Folks talk a lot about the high cost of medicine. And gasoline. When the subject comes up around me, I use the term “legal theft.” The fact is, these are things that it’s difficult to do without, and so the producers can charge about anything they want to. Back during World War Two…the OPA…the Office of Price Administration…put a ceiling on prices, but I don’t see any talk about that today. Surely some judge would declare that the producers’ “freedom” was being harmed.

And so “legal theft” will have to do, I suppose. I’ve checked in the Bible, and I don’t see where it’s a sin to charge whatever you can get. Christ frowned on it, but didn’t say any more than to mention earning interest. And those who charged fairly, gained His approval. But nowhere did I find that a person would suffer hell’s fire by overcharging.

But there is a Book of Life in Heaven, in which our deeds are recorded, and remember that when I’ve talked about it, I’ve noted that my thinking is that God won’t go down the list of each person…He won’t have to, because we will judge ourselves at that moment, and will not have to be reminded that we sold a used car without mentioning that it had been in a flood.

I had a prescription filled recently for eye drops for my wife’s diabetes, and a tiny container that held 5 milliliters of liquid cost $14.00. A liter of it would have cost

28 hundred dollars. In my youth, I worked in a pharmacy, and in those days, medicines came in big glass jars, which it appears held a couple of gallons. The pharmacist would pour this into small containers to be sold, and he would get literally hundreds of bottles of medicine from it. So Even then, medicine was making certain people rich.

There’s no way to avoid it. We mentioned gasoline and medicine. The answer is “walk and stay healthy.” One is in God’s hands, and the other is mighty inconvenient when you want to make a trip of a hundred miles, right now. Cars, like computers, are here to stay.

Meanwhile, when you’re selling something to someone, try to live as the Bible directs. You know, the line that someone came up with a few years ago is still an excellent guide: “WWJD…What Would Jesus Do.” And if you’re buying from someone, remember the old adage, “Let the buyer beware.“ Think about it.

37BT Bill Thornton August 4, 2007