Equality

Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. The goal is equality, as it is written: The one who gathered much did not have too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little.

2 Corinthians 8:13-15

Certainly no one can read the Bible without realizing that no believer has the right to enjoy this world's goods while his brother is in need. That is very clear, is it not? John wrote, If anyone has this world's goods and sees his brother in need yet closes his heart against him, how does God's love abide in him? (1 John 3:17). Don't tell me you love God, he says, if you know that your brother is in need and you are doing nothing about it; don't say you love God! Your songs about God, your prayers to God are utterly meaningless while this naked fact remains: your brother is in need and you are doing nothing about it.

One side of this matter of giving is that in prosperity we are to relieve the needs of others. But there is another side as well. In adversity we are to receive the gifts of others. I find often that Christians who are in need, genuinely in need, out of a mistaken sense of pride, refuse to accept the gifts of others. They feel they are receiving charity, and they will have nothing to do with charity. That reflects a complete misunderstanding of that wonderful word charity. Charity is simply another word for love. It is wrong, in the mistaken pride of our hearts, to refuse the offer of love. This is not to be. It reveals an unscriptural and carnal pride.

In the family of God, there is to be an equality so that your abundance at one time may be the means of supplying another's need, for there may very well come a day when, a change of fortune occurring, you may be the one in need and their abundance shall supply your need. This is in clear accord with the basic relationship of members of the body of Christ.

To illustrate this, Paul quotes from the Old Testament the story of the manna that fell in the wilderness. He pictures the man who went forth with greed in his heart to gather up this wonderful substance and fill his pots and pans with this delicious stuff called manna. Paul says that here was a man who went out and gathered all he could get, hoping to have an abundance of this wonderful food. But those who gathered like that, in greed, found that what they could not use in one day turned to a foul mass of corruption, while for those who gathered little, God met their need by the sharing of others and there was an abundance. Those who gathered little lacked nothing. Paul is simply saying that if we fail to give in prosperity, God will curse what we have and make it become a curse to us. If we attempt to accumulate more than we actually need and do not give that which is in abundance with us, it shall turn, in the providence of God, to cursing in our hands. On the other hand, if we fail to receive in adversity, God will judge us for our carnal, stubborn pride.

Lord, help me understand this principle of equality within the body of Christ. You provide for all of us, and we can provide for each other because of your gifts.