1 Timothy 6:18 – Sanctification Through Sharing
17 Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. 18 Let them do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to give, willing to share…
"Real networking, declares Matthew Aaron Perman in What's in Best Next, "is about finding out what you can do to equip others to be successful."
Perhaps that's why Paul gives us two verbs at the close of 1 Timothy 6:18 to describe the new creature's use of riches. He is, says Paul, ready to give the riches he's got. There is a transfer, a surrender, of what now belongs to Christ from the hands of one brother to the hands of another.
Perhaps this readiness to give is simply double down in the next expression of willingness to share. But I can't escape the possibility that sharing is a separate challenge for the old, enriched man, and a second opportunity for Christ as the Second Adam to shine through. As Paul says elsewhere, I can give of my goods and not love. If I do that, I'm a noisy gong, and I often am.
I can hand over grudgingly and wash my hands of what you do with "my" goods. I was ready to give when the Lord asked, I can tell myself. I can hand over condescendingly and actually entrench my pride that I have become your functional savior as an essential benefactor in a separate, exalted station, as the Lord often brings to mind from When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert.
But there's a reason they start teaching sharing in preschool. It's hard, and true sharing is absolutely contrary to what our flesh once. Let me keep it, or take it away entirely, that flesh screams. Actually sharing goods with another human and together using them toward a goal God sets before us is a constant act of readjustment and repentance, of rediscovery that I am not quite as surrendered as the signature on my offering check might suggest.
Sharing goods, sharing time toward a mutual, God-ordained goal gives us time to discover how far we have to go in the sanctification process. Being yoked together also gives us time to overcome the protests of our own wounded insecurities and to begin to see the instances Perman was pointing to. Flawed as we have proven to be, we really do, by grace, have experience and insight to share which can equip others to be successful.
"Real networking, declares Matthew Aaron Perman in What's in Best Next, "is about finding out what you can do to equip others to be successful."
Perhaps that's why Paul gives us two verbs at the close of 1 Timothy 6:18 to describe the new creature's use of riches. He is, says Paul, ready to give the riches he's got. There is a transfer, a surrender, of what now belongs to Christ from the hands of one brother to the hands of another.
Perhaps this readiness to give is simply double down in the next expression of willingness to share. But I can't escape the possibility that sharing is a separate challenge for the old, enriched man, and a second opportunity for Christ as the Second Adam to shine through. As Paul says elsewhere, I can give of my goods and not love. If I do that, I'm a noisy gong, and I often am.
I can hand over grudgingly and wash my hands of what you do with "my" goods. I was ready to give when the Lord asked, I can tell myself. I can hand over condescendingly and actually entrench my pride that I have become your functional savior as an essential benefactor in a separate, exalted station, as the Lord often brings to mind from When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert.
But there's a reason they start teaching sharing in preschool. It's hard, and true sharing is absolutely contrary to what our flesh once. Let me keep it, or take it away entirely, that flesh screams. Actually sharing goods with another human and together using them toward a goal God sets before us is a constant act of readjustment and repentance, of rediscovery that I am not quite as surrendered as the signature on my offering check might suggest.
Sharing goods, sharing time toward a mutual, God-ordained goal gives us time to discover how far we have to go in the sanctification process. Being yoked together also gives us time to overcome the protests of our own wounded insecurities and to begin to see the instances Perman was pointing to. Flawed as we have proven to be, we really do, by grace, have experience and insight to share which can equip others to be successful.
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