Basic High Grade Behavior
They opened a new gold mine in Nevada. Owners claim this to be one of the biggest open pit diggings in the world.
When most folks think of a high grade gold mine, they imagine a deep cave lined with waves of 24-karat stuff that waits for you to pry off with a crowbar. Then, you simply take it to the jeweler’s.
The new mine down in Nevada looks like a great big dirt canyon. The extremely fine gold can only be recovered by the most modern equipment. High prices and advanced technology make it possible to sift out gold that in other eras would be considered useless.
Occasional Gold Strikes
In the old days, there existed a few spots where gold littered the mine shafts. Every once in awhile, miners blasted their way into a room-sized geode. They sacked up pure gold by the shovels full. But real high grade stuff was pretty rare. When found, it was hard to prevent theft.
When valuable ore comes in chunks, miners tend to leave a little in coat pockets and lunch pails. In fact, the term high grade soon meant stealing small particles of good ore by those who worked the mines. Seems to me, high grading still goes on today.
Not many of us work gold mines, but we labor somewhere. Anytime we take something home that belongs to the company, we’re high grading. Of course, we consider the matter different. We’re just taking minor items that won’t be missed. Besides, we figure no one cares. It’s not financially breaking the company. Funny thing, that’s what the old time high grading miners said too.
God’s Point of View
I’ve got a feeling the Lord looks at the issue differently.
Paul says, “You who preach against stealing, do you steal?” (Romans 2:21)
And even more pointed in Ephesians 4:28, “He who has been stealing must steal no longer.”
In our day and age of situational virtue, a strict adherence to honesty and refusal to steal even the tiniest of things, seems like radical morality. Pop psychology would probably attest a childhood trauma to blame for the anti-social behavior of absolutely refusing to steal anything. If so, that’s one stigma a Christian should gladly wear.
Stephen Bly
Circa 1989
Image by Dimitris Vetsikas from Pixabay
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