"But whoever may be having the life of the world and he may be observing the brother of him having need and he should close his bowels from him, how is the love of God abiding in him?"
-Oh no, don't you go there, John! He is talking about our stuff. He's gonna touch our stuff! I know he didn't just do that! Don't you ever touch a man's radio! Or any of his stuff... He's also fixin' to be messing with our time, our plans, our schedules. Not afraid...!
-In this instance, a closed hand = a closed heart. And it very well might show an unbelieving heart. Rather than opening my hand, I close it. Because I have closed my heart. I am like the Levite who passed by on the other side. I see the need (perhaps), but I don't wanna be bothered with it. I wanna hold on to my stuff. I keep it for myself. Mine! Mine! It is the native instinct of every fallen heart, observable almost from infancy, born of selfishness and fermented in a beaker of scarcity mentality on steroids. I won't have enough for myself, we think. Really? Or maybe I think I am too busy. I am too busy to help. I have too many things to do. I wonder, tho - how many of those are needs, or are some of them simply wants...? Or maybe I just don't want to be bothered with this person. Maybe I already know them, and this brother is a bother to me, this brother for whom Jesus died. Or maybe I miss seeing the need altogether. I've got my head buried in my stuff - my work, my plans, all that concerns me. Maybe I simply need to get my head out of the sand, pause, and look around me. I might need to engage with members of my church family (assuming I even have one), get a closer glimpse of their lives, their stories, their needs. For those will become apparent if we ever get into real community. Everyone has a story, we all are journeying through brokenness in varying degrees, and we need each other. We need to be willing to get a little bit dirty, to swap some of our dirt with one another. This in fact is the essence of what the Bible calls koinonia (at least that's the Greek word). Fellowship. It means sharing.
-Sharing. A most basic of life lessons, this. We never outgrow our need to learn and relearn and apply this value in our lives. What happens as we grow older is that our world expands, and along with it so do our boundaries, all the tiny kingdoms of me. We enlarge our borders. We acquire so much more territory. And stuff - which our flesh is so loathe to share. The tiny toddler may be reluctant to share their bottle or blankie or their favorite toy, but let's be honest, that's all they own. It's much easier to spot the spirit of 'Mine!' when we're only talking about a handful of objects. And at an age when one hasn't yet learned the subtleties of how to mask my selfishness. But with the larger boundaries of adulthood, self finds a lot more room to maneuver, and my hand is often filled to overflowing. There's a lot more stuff I can hold on to, which works out in my favor, cuz I have a lot more stuff. Perhaps I "learned" (was forced) to share when I was little, when I was not allowed to be master of my domain, but the older I get, the more stuff I can begin to hold on to - and nobody blinks an eyelash. So the question becomes, how open is my hand... (Deuteronomy 15.11)? How open do you think is the Lord's hand (Psalm 104.28, 145.16)?
-A brother in need. That's what we're talking about. This brother for whom Jesus (our Brother of brothers) died. Our brother is more important than our stuff, because He is more important to Jesus than our stuff. Yes, the Lord opens His hand to us and satisfies our desires, gives us all good things to enjoy, but this does not mean that we are meant to selfishly hold on to all the things He gives us in order that I might enjoy them unto myself. The Scripture is saying that all things - pretty much any God-given thing - can be enjoyed... when accompanied by a grateful and generous heart. And the truth is, that generally speaking, there is more joy in sharing. Life - and stuff - is meant to be shared. And is not the greatest joy, our highest pleasure, to be found in Him, sharing life with the Life-giver, in His presence, where He is? Does He not dwell not only in heaven but also with the lowly, the downcast, the brokenhearted (Isaiah 57.15, Psalm 34.18)? "Beware", says the Lord, "that there is no base thought in your heart, and your eye is hostile toward your poor brother and you give him nothing, and it will be a sin in you" (Deuteronomy 15.9). "Am I not allowed to do what I choose with what belongs to Me? Or do you begrudge My generosity?" says the Lord (Matthew 20.15). It all belongs to Him, does it not? It should, should it not? Our life, all we have, all our stuff, all our time, all our days - all from Him, our All-generous Heavenly Father. Surely it all should be for Him as well, all placed at His disposal, in His open hands. Brethren, let us open our hands to Him, and to one another. In this is love...
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