Wednesday June 6, 2012

Do you have something that is not yours?

Make an effort to return it to its rightful owner today.

 

Read Deuteronomy 22:1-4; Ephesians 4:28

 

A little school girl, barely 8 years old, walked past another student’s desk and tactfully placed that other student’s pencil in her pocket and walked off. When confronted by the teacher about stealing her response was, ’Finders keepers. Losers weepers!’. How often we’ve heard that phrase bandied around to justify keeping something we’ve found or perhaps even stolen.

 

God would rather that we went to great lengths to return the found goods to their rightful owner.  For the Israelite that meant returning the wandering ox or donkey. If you found a donkey or ox etc, wandering down the street and didn’t know the owner, the onus was on you to take it home, to care for it and to wait patiently for the owner to come looking for it. Even turning a blind eye and pretending not to see that lost ox or donkey was not an option for the Israelite. They were to go to great pains to return lost or stolen property.

 

For the Christian the principle remains the same, even though we may never see an ox or donkey walking down the street unattended. If we find something that does not belong to us, the godly thing to do is to seek to find the owner and if need be, keep the item until the owner is found. Our goal should be to restore the item to its rightful owner.

 

Again, as we’ve seen so many times before the goal is relationship. Living next door, for example, to a person that can be trusted and looks out for the welfare of others leads to trust, a growth in relationship and a deepening of that relationship. This is exactly what God wants. As believers, if we are that neighbour who can be trusted and seeks the welfare of others, we will inevitably find that doors open to share our faith. We will have ample opportunity to share the love of Christ.

 

Prayer:

¥ Pray that our cell groups (many of which meet tonight) will grow in depth of relationship with each other. Pray that God’s blessing will be upon each cell brining growth and wisdom. Pray for the leaders of each cell, asking God to grant them wisdom in leading, depth of understanding and the ability to relate deeply to all in the cell.

 

¥ Pray that our Session would be filled with men who are Godly, wise and willing to apply the Scriptures to their own lives first and foremost. Pray that our elders would be growing in grace and knowledge of God each and every day.