I know that Kim and I enjoy watching our children share with one another. It bothers us deeply when the things that we gave them in the first place become the sole and selfish ownership of one of our children. One of the primary challenges of life teaching kids is learning how to share. When you see your kids be unselfish you’re very happy with that. You feel you are successful as a parent in that one area.
The first Christians were very famous for their generosity. In Acts 2:44 it tells us that “the community of believers shared everything in common.” Why? They were a family. They just shared it all. It was voluntary. It’s not communism. Communism says, “What’s yours is mine and I’m going to take it.” This was a voluntary generosity based on love not laws. They loved each other and they needed each other to survive.
I am sure, in the same way it pleases me as a parent when my children share, it must please God when we help others in need. When we act out of love towards those who we are in our “spiritual family” and we are aware of their needs and assist them by sharing our resources. God gave it all to us anyway and the Bible is very clear: we are the managers – not the owners of all that we have.
Do you think in our wealthy and affluent culture that we still need to be a community of believers who share everything in common? Was this only necesssary in the first century?
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