“You shall not steal.”  Exodus 20:15 

My local Fruitcana on Fraser street has posted a sign at their bins: no grazing. They could have said, “You shall not steal.” 

But we might not see sampling the product as stealing. Just grazing.

I’m afraid we do that to many of God’s Commandments too. We opt out and can’t see the truth about ourselves until the Spirit of God takes the Law and leads us to the cross. Then we are back to the relationship and we see again or for the first time how far we are from God’s vision of life together with Him. 

Can you imagine what it would be like to be so responsive to God’s grace in Christ Jesus that we don’t steal. Instead we respect boundaries, we give credit where credit is due, we build up patience and character in our children by having them delay gratification of their own impulse to graze, we pay for music, we accept our failings and those of others without condemnation and lean in to learn rather than cheat, we honour our commitments, we build trust through just compensation. 

Not you, not me? Not a grazer? 

Lord have mercy!

1Therefore you have no excuse, O man, every one of you who judges. For in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, practice the very same things. 2We know that the judgment of God rightly falls on those who practice such things. 3Do you suppose, O man—you who judge those who practice such things and yet do them yourself—that you will escape the judgment of God? 4Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?  Romans 2:1-4