In his book “Linchpin” Seth Godin makes this statement,
“I must have been absent that day at Stanford business school. They don’t spend a lot of time teaching you about the power of unreciprocated gifts, about the long (fifty thousand years) tradition of tribal economies being built around the idea of mutual support and generosity. In fact, I don’t think the concept is even mentioned once. We’ve been so brainwashed, it doesn’t even occur to us that there might be an alternative to “How much should I charge, how much can I make?”*
The gift, living your life committed in the mutual support of your neighbors, is the heart of successful community. If you haven’t already discovered this you will discover a new freedom to live to the full when you wake up every day unconcerned with the need to be secure and instead find yourself most absorbed with what you can do for another!
Jesus came to show us how to live this way. He did it, so that we could see it can be done and what happens when we decide to follow Him. We need to see that this abundant life of giving and service was His incredible Gift to us. He came to save the world and to teach us how to live in the world but not of it.
To have more than a social club that we call church we must be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we are no longer conformed to the systems of the world. We must make of our lives a living sacrifice expecting nothing in return. We must consider the needs of others first and learn to live serving our neighbors…
Wow. Is this even possible?
*Godin, Seth (2010-01-19). Linchpin: Are You Indispensable? (p. 150). Penguin Group.
