The Seventh Commandment:
You shall not steal.

What does this mean?
We should fear and love God that we do not take our neighbor's money or property, or get it by dishonest dealing, but help him to improve and protect his property and means of income.

Dear Grandpa,
My conscience is bothering me—and I'm not sure if I should let it. A while back I found an iPod in a snowbank near school. You know about iPods, right? They're the size of a credit card and hold hours of music and videos. Anyway, it still worked! Some of the music was lame, but the rest was good. There was no name on it, so I put a sign up at school. Nobody claimed it before the sign came down so I started using it. I bought headphones, a charger, and downloaded songs. Now I've found out that a senior lost her iPod about the time I found this one. I'd feel foolish giving it back since I've been using it all this time. I don't particularly want to give it back because I've spent money on it. Any advice?
I love you,
Denali

You did so many things right when you found that iPod. You rescued it from damage in the snowbank. You attempted to find the owner. Then, only after it seemed the owner could not be found, you began to use it as your own. And now, instead of shrugging, you are struggling with giving back what you thought belonged to you. You've even asked for advice. That's worth my applause.

In my neighborhood when I was a kid the rule of thumb was finders keepers, losers weepers. I'm sorry to report that, once upon a time, I got a nice baseball glove using that motto. But Jesus has a different principle for us to use with lost items. His rule of thumb is something like finders returners, losers regainers. And his rule applies even when the rightful owner turns up months—or years—later.

It was a year after claiming that baseball glove that I had to give it back. One of my classmates saw me with it, identified it as his, and insisted I return it. There was a sock 'em, punch 'em fight. I bested the boy. But when I arrived at home all scuffed up, my father asked what happened. It wasn't long before he marched me over to the boy's house to hand over the glove—as well as my apology for the fight.

Jesus our sin-thief

That's when Dad had a talk with me that I still remember. He gently explained why we Christians refuse to take whatever does not belong to us. "Jesus has stolen from you, so you will want to obey when he commands, 'You shall not steal,' " he said.

"Jesus has stolen from me?" I asked.