Most people don’t notice the gorilla. Many do, however, notice the terrible 90’s fashion. We have a tendency to focus on one thing to the exclusion of others. I’m convinced we do this with the Bible as well.
Consider 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.”
What we’ll tend to do is look at the place where we are knocking it out of the park. Many of us will be tempted to stop at the, “let the thief no longer steal”. We will analyze our actions and because it’s been awhile since we jacked something from Wal-Mart we’ll think we are good and then move on. Others, might read this passage through the lens of the victim and see how it calls those to give to those who have in need. You might be the one in need and so you are going to be looking at this text and saying, “how come people aren’t helping me out like they should”. But you might miss the gorilla in the middle of the text.
The gospel doesn’t just make thieves stop stealing. The gospel turns thieves into glad-hearted workers. It addresses directly the heart of the thief. We might be taking a five-finger discount at the local convenience story, but if our hearts aren’t passionately laboring for the good of others, then we aren’t yet living up to our calling.
There’s a special little way that we Westerners have answered the problem of the thieves heart and it only goes half way as we’ll see in a moment. We assume, “Ah, the problem with the thief is that he isn’t willing to work. If he wants that fruit that isn’t his then by golly that’s his fault for not working hard enough. If he’d work harder then it’d rightly be his and he could enjoy it and celebrate it.” But this is where I think we might be tempted to miss the gorilla in the text.
That isn’t what Jesus says in the gospels and it certainly isn’t Paul’s antidote here. Remember it isn’t just that we are to “not steal” we are also to put on the positive clothes. And the positive clothes isn’t just merely work for the things that you want. Friends, we might not be stealing but without new clothes we are still naked and disobedient.
The antidote to the thief isn’t the hardworking American dream. Hard work is a huge part of it as we’ll see in a moment. But the gospel answer cuts not only at the work ethic it cuts at the heart of desire. It cuts out the selfish impulse of the thief and replaces it with the impulse of a hard-working and glad-hearted giver. Jesus does precisely this in our lives.
This is just one little text to show you our propensity to miss the gorilla in a text. So, slow down. Don’t just see what you want to see but dwell on the text until you taste in it the savor of Christ.
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