Men rob God by simply withholding what God requested. This robbing takes on two forms: not giving what God has required or giving less than one’s best.
Sin has consequences and brings responsibility. A man who gets right with the Lord should naturally look for ways to restore that which he has stolen.
Many people think that guilt is only the burden of those who personally commit sin. The reality is that consenting to wickedness is equally as bad.
The thief does not care for the well-being of those he victimizes. He cares for himself and only himself. He hurts and has no trouble hurting others.
Sin develops, plots, schemes, and finalizes its dastardly deeds within the heart of the guilty long before the sin manifests itself to the eyes of others.
To steal is to wrongfully and selfishly take something that belongs to someone else and place it amongst one’s own possessions.
A tender heart quickly and readily yields when offered correction; however, as a heart becomes hardened, the times of yielding become fewer and farther apart. During the hardening process, the individual finds the true nature of the heart more difficult to grasp. As the heart further hardens, the individual finds himself involved in further defiance. The mischief may start as seemingly insignificant, but a hardening heart will ultimately lead to greater depths of wickedness, some seemingly unimaginable only a short time ago. Some of the worst sins committed in the Bible by God's people were committed by those who shortly before had displayed a tender heart. Yet, they allowed their hearts to be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.
