Having been a victim of an attempted car thief, I know the inconvenience and expense caused. The thought of sending a Christmas card to the offender (whoever he may be) has never crossed my mind—but I have prayed for his soul. In late April thieves stole 98 rental cars from a lock up near Auckland Airport. Not your ordinary anonymous white sedans, but these being camper vans painted green and purple, with writing written in circles designed to look like large stickers. Most of the vans were recovered and 32 people arrested for their crimes. Some for stealing, some for possession, and some for Health Act Breaches (for this my guess is that they spat at the police when arrested during the Lockdown period).
Honour among thieves is a myth (praise the Lord), the police had plenty of help in finding the vehicles. “Thou shalt not steal” (Ex.20:15) comes in at number 8 on the list of The 10 commandments. It is a foundation principle of faith and civilization. “Stealing a man’s tools,” my brother, Ray, used to say, “is stealing food off his family’s table.” He was right, and you can add “the theft of anything laboured for is stealing the food off somebody’s table.” You have to wonder what the details were that motivated the apostle Paul to command the Ephesian Christians: “He who steals must steal no longer; but rather he must labour, performing with his own hands what is good, so that he will have something to share with one who has need” (Eph.4:28). Praise God that thieves can repent and move on to productive things.
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