Have you ever asked children to share their candy with you? They could be unwrapping some gum or munching on a chocolate bar or opening a package of jellybeans, and the second you ask them if you can have some, they instinctively clutch it to their chest and cry, "No!" After all, it's theirs, not ours. If you wanted some, you should have gotten your own. But then again, Mom and Dad always say that it's good to share. "Okay, you can have some, but just a little bit," they finally say. And then they'll give you one jellybean or a small corner of the chocolate bar, or a micron of gum. Yes, a good deed done.

"Yet it was good of you to share in my troubles. Moreover, as you Philippians know, in the early days of your acquaintance with the gospel, when I set out from Macedonia, not one church shared with me in the matter of giving and receiving, except you only; for even when I was in Thessalonica, you sent me aid more than once when I was in need." - Philippians 4:14-16

The funny thing about sharing is that we don't really get better as adults. We might be freer with our candy, but there are other things we're less free with.

Time is often a casualty. Hard to share that. Love? Impossible, almost. Money? Well, don't call it sharing; call it a loan - with interest - and you have a deal. Small things are nothing; we'll share those all day long. But the important things, the things God wants us to share, those are tougher calls. He wants us to be passionate about proving our love for one another by sharing what we have with each other, an attitude that acknowledges that everything we have belongs to God, not us.

How can we live, give, and love differently in way that may be new for us, God's way?