8.2.11

Proverbs 20:17 Stolen bread tastes sweet, but it turns to gravel in the mouth.

My Thoughts

The older I get the more surprised I am at how "honest" people steal.  Good, upstanding people that do their best to do what is right actually steal. I have worked with the public and heard people brag about stealing. When I was a hair stylist I did it myself and I am now bothered by what I did. I did not  report all my tips...so I didn't pay all my taxes... I did it for the same reason so many people do it...that is what everybody else did.  The Bible tells us in Romans 13:6" Pay your taxes, too, for these same reasons. For government workers need to be paid. They are serving God in what they do." It doesn't matter if we think our government is doing good or doing bad... it matters if we are doing what God ask us as individuals to do. If everybody is sinning, it is still our sin if we join in because everybody else is doing it.

We have all seen people do it... we have seen people work under the table... we have seen people pay cash for something to get a discount.... when they knew paying cash would mean the person they paid cash to would not pay the taxes on that purchase. It can be big...or it can be small and seemingly innocent...something that "everybody" does. I even heard a story once, years ago about a deacon at a church cashing checks from the offering plate and then claiming those checks on his income tax to lower his taxes.

I have seen people cheat on their taxes to qualify for extra tax money from the government... that is taking taxes that somebody else paid, their neighbor maybe,  and getting it because they didn't pay all their taxes.

The thing is that stolen money is stolen money no matter how you twist and turn the numbers... how often are people not prospering like they should all because they twisted some numbers?  How often do those tax returns that were suppose to help so much disappear without helping at all? I think that is because Stolen bread taste sweet, but turns to gravel in the mouth.

I don't write this to fuss... I can't fuss....I after all didn't report all my tips years ago...I am guilty of this very sin.  I just know that when I know better I do better...I know that when we do what God ask of us our lives are blessed beyond measure.... I know too that when we don't do what God ask that we are choosing to live outside the protection of God.  I just want people, including myself, to stop and think, we need to always ask ourselves  "Would God be happy with what I am about to do?"  If the answer is yes God is going to bless you in some way, some day for your actions! If the answer is no, there will be consequences to living outside the will of God.  God's blessings are far greater than anything we get when do something we know is wrong.