A Bold Move

My family and I were eating lunch at a local fast food place yesterday when a man walked in with a one gallon cooler jug. He headed directly to the self-serve drink section and proceeded to fill his jug with ice. Then, without any qualms whatsoever, he boldly walked out the doors, jumped into his car, and drove off. We couldn't believe his audacity.

Earlier we had witnessed someone throwing their soda cup onto the landscaped area of a strip mall. I'm sure if he had bothered he could have found a trash can a few feet away near one of the eating places. But nowadays, people just don't care. They only want to think about themselves and what's convenient for them.

God calls us to be respectful of people's property. He doesn't want us to take what's not ours or throw our garbage everywhere. Unfortunately we can't force a person to obey God; but that person will have to answer to God.

Some may argue, "Oh, it's just a petty little thing. A few ice cubes or a little trash won't hurt anyone." But that isn't so. Theft makes all of us victims because the consumer ends up paying for the loss of products through higher prices. And it costs money to have extra people pick up trash or clean off graffiti from buildings.

In God's eyes sin is sin no matter what the size. And don't think you're off scott-free if you are a Christian. We are held to a higher standard because we have the Holy Spirit convicting us. God will not hold us accountable for the actions of others, but He will call us to account for those things we chose to ignore or those things we chose to do.

We may not be able to stop the lawlessness around us, but we can keep practicing the righteousness that's expected of us by our Lord. Perhaps if others saw enough examples of good, they may think twice before they repeat their actions again.