Irresistible Revolution 2

Economics of Rebirth

As a Christian, my purse should be spent differently than before I was a Christian. Money is one of the most common topics in the New Testament, therefore it's pretty important.

Shane Claiborne said, "I'm not convinced that Jesus is going to say, 'When I was hungry, you gave a check to the United Way and they fed me,' or, 'When I was naked, you donated clothes to the Salvation Army and they clothed me.' Jesus is not seeking distant acts of charity. He seeks concrete acts of love: 'you fed me... you visited me in prison... you welcomed me into your home... you clothed me.'" Have I consistently done this or do I too easily rely on my gifts of money to empower others to do it? When I let others do it... I am kept in a separate world from the poor. Inequality is cautiously controlled but not eradicated.

"Give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?'" - Proverbs 30:8, 9.

When I get dressed I wear a different outfit than the day before. When my clothes are dirty I put them in the washing machine. When I go outside I pick from lots of shoes. When I'm thirsty I get a clean class of cold water. When I'm hungry I open the fridge or cabinets and eat whatever I want. When I don't like food, I throw it away. When I'm cold I turn up the heat; when I'm hot I turn up the air conditioning. When I'm dirty I shower. When I'm bored I turn on my entertainment system. When I'm tired I lay down in my own bed. When I want to go somewhere I have a car I can drive, and when it's out of gas I refill it. I went to an expensive, private, Christian school; now I go to an expensive, private, Christian university. When I'm sick I go to the doctor. When I want something, I buy it. When I sleep I'm not fearful of my safety. Even worse - when I do all these things I don't think twice.

Again, Claiborne says, "True generosity is measured not by how much we give away but by how much we have left, especially when we look at the needs of our neighbors." The early Christians taught that charity is merely the rich returning to the poor what they stole.

Isaiah 58:6, 7 says, "Is this not the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?" When I fast... is that how I do it?

When the church becomes a place of brokerage rather than an organic community, she creases to be alive.... she ceases to be something we are - the living bride of Christ. The church becomes a distribution center - a place where the poor come to get stuff and the rich come to dump it off. . . . Is the organization meeting the needs or is the organism? Jesus did not organize a "program" but rather personified the reign of God through love. Needs are met by His infection of love through us. BUT 1 Cor 13:3 says, "If i give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the glames, but have not love, I gain nothing.". . . you figure it out!

"'Truly I tell you,' Jesus replied, 'no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age: homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children, and fields - along with persecutions - and in the age to come eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and the last first" - Mark 10:29-31. Rather than accumulating stuff for ourself, followers of Jesus abandon everything, trusting in God alone for providence.

Though I've lived more simply this summer than ever before...God is speaking to me... calling me... and I'll be honest... I'm scared of what it means.