Spiritual Plagiarism

Greetings Dear Reader,

It occurs to me that as a writer this is one of the crimes that irks me the most.  As a teacher I have to contend with it far too often.  I have read articles that chronicle how high school and college students are increasingly plagiarizing work and consider it of little consequence. 

The Miriam Webster Online Dictionary defines plagiarism: “to steal and pass off (the ideas or words of another) as one's own: use (another's production) without crediting the source.”  For those who do not know it, the mention of the web site and the accompanying link is a method of crediting the source.

We have other terms for taking credit for or stealing ideas from others.  We use patents and copyright to prosecute these things legally.  What I wonder about is when we take credit for the things that God has done.  We think that we know so much more than we do.  We think we begin to understand the universe.

Any time I think that I do anything good on my own I am committing spiritual plagiarism.  Even the very faith I hold to follow Christ is authored and will be finished by Christ.  It is by God’s grace that I do anything good.  When I think of myself as being “a good man” then I have taken credit for something that God has authored.

When I see my gifts and abilities as “mine” then I am robbing God of his patent.  It is God who has designed me.  It is God who knew me from the beginning and has a plan for me that will honor him if I let it.  There is no thing that I have or am that is good that was not authored by God.  Embracing this truth can lead to accomplishing even better things.

Wishing you joy in the journey,

Aramis Thorn

Mat 13:52 So Jesus said to them, "That is why every writer who has become a disciple of Christ’s rule of the universe is like a home owner. He liberally hands out new and old things from his great treasure store."