What You Own

But whoever has the world’s goods, and beholds his brother in need and closes his heart against him, how does the love of God abide in him?  I John 3:17  NASB

Goods – How do you measure your success?  Most of us will say that we think of success in terms of relationships, community and noble deeds.  But my friend Paul Meyer (a billionaire) once challenged his peers with the following:  “Let me look at your checkbook and I’ll tell you what really matters to you!”  We have all the pretty words but the proof of our true measuring stick is found in how we handle our possessions.  If we read this verse in Greek, we might be tested a bit more.  John uses the Greek word bios.  He obviously doesn’t have just the “stuff” we accumulate in mind.  Bios means life!  What John is saying is this:  If you have life according to any standard the world might use and you don’t show compassion, then you don’t have the love of God in you.

This is a dart to the heart.  John doesn’t care if you’re rich or poor.  He doesn’t care where you live, how you got there, where you come from, what your trials and tribulations are.  If you have life, you are obligated to show compassion.  What distinguishes man from animal is compassion for others (and even animals sometimes show this).  If you’re alive, God has been good to you so you must pass on that goodness to another.  It doesn’t matter if it’s two small coins or a helping hand or a kind word.  You give according to God’s good pleasure when He gave to you.

You own nothing. 

As soon as you and I begin to act as if the life we have belongs to us so that we are free to do with it as we please, we have abandoned God’s love.  We are not free in any real sense of the term.  We are obligated to respond to the life we have been given by exhibiting the character and acts of the One who gave life to us.  It is not optional.  What does God demand of us?  To act as His representatives in His creation until He comes.

“When you behold” does not mean waiting until you see the starving children advertisement on television.  “When you behold” means as soon as you become aware of the obligation.  As soon as you know there is a need.  Not when you are asked.  If we need to be asked, then we clearly haven’t embraced the full character of the life-giver.  When it comes to compassion, there should be no need to ask.  Compassion is much like the entire idea of Hebrew evangelism.  “Try it; you’ll like it” is supplemented by “See it and do it.”

This is the shortest day of the year for those in the Northern hemisphere.  That means we have the least amount of time to be generous today.  For those in the Southern hemisphere, you have the most time.  But if you wait until tomorrow, it will always be too late.

Topical Index:  life, bios, compassion, 1 John 3:17