Thought Exercise on Stealing

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Scene Stealing through Pride

Author

Keywords

Scripture

John 3:30, Philippians 2:3-4, James 4:6, 1 Peter 5:5-6, Matthew 23:1-12, Galatians 6:14

One of the cardinal rules of improvisational theater is that actors must never steal scenes. In her book Improvisation for the Theater , Viola Spolin bluntly puts it this way: “Any player who ‘st...

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Judged by A Different Set of Standards

Author

Craig Brian Larson

Keywords

In Words We Live By, Brian Burrell tells of an armed robber named Dennis Lee Curtis who was arrested in 1992 in Rapid City, South Dakota. Curtis apparently had scruples about his thievery. In his wal...

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Bumper Sticker Hypocrisy

Author

Gino Grunberg

Keywords

A police officer pulled a driver aside and asked for his license and registration. “What’s wrong, officer,” the driver asked. “I didn’t go through any red lights, and I certainly wasn’t speeding.” “N...

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A Grinchy Christmas

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Isaiah 1:13-17, Jeremiah 7:8-10, Proverbs 3:5-7, James 4:17 , Matthew 7:26-27, Psalm 14:1

In Rockland, Maine, two men attempted what can only be described as a full-fledged Grinch heist—trying to steal a Christmas tree straight from a hotel lobby. And, of course, there’s footage. ...

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The Difference Between Covetousness and Envy

Author

Cornelius Plantinga, Jr.

Keywords

What an envier wants is not, first of all, what another has; what an envier wants is for another not to have it… . To covet is to want somebody else’s good so strongly that one is tempted to steal it....

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The Gingerbread Man

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 2:15, Exodus 20:15, Matthew 25:14-30, John 10:10, Psalm 139:13-14, 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

There’s a charming story about a little boy who made a gingerbread man. He poured his heart into crafting it, carefully decorating it with candy eyes and a cheerful smile. It was his creation, and he ...

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Thank You God for Sending a Professional

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Pastor John Ortberg shares this amazing story about how God sometimes uses even our broken pasts to to help others: I read about a woman who locked her keys in her car in a rough neighborhood. She t...

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Finding Money

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Philippians 4:12-13, Matthew 6:19-21, Proverbs 15:16, 2 Corinthians 6:10, Luke 12:13-21, Hebrews 13:5, 1 Timothy 6:10, Matthew 6:24, Luke 12:15

Honoré de Balzac, who would later gain fame as a celebrated writer in post-Napoleonic France, was known for his intricate characters and keenly realistic writing style. Like many young artists, he end...

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Money is Fiction

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 5:10, Proverbs 11:4, Exodus 32:1–35, Luke 12:15, 1 Timothy 6:10, Psalm 49:16–17, Matthew 6:24, Matthew 6:19-21

Jesus warns against greed and seeking wealth, because ultimately, money is fiction. Gold coins? Slips of paper? Ones and zeroes in a computer? They only have value because people think they do....

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Not Getting the Point

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 20:15, Proverbs 6:16-19, Ephesians 16:19, Matthew 7:12, Psalm 51:10

Gerry, a Catholic, went to confession and told the priest he had taken some wood from work. The priest asked, “How much?” Gerry replied, “Not much, Father, just enough to build a garage at the back of...

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A Vice President’s Undoing by a 3-cent Butter Roll

Author

Andy Cook

Keywords

Scripture

James 1:22-25, 1 Samuel 16:7, Matthew 5:8, Genesis 39:9, Psalm 15:1-2

Dr. Bob Reccord tells the story of a major move that was set to take place inside the halls of a Fortune 500 company. It was unheard of, but the company was ready to promote a 38-year-old from vice pr...

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A Life Changed by a Stolen Gideon Bible

Author

Andy Cook

Keywords

Steve May tells the story of “Dee,” who grew up in east Tennessee in an affluent, but unchurched home. Dee’s time at college involved as much wild living as it did studying, and soon her life became a...

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A Comedian Responds to a Lawyer

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

After a great act by the comedian George Ade, a renowned lawyer took his turn to speak. He began by commenting on Ade’s performance: “Doesn’t it strike the company as a little unusual that a professio...

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The Two Ladders

Author

Flannery O'Connor

Keywords

Scripture

Luke 18:9-14

In her short story Revelation, Flannery O’Connor describes a woman sitting in a Doctor’s office, gossiping away without concern for who hears her questionable commentary: This woman says to hersel...

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Sherlock Holmes and Watson Go Camping

Author

Geoff Anandappa

Keywords

Scripture

Job 38:7, Psalm 8:3-4, Genesis 15:5, Daniel 12:3, Matthew 2:2

Sherlock Holmes and Dr Watson are going camping. They pitch their tent under the stars and go to sleep. In the middle of the night Holmes wakes Watson up: “Watson, look up at the stars, and tell me wh...

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Stealing Indian Land

Author

George Yancey

Keywords

To illustrate how the racial oppression of previous generations has benefited European Americans, we can look at the fate of Native Americans. When Europeans arrived in North America, Indians owned al...

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Sharing or Stealing Their Last Ration

Author

Harold J. Sala

Keywords

In 1908, Irish explorer Ernest Shackleton headed an Antarctic expedition attempting to reach the South Pole. They came closer than any before but, 97 miles short of the pole, had to turn back. In his...

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“I am Buying Your Soul”

Author

Victor Hugo

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 45:1-15, Titus 3:5, Romans 5:20, Ephesians 2:8-9, Luke 19:1-10, Luke 15:11-32, John 8:1-11

One of the most powerful illustrations of grace and mercy in all of western literature has to be the great scene between Monseigneur Bienvenu and Jean Valjean in the stirring epic Les Miserables by Vi...

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Behavior vs. Identity

Author

Bill Tell,

Keywords

Scripture

Romans 7:19, 1 John 1:8, Romans 8:1, Romans 1:7

A number of years ago I was discipling a young man who had recently been released from the state’s juvenile detention center. As a teenager he had been hooked on drugs, and he had resorted to stealing...

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Defining the Separation of Church and State in the U.S.

Author

Justin Giboney

Keywords

Scripture

Exodus 20:1-17, Psalm 82:3-4, Romans 13:1-4, Matthew 22:37-40, Deuteronomy 16:18-20, Isaiah 1:17

Many people have misinterpreted the separation of church and state to mean that religious views shouldn’t play a role in public discussions and lawmaking. Someone might say, “We shouldn’t restrict abo...

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Christmas in Mosul

Author

Emily Hunter McGowin

Keywords

Scripture

John 1:5, 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, Matthew 5:10-12, Isaiah 61:3-4, Romans 8:35-37

Living rooms and shop windows aren’t the only places where decorations are meaningful features of Christmas. When Iraqi forces expelled the Islamic State from the predominantly Christian city of Mosul...

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Volcanoes and Americans Dealing with Race

Author

Eric Mason

Keywords

“The Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii erupted on May 17, 2018, at 4:17 a.m., spewing lava more than a thousand feet in the air. Homes and other structures in the wake of the lava flow and the eruption’s rela...

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The Love of God Wrapped About Him

Author

Thomas Kelly

Keywords

Scripture

Psalm 4:1-3, Psalm 30:5, Romans 8:28, 2 Corinthians 4:16-18, Psalm 34:18, Isaiah 43:2, Psalm 23:4, Job 1:, Job 2:, Job 42:, 2 Samuel 11:, 2 Samuel 12:, Genesis 37:12-36, 1 Kings 17:8-24, Daniel 6:, Psalm 34:18

The sense of Presence! I have spoken of it as stealing on one unawares. It is recorded of John Wilhelm Rowntree that as he left a great physician’s office, where he had just been told that his advanci...

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Slander Makes Me Poor Indeed

Author

Stuart R. Strachan, Jr.

Keywords

William Shakespeare’s Othello is able to capture the heart of what it means to experience slander, or to have one “bear false witness’ perhaps better than any other: Who steals my purse steals trash;...

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Mistaken Identity

Author

John Ortberg

Keywords

Scripture

Colossians 3:12, Matthew 23:27-28, Titus 1:16, 1 John 3:18, Romans 12:2, Galatians 5:22-23, Matthew 7:21

A man is being tailgated by a woman who is in a hurry. He comes to an intersection, and when the light turns yellow, he hits the brakes. The woman behind him goes ballistic. She honks her horn at him;...

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The Clever Gambler

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 3:9-13 , Exodus 32:21-24 , Proverbs 16:2, Luke 18:9-14 , Psalm 94:11, Matthew 25:24-30

Some time ago, when gambling was still illegal in the state of Massachusetts, four old friends were sitting in the back of a small New England general store, quietly playing poker, when the sheriff su...

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Caught on Camera

Author

Matt Chandler

Keywords

Scripture

Ecclesiastes 12:14, Genesis 39:6-12 , 2 Kings 5:19-27 , Luke 12:2-3, Psalm 139:1-4, Acts 5:1-11

Several years ago I saw a television show called Caught on Camera . It featured clips of people being secretly filmed doing all manner of horrific things, precisely because they thought they were...

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Humanity’s Sinfulness & a Toll Experiment

Author

The Pastor's Workshop

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 6:5, Jeremiah 17:9 , Ecclesiastes 7:20, Romans 3:23, Titus 1:15-16 , Psalm 14:2-3 , Psalm 53:3, Isaiah 53:6; 64:6, John 1:8

There’s a somewhat naïve belief among some that, in general, most people are inherently good. While many Christians may not fully embrace John Calvin’s doctrine of total depravity (which I believe is ...

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Where Our Owning Habits Become Selfish

Author

Kyle David Bennett

Keywords

Medieval Dominican friar Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274), in his commentary on the Lord’s Prayer, specifically the fourth petition (“give us this day our daily bread”), points out several ways that our own...

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Lori Loughlin and The Problem with Shortcuts

Author

Max Lucado

Keywords

Scripture

Genesis 27:35-36 , 2 Samuel 6:6-7, Exodus 32:1-4 , Matthew 4:8-10, Psalm 37:7, Acts 5:1-5

How many shortcuts have been justified with the best of intentions? At the sentencing for her role in the 2019 college admissions bribery scandal, actress Lori Loughlin addressed the court: “I mad...

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