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Acts 4:32-37, The Believers Share Their Possessions

Narrative Lectionary Key Verse for Today

Now the whole group of those who believed were of one heart and soul, and no one claimed private ownership of any possessions, but everything they owned was held in common.
— Acts 4:32

NL Daily Devotion for Wednesday, April 29, 2020

by Daniel D. Maurer, Clergy Stuff


Gee whillikers, today’s reading sounds a lot like communism. Well, all except for communism’s atheist thing.

But imagine for a moment what a church today would look like, if it really were true, that is that Acts 4:32 was more than a description, but also a call to behave in a certain way.

What would that look like? No personal possessions.

The Bible does act as a guide to human behavior, sometimes. But just as often it is a mirror reflecting back on the experiments our forebears tried, but didn’t necessarily stick with doing.

I think common possessions was one such rule that probably got trashed with the expanding church and its role in the state.

But I can’t help but wonder that it must have been beautiful, at one time, to be a part of that family of believers who held all in common.

I wonder, and I dream of what could be, too.

God, you have given me my life so that I may share it; grant me strength and wisdom to know how to give, but also how to set boundaries and say no. Amen.