God's Abolishing Wealth and Poverty - God's Economy

I'm coming to realize that what needs to happen in the Church is really a redistribution of wealth. Certainly not state sponsored but, born out of choice, born out of changed, generous hearts. If we as God's people see our suffering brothers and sisters around the world who don't have enough to eat, don't have access to clean water, die from preventable diseases etc. while we live a lifestyle simply unimaginable to most of the world, then shouldn't we conclude that there's something wrong with this picture?

I fear that this is where I'm going to lose a lot of people. We all love the idea of ending poverty....until that means transferring a significant portion or our wealth to those in need. I'm convinced that the biblical model of giving looks nothing like the model in the American church as a whole.

"that there were no needy persons among them. For from time to time those who owned land or houses sold them, brought the money from the sales and put it at the apostles’ feet, and it was distributed to anyone who had need." - Acts 4:34-35 (See also Acts 2:45 and 4:32)

If we were to apply the new testament model of giving in our churches I think we would see two things happen:

First we would see the end of extreme poverty and second we would end up seeing a significant redistribution of wealth leading to much simpler lives.

There's so much to be said about New Testiment giving but, in the end it involves great generosity and sacrifice. Most of us just give out of our abundance but, the way I see it, we're called to give to the point that we actually have to amend our lifestyle. My family and I are in this process and though at times it's a bit disconcerting, more than anything we're feeling set free!