"You shall not steal.” Exodus 20:15

In a common approach to evangelism, the person sharing the gospel ask, “Do you consider yourself a good person?” Most respond affirmatively. The evangelist then asks if the person would answer a few questions to see if that is true. If the person agrees, the person sharing his faith asks several questions to expose the fact that we have all broken the Ten Commandments. The question about stealing is often framed like this: “Have you ever taken anything that was not yours—regardless of the thing’s value?”

While some try to insist that they’ve never stolen anything, the vast majority will acquiesce, admitting that they have. The evangelist then says something like this, “Then by your own admission you are a thief (as well as any others of the commandments the person admits to breaking).”

The next question is, “If God were to judge you based only on the few of His commandments you admit to have broken, would you be guilty or innocent?”

The purpose of this exercise is to help the person see that before God, he is guilty. Because he is guilty, he is in need of forgiveness. As Christians we know that the only one who can forgive sins is God, and we know that the way God forgives sin is not to look the other way, but to accept the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross as payment in full for our sin debt.

No matter how inconsequential what we have stolen, we are all thieves and therefore guilty before God for having broken His law. I pray that you understand your guilt, your need of a Savior, and that Jesus is the one and only Savior in whom there is forgiveness of sin.

If you have trusted in Christ for forgiveness and are seeking to follow Him as Lord, praise God!

If you haven’t, won’t you do so beginning today? Please?