Acts of philanthropy by Christians today are relatively commonplace, so they don’t surprise the world. If we hear that a Christian business owner has donated money to a cause, or that a church has opened a feeding program or a hospice, we aren’t intrigued. Such things are expected. I’m not suggesting Christian philanthropy shouldn’t continue as an expression of the grace offered to us in Christ, but it doesn’t evoke questions the way it might have in the fourth century. Neither does living a fine, upstanding, middle-class lifestyle in the suburbs, for what it’s worth. Again, I’m not saying we
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