The Christian is given wonderful help in scripture to understand the mission of God in the world but working this out daily is a co-operative venture with the Holy Spirit where we are given considerable freedom of manoeuvre. This is both the risk and the opportunity of Christian liberty.

Significantly it would seem that Jesus gave different answers to the people he encountered.  The rich young man was told to sell all his possessions and give the proceeds to the poor (Matthew 19:16-22).  Zacchaeus chose voluntarily to give half his possessions away and was promised salvation (Luke 19: 1-9).  Meanwhile Jesus was supported by wealthy women and was laid in a tomb after his crucifixion which was bought by a rich benefactor.  Taken together with other stories, it seems that Christian faith is expressed in repentance which is more than just a state of mind and which issues in tangible changes to behaviour where money and possessions are an important factor. 

Most Christians would say they understand this claim on their lives but the way we surround ourselves with possessions and furnish our lifestyles with money would indicate that we have already compromised on this claim in ways which hinder us working out how God wants us to live.  Breaking the idea that we are entitled to do what we want with what we’ve got and replacing it with the sense that we are stewards of God’s gifts may be the key to unlocking the first question I posed.

Jesus strikingly gave simple instructions to people over how to live, most famously in the parable of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37).  The point of my – your - life is to give it away.  In a sense we don’t need to make it harder than this and the opportunities to fulfil Jesus’ calling to show mercy to others come thick and fast in an era when we encounter so many people in the course of just one day.  Being willing to share the good news with others is a fundamental component of living for God.  A lot of people find this difficult, but we cannot work out how to live for God in today’s world without this readiness because it is inherent in the Great Commission to ‘go and make disciples of all nations (Matthew 28:19-20).  If it helps the more hesitant among us, the news that over 90% of all human communication is non-verbal is a remarkable incentive.  Just showing kindness to others is ground-breaking evangelism.

Finally, to answer the question I posed, it may be better to re-frame it.  We think in such acutely individualised ways today: What do I want? What should I do?  Yet we belong in community.  How should we live as the Body of Christ in today’s world? is a more fruitful question.  We are called to work out our salvation with fear and trembling – but we are called to do this together.