Seven Passions: Resource Investment

We've already come more than half-way discussing the first four of seven core passions found in the early Church. I hope and pray that we are being challenged and changed through the discussion and resulting action. After all, revolutions don't occur simply through talk!

Resource Investment

...The first Christians defined communal living through their sacrificial sharing of everything they had. Note that the Scriptures specifically tell us that they shared "everything" with those in need, and that they used the variety of resources at their disposal -- money, food, clothing, housing, relationships, influence, skills, time -- for the benefit of all believers. (p24)

Investment is really the key as we think about this passion. The early church community did not pool their resources just so they would be able to enjoy each others' goods. Rather they first acknowledged that everything they had was a gift from God -- not their own. And second, they were determined to invest those gifts in others to build them up, strengthen them through tough times so that they would be able to eventually turn around and do the same with others.

There is a definite cyclical thinking in Scripture that we are blessed to be a blessing. As we bless others with the love of Christ their lives are changed. As a result of that change and the transformation (through discipleship) that occurs in them they continue this cycle of blessing. They continue investing what they have in others just as someone had already invested in them.

Communal living is not the point, in my opinion, to these early church accounts. But rather that we would see their passion (their obsession!) for using whatever they had (money, food, clothing, time, listening skills, home, etc) "for the benefit of all believers". They were a true community, so deeply infected with the love of Jesus that they desired to ensure that no one when without. This is that active faith...that intentional, active love that we have been talking about!

How do we compare to this example? Are we investing in others or just in our own pursuits? If we are investing in others, is it something we're passionate about or just something we do on the side from time to time? Obviously we can start small with whatever we have. We just have to stop talking about it and do it!