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Gathering
"The
one that gathered much, didn't have more, and the
one that gathered little, didn't have less"
(2 Cor. 8:15).
---Many Christian circles
of our times look for success: to show that he is
blessed by God, the Christian should prosper; to
testify of his prosperity he needs to accumulate
possessions. However, this is the current of this
world, and not the Word of God: "Because
all that is in the world, the desires of the flesh,
the desires of the eyes, and the boastful pride
of life, doesn't come from the Father, but from
the world. And the world is passing away, with its
desires; but the one who does the will of God remains
forever" (1 John 2:16-17).
---The first text is
a reference to the gathering of the manna in the
desert (Ex. 16:16-21). Every day, God poured down
the manna from heaven, and each person could take
for himself a gomer that is equivalent to 3,7 litres.
Those that didn't have an obedient heart took a
lot more than what God had given them, and it decomposed.
And those that prepared their heart in obedience,
when they picked up more, they shared it with those
that picked up less, and therefore there was equality.
---This is a teaching
for us today, as it was for the brothers and sisters
in the early church. They had revelation of this
word and they distributed their goods among those
that didn't have anything (Acts 2:44-45). The Christian
life is not based on the letter, but on compassion.
Love should not be by word of mouth, but in deed
and truth. Our goods are for this life, but godliness
has promises for this present life and for the life
to come (1 Tim 4:8-9).
---Those that didn't
trust the Lord in gathering, and kept more than
their quota for that day, what they accumulated
decomposed. And those that waited in the Lord for
the next day, they lived in communion with other
brothers and sisters whom they shared with. The
most energetic or skilled that gathered a lot, shared
with the one that had a little. In the end, the
one that gathered much didn't have an overabundance
and the one that picked up little didn't have a
lack, and this way there was equality: "Your
abundance replaces their shortage, so that their
abundance also supplies your necessity, that there
may be equality" (2 Cor. 8:14).
---Brothers and sisters,
our need is not to accumulate goods, or to have
savings that give us security for tomorrow. Only
the Lord is the guarantee and the hope of our days:
"Surely man is like a shadow; surely he
toils in vain; he piles up wealth, and he doesn't
know who will gather it. And now, Lord, for what
will I wait? My hope is in you" (Psalm
39:6-7).
---If we store things
up as a guarantee it is because our heart is not
trusting in the Lord. If it is not as a guarantee,
then it is mere selfishness. In this case we will
be impoverished in the Kingdom of God. Those that
gather more and store it up, their goods are already
rotten in the eyes of God: "Your wealth
is rotten, and your clothes are food for moths.
Your gold and silver have rusted; and their rust
will testify against you, and it will devour your
flesh like fire" (James 5:2-3).
---Let's put off the
old man's meanness and greed, and put on the new
man, Christ, who is compassionate and generous.
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