Sharing the Load (Acts 2:44)

Acts 2:44 All the believers were together and had everything in common.

A friend from my childhood church became a missionary in Africa and I supported him a small monthly amount for over ten years. I thought of him often, especially when making financial decisions. Although I’ve always tried to be frugal in my spending on myself and generous in giving to others, I was always challenged with this thought: How could I live extravagantly when he lived primitively? I’m not saying I excelled at bringing equality to the situation, I’m just saying I thought about it a lot.

Five percent of Americans tithe. Twenty-four percent of evangelicals tithe. Even we are one of the richest people groups to ever populate this planet, we’re not even doing the minimum.

I’ve often thought about how much energy is spent on the finances of Christian work, and how much work is hamstrung for lack of funding. I imagine church leaders sitting in board meetings trying to decide which staff to cut and missionaries in Uganda on their knees praying that God will send their next meal. Undoubtedly there are medical missionaries who could save lives with more medicine. I’ve even thought about how cool it would be if our church could have a play land like McDonalds or could run commercials during the Super Bowl like Pepsi. What if every home could be given a Bible or if we could provide meals for the hungry.

Meanwhile we live in nice homes, have restaurants on every corner, bequeath money to our pets, buy lotions, make-up, and perfumes, drive nice cars, and have closets stuffed with clothes and shoes covering the floor.

I’m not saying I’m different from anyone else. I’m just saying that Christianity in 2011 is very different from Christianity in Acts. The way we view our money and duty to God and one another is certainly part of the problem.

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