May 17 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

Christians have been quick to point out that the Bible teaches the right to private property. Correctly so. Even the early experiment of the believers in Jerusalem in sharing goods did not blunt their sense of the God-given right of possession. The apostle Peter himself said that people did not have to give away their possessions: "Didn't it belong to you before it was sold? And after it was sold, wasn't the money at your disposal?" (Acts 5:4).

Indeed, there is a deep difference between materialistic communism and the Christian view of property. The communist says, "All yours is mine," while the Christian says, "All mine is yours." These viewpoints are radically opposed.

Some Christians believe that the members of the early church made a mistake in sharing their possessions—a forgivable error, to be sure, in view of the first thrill of the new life, but an error nevertheless. They remind us how the apostle Paul had to take up a collection among the converted Gentiles for the poverty-stricken church in Jerusalem. "That's what you get," they say, "if you don't keep something for a rainy day, if you spend it all as soon as the Holy Spirit is poured out."

However, we should be able to say something more positive than that this sharing was not materialistic communism. And the common-sense remark about a rainy day does not sound very convincing to those who are standing in the rain of the Spirit.

There is a lasting lesson and an abiding norm in this practice of the early Christians. When the Spirit of God moved these people to sell their possessions and distribute the proceeds among all those who had need, God himself was teaching the church of all ages that Christians must forever be more concerned about each other than about their own possessions.

REFLECTIONS

How are you putting people ahead of your possessions?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.