Devotional | STOP, THIEF!

I’m curious how many of you have engaged in theft this week.

I’m sure some of you reading this are feeling offended that I’ve accused you of an action generally considered unchristian. After all, good people don’t do things like steal. But I’m also curious how many of you, if you went through your bag, or your car, or your pockets, maybe even your Bible cover if you take a physical book with you to church, would find a pen in it that isn’t yours?

If you do have a pen you didn’t pay for in your possession, I completely understand that your intent wasn’t to steal it. I’m sure you were using it and simply walked off, still holding it. A bit of forgetfulness, perhaps a moment of distraction. Happens every day, pretty much everywhere. It’s why some places resort to tying their pens to their visitors’ books, or writing ‘stolen from the office of (wherever)’ along the pen itself. But taking a pen by accident isn’t really theft because there is no intent to create loss for someone else.

I have a bit of a pen focus because I love to write. And to write, I need things to write with. I am more than guilty of tipping my bag out at the end of the week and finding things in it that weren’t mine to start with. Sometimes I laugh at myself. Sometimes I buy a pack of new pens and take them to wherever I’ve nicked the most pens from. I’ve also gifted a person or two at my poetry group with a new pack of pens because they’re always losing theirs and asking to borrow one of mine, which may or may not actually be mine.

Given I love writing, and pens, I just had to buy a t-shirt I spotted that bore the words: “God is still writing your story, stop trying to steal the pen.” Every time I wear it, people comment on the message, and I’ve gotten into some great conversations about how we need to ‘let go and let God’.

But a couple of weeks ago, while contemplating all that is Easter, I suddenly saw the message differently. It wasn’t about handing over the pen, but about the writing of someone’s story. It was a reminder that God has plans for people. That people have free will and can make their own choices. That Jesus, for the sake of the joy before him (Hebrews 12:1-2), stayed in the story God had written for him.

Jesus had free will, too. When faced with the cross, he could have said, “Nope, not dying.” Satan tried to get him to do exactly that, out in the wilderness, tempting him to take the pen from God and write his own story. But Jesus understood that the consequence of not following the story God had written for him would be immense loss for humanity. Knowing his death was our only way to be made righteous with God, he refused to take the pen of temptation that Satan was offering and instead stayed in God’s plan.

Now, when I look at the message on my favourite shirt, I am thankful Jesus chose not to steal the pen from God. And because he didn’t, redemption is available to each one of us. I am so grateful Jesus chose to follow the story God had written for Him rather than creating his own, because I cannot think of a more wonderful gift than walking hand in hand with Him when our stories finally meet.

Is redemption through Jesus your favourite chapter of the Christian story? If not, I’d love to know what is.