scary thought for me, because it means I am a regular thief. I stole from that man at Kmart. I had the very thing he needed and I withheld it from him.

I wonder what this means for an authentic Christian faith community. I wonder what word or thoughts would come to mind of most people when they hear the word “Christian”. Is it – giving? sacrifice? sharing? I claim to be a follower of Jesus and I wonder if that man at Kmart would be shocked to know that about me. I am certainly not arguing that we need to give away all our possessions and go and live in a monastery. What I am suggesting is that redemption cis witnessed by living within the rhythms of Jesus’ way of life. And that way of life is different.

Jesus’ way of life is more centered on others than on self. Jesus’ way of life is consumed with finding ways to give more than finding ways to get.

In fact the very first followers of Jesus were known by the way that they shared with one another. In Acts 2 we discover that they were devoted to things like prayer, being together, the Apostles teaching, and oh yeah, they shared all they had with one another. Sharing their things was as much a part of defining the faith community as prayer. I doubt many of us have ever viewed sharing with others a spiritual discipline. But maybe we ought to.

Perhaps we can turn the tide on this. Maybe we can start by living lives that model giving and sharing more than getting and keeping.

Stolen anything lately?

Jason Mitchell is a teaching pastor at LCBC, a community of people whose lives are being changed by Christ. He lives in Manheim, PA with his wife Jenny and daughter Sienna.
© 2005 Jason Mitchell. Used by permission of the author. All rights reserved.


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