Meditate: Acts 2:44
It’s difficult to talk about what “All the believers…shared everything they had” means because of some of our assumptions. So let’s talk about what it’s not and see what that leaves us:
This wasn’t some utopian community where everyone had some kind of holy “fire sale” to liquidate all their assets. They didn’t cash in all their personal property and dump the proceeds in a common account. They didn’t go sit out on a mountainside waiting for the world to end and only come back to reality when the money ran out.
In fact, when you read this in light of what other parts of the Bible say about generosity this all looks very normal. Some of our core ideas about charity are captured here.
A Christian’s first responsibility is to their own family. To neglect your own is to “deny the faith” and be “worse than an unbeliever.”
After family, the priority was to those who were least able to help themselves. In ancient cultures that meant “widows and orphans.” Widows, because economic opportunities for women were extremely limited. And orphans because there weren’t any social services available to care for children. Our principle of helping the helpless originated here.
Also, it wasn’t acceptable to stop working just because you knew all those good Christians wouldn’t let you starve. In fact their approach can be summarized as “no work, no eat.” The Church didn’t feel that it owed anyone a living just because they claimed to be a Christian. Sharing “everything they had” wasn’t an excuse to freeload.
- Does my behavior toward my family “deny the faith?”
- Who are the helpless people in my reach?
- Any areas where I’m freeloading off the Church?
Pray:
Praise: You are the Lord of all; Everything is at Your command.
Confess: I have not always been faithful to You or Your family.
Thank: Your love never fails. I still find my hope in You.
Ask: Show me how to serve my brothers and sisters.
Digging Deeper: I Timothy 5
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