When Sharing Isn't Caring

The church in Acts 2 did not practice socialism. 

Acts 2:44 says the believers had "all things in common" and were selling their possessions in order to assist needy believers in their church family. This wasn't required socialism, but chosen sacrifice. 

Clearly Christians should care about the plight of the poor. But the conversation we're having in America right now about government welfare providing for people from the cradle to the grave is not only unwise, it's unbiblical. 

Oh yes I did.

"When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap your field right up to its edge [or gather what has fallen to the ground]. You shall leave them for the poor." Leviticus 19:9-10

For those who owned land, God placed rules on how they could harvest. Certain portions of the harvest were off-limits to the owner (the edges or things that had been dropped) as welfare for the poor. But notice the owners didn't gather up the grain and bring it to people. The people had to come and gather it for themselves.

Paul writes in 2 Thessalonians 3:10, "If anyone is not willing to work, let him not eat." This is not an admonishment against welfare for those with disability or even a time of unemployment. They're willing to work, but a circumstance has prevented it. Paul was speaking against a culture of unmerited welfare, which I have personally seen infect entire communities in our country.

There have been times I have received government assistance in my life. And this assistance drove me to one end: never needing it again. That's why I was the first in my family to go to college. My family didn't have the money for it, so I joined the National Guard, took out some student loans, and got my Bachelors and Master's degrees. Those debts have been repaid, and I have the education that was needed to pursue the opportunity to become a pastor.

A socialist welfare state is not caring...it's careless. It steals ambition while failing to maximize the talents and abilities God has placed within us. So let us care and meet the needs of the poor. And let us always challenge them as we do so, that God has plans that are far better for them. God, not the government, is our provider.