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      • 40. One of the Greatest Need America
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      • 43. Learning to Listen
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      • 45. Memorial Day
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      • 49. The Decline in Family Living
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      • 52. Thanksgiving is not a Holiday
      • 53. What a Christmas Present!
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      • 54. What Do You Mean by that?
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      • 67. Tribute to My Mother
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      • 87. What an Opportunity!
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      • 90. The Case for Systematic Exposition
      • 91. Don't Miss the Message
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      • 92. I can Afford it!
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      • 94. The Functional Church
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      • 98. A July 4th Reminder
      • 99. The Volume of Silence
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      • 103. When it is Tough to be Thankful
      • 104. Romney's Religion
    • 2008 Articles 105-114 >
      • 105. Continue
      • 106. A Tribute to Jack
      • 107. Why Good Ftiday?
      • 108. Happy Birthday
      • 109. The Most Important Room in the House
      • 110. The 80-20 Rule
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      • 113. Sweet Reasonableness
      • 114. The Other Benefit of Christmas
    • 2009 Articles 115-126 >
      • 115. What Determines who Obtains Eternal Life?
      • 116. The Healing Touch
      • 117. The Function of Dysfunction
      • 118. When Your World Falls Apart
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      • 120. To Complain or not to Complain
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    • 2010 Articles 127-138 >
      • 127. Don't Ask; Don't Tell
      • 128. A Forest Dark
      • 129. The Rule of Law
      • 130. The Hits and Miss of Grace
      • 131. People Need the Lord
      • 132. Examples Worthy of Notes
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      • 137. "Don't Spare Me"
      • 138 The Unseen Message of Christmas
    • 2011 Articles 139-147 >
      • 139. What Parents Should Teach their Children
      • 140. How to Avoid Having to Serve
      • 141. What Happen to Mike?
      • 142. An Atheist Recommends God
      • 143. Surprise
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      • 146. Get in the Way
      • 147. "Let George do it."
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      • 148. Truth or Consequences
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      • 150. Take a Break
      • 151. The Worth of an Individual
      • 152. A Tribute to Nana
      • 153. Jesus Crossed the Line
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      • 160. A Tribute to Sumner Wemp
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      • 161. How to Finish Well
      • 162. Rewards
      • 163. Spiritual Binging
      • 164. There is no way out of this one
      • 165. Half Empty or Half Full
      • 166. Nones
      • 167. Greet One Another with a Holy Kiss
      • 168. God's Answer to Atheism
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      • 170. The Problem of Fellowship with God
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      • 172. For Mercy's Sake
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      • 173. Lies
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      • 175. Teaching Children How Money Grows
      • 176. The Principle of Delay
      • 177. By Their Fruit
      • 178. Sermons that Changed My Life
      • 179. If Paul Harvey were the Devil
      • 180. The Principle of Practice
    • 2015 Articles 181- >
      • 181. In Wrath Remember Mercy
      • 182. Choosing the Right Shepherd
      • 183. The Lord's Requirements
      • 184. Your Ear Lobe. Thumb, and Big Toe
      • More articles will be added as they are written
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                          An "Honest" Thief

Many years ago, a fairly wealthy man gave me an expensive designer wallet as a gift of appreciation. It lasted for years, but eventually went the way of all wallets; it began to come apart. Knowing how much I liked that wallet, my wife gave me one like it as an anniversary gift.

I had only had the new wallet for about six months. Last Saturday, dressed in a pair of shorts with a very shallow rear pocket, I went to Staples to purchase paper for my printer. Apparently, after I paid for the supplies with a credit card from my wallet, I did not put it firmly in that shallow pocket. It probably fell out in the parking lot of Staples. At any rate, a short time later I discovered it was missing. I returned to Staples only to discover that no one had returned my wallet. I immediately cancelled the credit cards and grieved the loss.

Yesterday, when I returned home from church, I found an envelop with the contents of my wallet in it! Someone, had gone to the trouble of copying my address from my driver’s licenses, taping it to the front of the envelop, wrapping the contents of the wallet in a plain white piece of 8½ x 11 paper, putting it in an envelop, and bring it to my house. All that was missing was the expensive wallet and a spare 20-dollar bill I carry in my wallet (my spendable money is always in a money clip, which I always keep in my front pocket). Unbelievable!

Frankly, I appreciated it. Whoever did that, obviously did not have to do it and it saved me a lot of time today (Monday) in that I did not have to take the time to replace, my drivers license, car insurance card, health insurance card, etc.

I immediately, thanked the Lord. This may sound silly to some, but I had asked Abba, if He would be so kind as to see to it that the stuff was returned. He at least answered most of the prayer.

Now, may I ask a question? Assuming that the one who returned the contents of the wallet, minus the money, was the thief, what was he (or she) thinking? I can only imagine. Let me speculate. Could that individual have thought, “I an honest person. I will return the contents of the wallet and keep the money and the wallet as a small token for my trouble. The owner will be glad to get the contents back and would probably give me a reward for finding the wallet, anyway.” Such self-justification would, no doubt, make the thief feel better, well, at least, not as bad and maybe even feel a little honest.

We all rationalize our sin, don’t we? The problem, of course, is that in the final analysis, “the judgment of God is according to truth” (Rom. 2:2), not according to what we think or feel. Moreover, even when we think we are justified, that does not mean we are (1 Cor. 4:3-5). So, we need to beware of the self-justification of our sin.
                               © G. Michael Cocoris, 7/8/2002
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