And you shall not steal. Deuteronomy 5:19
From the Benson Commentary… “Hast thou seriously considered that these houses, lands, money, or goods, which thou hast been used to call thy own, are not thy own, but belong to another, even God? Hast thou ever considered that God is the sole proprietor of heaven and earth; the true owner of every thing therein? Hast thou considered that he has only lent them to thee? That thou art but a steward of thy Lord’s goods? And that he has told thee expressly the uses and purposes for which he entrusts thee with them; namely, for the furnishing, first thyself and those dependent on thee, and then as many others as thou canst, with the things needful for life and godliness? Hast thou considered that thou hast no right at all to apply any part of them to any other purpose? And that if thou dost thou art as much a robber of God as any can be a robber of thee?”
Stealing is the non-realization that it all is owned by God, and that when you steal from anyone you actually are stealing from God. Does not God own it all? Is there anything that is not His? From a New Testament perspective are you in the ‘family’ of God? Does Jesus ‘own’ you? Did He buy you with the price of His blood? So what do you ‘own’ that is not His? So to steal from anyone else aren’t you maligning His character as well … as you are an extension and the ‘property’ of Him?
What exactly is ‘stealing’? Here the Hebrew word is גָּנַב ganab (gaw-nab’) a verb meaning ‘to steal’. Which means to take away from someone else which is not yours in the first place. The concept is pretty simple. And the God given conscience will condemn a person until that conscience is seared enough for the individual not to care for anything but themselves. A person can steal identities, ideas, credit, money, property, time, and almost everything another has .. but their true faith, or the love the Father has for them. What is ‘stored’ in heaven for them cannot be stolen.
Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal, but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. Matthew 6:19-20
How can a family member steal from God? By first deceiving themselves. Read Acts 5:1-11 for an example of this sad possibility. And then Jesus always takes us to the next level of understanding. As we saw with murder, and adultery, the same concept applies here … in the heart of the individual. It almost always comes back to the issue of ‘selfish desires’, fear, or the lack of faith in God. What is in our hearts? Is it self centered or is it God centered? Do we allow God to speak to us via the Holy Spirit? Or are we too scared to let Him speak to us, for in our inner most being we know how corrupt we actually are and really don’t want to ‘face’ Him? There is no way of getting ‘clean’ and right before God BEFORE facing Him. He has to clean us by the blood of His Son. We have to accept that we are sinners in His sight for Him to actually cleanse us of all our unrighteousness. We have to humbly submit ourselves to Him with repentance.
Stealing is down the slope of depravity when we no longer believe God can help us. When we deceive ourselves that we can do better than God in supplying our ‘need’.
And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:19
How do we get to that place where we experientially understand this? By tests and trials of our faith in Him. Learning in the times of lack… with faith to see Him move on your behalf.