Theft

“Thieves, greedy people, drunkards, abusers, and swindlers – none of these will have a share in the Kingdom of God.”  (I Corinthians 6:10)

If we were to ask people in the workplace if they consider themselves thieves, most of them would answer “no.”  If we ask employers and employees if they like thieves, most would again answer “no.”  Despite this common sentiment, theft in the workplace costs businesses billions and billions of dollars.  Theft in the insurance industry by homeowners is responsible for a great part of the cost of our premiums.

How can it be that we do not like thieves, yet many of us commit theft everyday?  Is it because we have come to rationalize and loosely define what theft is?  Do we define theft by the value of what is taken?  If that is the case, then theft by a secretary who takes office supplies for his or her child is morally different than a CEO stealing thousands of dollars from a company.

The value of office supplies stolen by U.S. employees for their children at the beginning of every school year amounts to millions of dollars.  The value of time spent by employees answering personal e-mails and surfing the internet for personal reasons amounts of millions of dollars in lost revenues every year.  The same is true of the value of time stolen from our families while we are engaged in personal and selfish activities.  It is sad that the average father spends less than 6 minutes of one-on-one time with their children each day, though he spends hours watching television.

Theft cannot be defined by culture.  Theft is when we take something from someone that does not belong to us, whether that something is time, money, or love.  Just as Jesus told His disciples to give to God what belonged to God and Caesar what belonged to Caesar, we must place emphasis in not taking what is not ours, and giving to others what belongs to them, especially when that something is love.

“Lord, convict me anytime that I take what does not belong to me!”

Meditation:  Have you thought about how culture has influenced our definition of theft?

Jorge L. Valdes, Ph.D.

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