I have come to a place again in life where I am faced with the joys and struggles of living in community. On my world race I lived with 25 other people for the majority of the race. This go round I have typically been with 15 others. Every community has its’ own quirks and rhythms. I feel like I have so much wisdom in this area from living in community on the race and at Shelterwood in Missouri, but even with this wisdom learning to live in community is still a process. I have a hard time not jumping ahead and telling people what the outcome will be if you do such and such things. I feel like I must give people grace and let them figure it out for themselves, but there are some things I just can’t hold back on. Like for instance I know that if you leave hair in the drain of the shower it will eventually make someone mad. They may not come directly to you to tell you but they will spout off to someone about it passive aggressively. Also if you leave your shampoo in the shower people will tend to use it because no one is looking and they think you won’t miss just a little. The big kicker of World Race community living is FOOD!!! We try to share things but we get so mad if someone took our Coca Cola out the fridge.
It really is so funny to watch groups go through a RIGHTS stage. We believe we have rights to things. We have a right to not share our chocolate because we bought it with our own personal money. We have a right to eat bread because we want it and we should always get to eat bread. Where did we get these rights? Who told us we could have rights to anything? We as believers and especially World Racers say that we have abandoned everything for the Lord but for some reason there always seem to be some areas we hold back and hold on to.
I have been reading Acts recently trying to compare it to our community living as World Racers. One part actually evoked fear in me the other day. In Acts 5 it tells the account of Ananias and Sapphira. Earlier in this book it tells that the Church of Acts decided to share all of it’s belongings. It says “No one claimed that his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.” Ananias and Sapphire sold some land and kept some of the profits back for themselves but told the disciples they gave all the profits. “Then Peter said ‘Ananias, how is it that Satan has so filled your hear that you have lied to the Holy Spirit and have kept for yourself some of the money you received for the land? Didn’t it belong to you before it was sold?” It wasn’t that Ananias was forced by the church to give his profits to them, it was his choice as to what to do with the money. It was that he lied to God and to man about the profits. Through this Ananias and Saphira at two different times end up dropping dead because they lied to God. WOW talk about justice!!! In the study I am doing it asks how serious is it when Christians pretend to surrender all to God but deliberately hold back from him? This is the part that evoked fear in me. Do I hold back things from God and his people? Am I really that honest? This is no laughing matter to God, these people died because of their lack of honesty to God.
I know sharing your Coca Cola or your chocolate on the World Race is not quite the same as in this account of Ananias and Saphira but the principle is the same. Are you being honest to the Lord? Are you giving with a pure heart to others? Are you sharing the gifts the Lord has given to you? Not just of possessions but also of the gifts the Lord has given you physically. Are you willing to serve the Lord and your church with the gifts the Lord has put in you? I challenge you today to examine your heart. Are there things you are withholding from God? Are you surrendering all? Only God knows.
