Stealing More Than Blinds

The man to our right at the poker table already had told us Jesus is his Savior.  So we asked what Jesus had done for him lately.

"Well, my house got broken into.  My car got stolen...."

Ouch.  That's not the uplifting testimony you want to hear.  But sadly, crime is part of the world where we live.  Should God get the blame for that?

We've been challenged in recent days to read through the book of Job, where the main character complains:

And who else but God blindfolds the judges, then lets the wicked take over the earth? - Job 9:24 (CEV)

We need to remember Job was ranting with a measure of grief, after Satan took away his family, possessions and good health.  Satan did it all with God's consent (chapters 1-2).  And to some extent, the devil still does that today....

He who does what is sinful is of the devil, because the devil has been sinning from the beginning.... - I John 3:8

And beginning with the garden of Eden (Genesis 3), Satan has worked in human minds and nature to spread sin throughout the world -- including the sin of stealing (Deuteronomy 5:19).

"It's a sin-filled world," we told the man who spilled out his difficulties on us.  And yes, even believers in Jesus can be affected by it.  After all, Jesus was....

This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men, put him to death by nailing him to the cross. - Acts 2:23

But we reminded the man at the poker table, "That's why Jesus needs to come back."  When Christ returns to Earth to establish the Kingdom of God, everything will change.

Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. - Revelation 21:27

We pray police will find the people who burglarized this man's home and stole his car.  And we pray for Jesus to come back very soon -- so the only times stealing might occur is with pots in a friendly game of poker.