Estimated reading time: 3 minute(s)
You know… really… one of the cool things about Star Trek (that as most things on that show, would probably not work in reality…) is the way they do commerce. There is no money, they all just “share” the resources they need. That’s not always explained… but I think the general idea is, you work for the good of everyone. You do what you do for everyone else’s benefit, and in return they do what they do for you. Seems to make at least theoretical sense.
Well, remember we mentioned our awesome simple church community we are part of… with our neighbors and others. We are meeting again tonight, and all bringing pieces of a dinner so we can eat together. Very cool. Probably will end up doing that a bunch more as (1) it allows us more time together and (2) it’s just the BEST way to hang out with folks… over shared food.
And the other day, a bunch of us went to the Sprayground (A cool local water park) and it was just so funny to see how we all had each other’s kids in each other’s cars… we are just one big community. 🙂 We shared our lunch stuff… our toys… just very cool in every way.
THEN, after that… some of our friends watched our kids, (while we took another friend’s kid… getting confused yet??) to go get some groceries for some other friends who are struggling financially at the moment.
THAT WAS SO COOL! I wasn’t going to write about that, cause it’s fun to just do good stuff, but I really want to encourage you all to be wildly crazy generous like that! IT IS SO COOL! I had just spoken with our friend the night before, and she said how they could not even buy groceries… and after the phone call, I saw that we had some money in our “Kingdom Fund” (a portion of our income that we set aside for God to use when the opportunity comes up) and Jen agreed that we should stock their cupboards for them!
SO… we did! And it was SO GREAT!!! For everyone!!
And what do we expect in return?? NOTHING! Not a thing! But what will probably happen? If we ever need something… who’s going to help us? THEY ARE! OR, if not them, any of our other friends with whom we share life. (AND OF COURSE, our awesomely generous family! We both have parents who are incredibly generous!)
Point is… communism, in it’s good ways.. works. If we all would use what God has given us to benefit others when they are in need, it will usually come back around. Jesus talked a bit about that. The early church did that. No one was in need. Everyone shared everything in common. And Jesus said whatever you “give up” in this life, you will receive back 5, 10, 100-fold back in THIS LIFE and the life to come.
Point: it is WAY better to give than to receive. And so if everyone did (like communism? i think?) then we’d be set. Really. I don’t mean like China or N Korea or Russia or any of those kinda communisms… steal from the rich, keep everyone poor and dependent on the government… I just mean this:
Acts 4:32
All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of his possessions was his own, but they shared everything they had.
Acts 2:44-47
All the believers were together and had everything in common. Selling their possessions and goods, they gave to anyone as he had need. Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.
Cool, eh?
VERY cool!