SCRIPTURE: Acts 4:32 (TM) – larger
reading Acts 4:32-37
The whole congregation of
believers was united as one - one heart, one mind! They didn't even claim
ownership of their own possessions. No one said, "That's mine; you can't
have it." They shared everything.
STORY:
A missionary who returned to
America after a long imprisonment in a Japanese camp was asked what he thought
about during his confinement. His answer was: “I spent such time as I had to
think wondering whether I would be worthy of freedom when I got it.”
OBSERVATION:
We live in a free country. We
exercise democracy. But are we truly free?
This probably won’t win me
any points but … I have to laugh at those individuals who claim to be
Christian, but are dead set against anything that comes close to what they
label “socialism”. I want to shout: “Hey, have you even bothered to read the
New Testament?”
Read again the key verse for
today … even better read the larger selection. The early Christians held everything
in common. No one had possessions, as you and I would understand possessions.
As it says: “They shared everything.”
Bottom line… no one needed
for anything, no one went hungry, no one went homeless, no one had to go
through the city dump to find something to wear… “they shared everything.”
What part of this biblical
reality don’t we get?
Are we truly worthy of our
freedom? Jesus would contend that we are not truly free until we give of
ourselves… abandon ourselves… is extravagant generosity. As long as there are
people who are homeless, hungry, in prison, lonely, or naked … in the world …
we won’t be truly free.
Christ died to free us from
ourselves so that we can be of greater service to all. Call it socialism if you
wish, I simply call it being a disciple of Christ.
PRAYER:
Make me a captive Lord and
then … and only then … I will be free.
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