“Do not steal.” – Exodus 20:15 (CEB)

Stealing is more than shoplifting. It is any way we take what isn’t ours, the credit that belonged to a coworker, the time we owe an employer, the wage withheld from someone who earned it, the corner cut at a neighbor’s expense. Every act of stealing, large or small, chips away at the same thing: trust. And a neighborhood without trust is just a collection of locked doors.

The commandment assumes something beautiful underneath it: that your neighbor’s belongings, and your neighbor’s security, matter to God. A just community is one where people can leave the porch light off and still feel safe, where what is yours stays yours. Today, notice the quiet ways we take. And consider the opposite of stealing, which is not just leaving things alone, but generosity, actively adding to your neighbor’s good.

God, make me trustworthy with what belongs to others. Turn my instinct to take into an instinct to give, so that trust can grow where I live. Through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Andrew Conard’s Substack

What Belongs to Whom