Re:Verse passage –Exodus 20:15 (day seven)
“You shall not steal” is an economic commandment covering a wide assortment of monetary sins from stealthily taking something of value to excessive interest to inaccurate measurements to allowing your cattle to graze on another’s pasture etc. Each of these examples reveals a greed that preys on a neighbor to fatten our heart at their expense.
James 5 describes it this way: Come now, you rich, weep and howl for your miseries which are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted and your garments have become moth-eaten. Your gold and your silver have rusted; and their rust will be a witness against you and will consume your flesh like fire. It is in the last days that you have stored up your treasure! Behold, the pay of the laborers who mowed your fields, and which has been withheld by you, cries out against you; and the outcry of those who did the harvesting has reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth. You have lived luxuriously on the earth and led a life of wanton pleasure; you have fattened your hearts in a day of slaughter. (James 5:1-5)
May our hearts seek a holy way strengthened by the Spirit in the ways of our Lord leading us toward generosity instead of greed.
