A businessman tells how he and some of his associates were at O’Hare airport. One colleague stopped to buy a newspaper. He paid for one, and when the vending door unlocked, he reached in and took papers for all his friends. This man had just sold his company for tens of millions of dollars. We often excuse the poor for stealing, but why do the rich steal? Here is what we read in Jeremiah 5. God tells the prophet, “Run up and down every street in Jerusalem,” “Look high and low; search through out the city! If you can find even one just and honest person, I will not destroy the city. But even when they are under oath, saying, ‘As surely as the Lord lives,’ they are still telling lies!” Lord, you are searching for honesty. But what can we expect from the poor? They are ignorant. They don’t know the ways of the Lord. They don’t understand God’s laws. So I will go and speak to their leaders. Surely they know the ways of the Lord and understand God’s laws.” But the leaders, too, as one man, had thrown off God’s yoke and broken his chains.”Today God still hates lying and dishonesty. The source of it is the sinful human heart. The cure comes when we invite God’s Spirit to live inside us and allow Him to control our hearts.
Dr. Melvin E. Banks, Sr. is the founder and chairman of UMI (Urban Ministries, Inc.). Under his direction, UMI has grown to be a leading publisher of Christian education resources for churches in the African American community. Read More
