All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had. With great power the apostles continued to testify to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus. And God’s grace was so powerfully at work in them all that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need. Acts 4:32-35
“There was a community of possessions that was made concrete by giving to each one according to his or her needs, so that the community lived an alternative form of economic and social organization in which the person was more important that possessions or money. The logical consequence of this lifestyle was the absence of needy persons among them.
This constituted a unity so strong that it made possible, within an economic organization in which some had many possessions and others were hungry, a different style, in which first place was giving to the well-being of all the brothers and sisters of the community, more than individualistic well-being.”
Franklyn Pimentel Torres in “The Practice of Christian Communities” in God’s Economy: Biblical Studies from Latin America edited by Ross and Gloria Kinsler (Maryknoll: Orbis, 2005) 213.
I have safely returned home from Guatemala. Reply if you’d like a copy of my trip report. And, as this book has one more chapter, I will make one more post from it tomorrow, and move on to other reading.
I hope you have appreciated the Latin American insights linked to generosity.
Let’s sit with Torres and soak in this core idea that he has shared with us: “the community lived an alternative form of economic and social organization in which the person was more important that possessions or money.”
This is a profound idea, and as Torres notes, it’s different.
When we get to heaven and all the material possessions we possessed will be long gone. All that will be there is people. There will be no marriage or families. Just a host of brothers and sisters in God’s family.
Our generosity in this life is one of the ways we demonstrate our faith as one of those people.
It’s not that we don’t care for our immediate families. We do. But God wants to make us into a radical people that care more for the larger group, that is the family of God, because that is what we are.
So, think about it. Most people hoard for their earthly family rather than caring for their eternal family.
Rather than tell you what you should do in response. Consider yourself alerted to this eternal reality now. Sit with the Father. Reflect on the teachings of Jesus. And follow the leading of the Spirit.
My hope is that God leads you to take concrete steps that look different.