You Shall Work and Be Content

In the Ten Commandments God makes a series of claims n which show He has claim to all our lives.  He is God, He is our maker and creator, our sustainer and provider.  He loves us with a very great love.  He has declared Himself to be our God and we His people.  He has a claim on us.

He has a claim on our undivided loyalty and affections, He has a claim on our worship.  He has a claim on our time.  He has a claim on our common life in community, on our family life and our relationships with each other.  He has a claim on our intimate lives, a claim on our bodies.  He has a claim on our economic lives and even on our property and possessions, on how we acquire them, how we distribute them and how we use them.

God in Christ has a claim on us and all that we have.  Jesus is King, He is Lord, He is ruler and president.  He is in charge around here and what He says goes.  Jesus has full and absolute authority to tell us what to do, when to do it, where to do it.

I said this claim on us extends to all of our stuff, all our property and possessions.  God cares about physical things, after all He created all of them.  He gives them to us as blessings.  He cares enough about private property and personal possessions to make rules about them and set up guidelines and structures for their use and transfer.

God respects private property and personal possessions, and He commands us to respect private property.  God values ownership and knows the benefits of it, so He set up careful laws for land and inheritance and protecting inheritances and families.

God created wealth and property.  God means for us to acquire, possess, buy, sell and trade.  God means for us to have diverse gifts, talents, abilities, and skills and to use them to acquire possessions.

Paul wrote a verse of Scripture that is a commentary on the Eighth Commandment, it helps us interpret and apply this commandment.

Ephesians 4:28 Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need.