Published 9/1/19
By Greg Johnson
What If...
Our family has just arrived at the local mall. You can’t wait to look around one of your favorite stores. There’s a sweatshirt you’ve been wanting, and you’ve saved up your allowance to get it.
As you enter the store, you notice four teenagers taking clothes into the side room to try on. After finding a couple of sweatshirts that might fit, you head in to the changing area yourself. While you’re trying on the clothes you hear this conversation:
“All you have to do is put your jeans on over the shorts, and they’ll never find out.”
“Yeah, but won’t it look kinda bulky?”
“What you do is hold the other clothes you brought in here over your pants. They don’t look anyway.”
“That’s what you do for pants,” says another voice, “but how about this sweatshirt? One sweatshirt over another looks pretty fishy.”
“Do I have to tell you everything? What you do is leave the extra clothes you brought in here and head straight for the exit. We’ll keep the saleslady busy by giving her back the stuff we don’t take. Then it’s on to the next store!”
As you finish trying on your second sweatshirt, you laugh to yourself. These teens are stealing clothes. They’re pretty clever, actually. They’ll probably get away with it, too, you think.
Questions to Think On
• What would be the first thing you would think if you overheard such a conversation?
• Name four things you could do.
• Which are you most likely to do?
• What are the possible drawbacks of telling the salespeople what was going on?
• What are the possible benefits of letting them know of these kids’ plans?
What Does God Have to Say?
For we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.
Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins. James 4:17
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