Latest / Prayer Before Work / Is This Stealing? - Prayer Before Work
Transcript
- Sean Graver: Well there's a dumpster behind your job site or office right now with a few hundred dollars of stuff just sitting there. And some part of you has already done the math. Well, hey, this is Sean, and welcome to Prayer Before Work. Now, maybe it's product returns that got written off already, or maybe it's equipment that's gonna be replaced or recycled, or or food that's maybe past the code but still perfectly fine, or You know, I don't know, materials from a job site, nobody's tracking it anymore, and it just sits there. It's getting thrown away. You could use it though for the extra cash. So you start telling yourself a story. Well, it's garbage now. Nobody wants it. I'd just be keeping it out of a landfill. Practically a public service. Now I'm not gonna pretend that that story is always wrong. Sometimes it isn't, but sometimes it's a very comfortable way of of avoiding a a much simpler question. Did anyone actually give this to you? Or are you just taking it because you can? So the Apostle Paul writes about this in Ephesians. So Ephesians 4 28. And the context is worth knowing. He's talking to people who used to steal. And instead of just saying, stop, he gives them something to do instead. He writes, 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. The one thing that stands out to me about that verse is the redirect. It doesn't just close a door, it points towards one that's actually open. The desire for a little extra income isn't the problem. Wanting more for your family or wanting more margin, wanting to build something, nothing of like that is wrong. The question is whether You're getting there honestly or helping yourself to what isn't clearly yours to take. So here's a simple test. If you're in that gray area right now, especially, would you feel fine walking up to your manager, your boss, and just asking out loud, hey, is it okay if I take this? Now, if the answer is yes without hesitation, take it with a clear conscience. If you already know, you wouldn't ask because you're afraid of the answer, well, that's not really a gray area. That's just an answer you don't want to hear. And if it's really trash with real permission, great. Take it, sell it, use it, no guilt required. But if you're relying on nobody will notice, it might be worth asking what that's actually costing you, even if it never costs you your job. So let's pray. Well, Lord, money's tight sometimes and It's easy to convince ourselves that a small shortcut isn't really a big deal. So give us the honesty to see our own justifications for what they are. And where there's real opportunity, things that we actually have permission to take or use, let us enjoy that without guilt. And where we're just telling ourselves a convenient story, give us the courage to ask the question out loud instead of avoiding it. I mean, we want to build what we have honestly, even if it's slower. We pray in Jesus' name. Amen. Now go make today count.