When I drive by the guy with the "hungry, pleaze help" sign, I usually think something like, "Any money i give that guy will probably be used for alcohol or drugs," and that keeps my three dollars in my pocket. When the light turns green and i drive over the train tracks, passing the hospital on the left, leaving the city on the route home... My inner voice starts saying things like, "Your kids need that money. That's your coffee money. You earned it. You're a good person. You worked hard to get where you are, with your zippy car, and your decent job, and your fine education. That guy? He doesn't work hard. That cardboard sign isn't heavy... He stands there all day and gullible people give him money."
I need my job and my money. I have to change my oil, pay my taxes and the mortgage. The kids need shoes and the baby needs formula. The cars need gas. The air conditioner broke and that cost a bundle. I need my job, and I need the money that my job brings me. I have bills to pay, which means there are people who really own my stuff. If I don't pay them, they come and take my life away. I find my money and my things are the things which I am working for. I depend on me to meet my needs.
Cardboard sign guy has no car, no mortgage, no bills to pay... In fact, he has nothing anyone can really take away from him. He lives his whole life aware of the fact that he is dependent on the kindness of others to sustain himself. He is fully dependent on God to give him his daily bread, and he probably isn't particular about whether he wants the asiago cheese roll or a french baguette to go with his dinner.
Which brings me to the most convicting thought of them all: my stuff diminishes my capacity to appreciate and honor God, because my stuff needs to be maintained and paid for. We don't really own our stuff... It owns us. Even if the bank doesn't own it, our stuff creates the illusion that we are in control of our lives, and that we are safe because we possess it. But have the good things forced out the best things in life?
The man known as Agur has his words recorded in Proverbs 30. In verses 7-9 he writes "Two things I ask of you; deny them not to me before I die: Remove far from me falsehood and lying; give me neither poverty nor riches; feed me with the food that is needful for me, lest I be full and deny you and say, "Who is the LORD?" or lest I be poor and steal and profane the name of my God."
We may have passed the test of avoiding poverty... but have we passed the test of prosperity? God knows the heart... unfortunately... I think I know my heart too.
Amen! We, as Christians living in the West (I don't like to use the phrase Christian Americans or American Christians) have misunderstood our prosperity and see it as a blessing from our heavenly Father. If we are blessed because we have abundance, then what does that say about those who have not? Are they cursed? Certainly not. Nor are we blessed because of our wealth. We are called to share our wealth and prosperity. Are we doing what we are called to do?
ReplyDelete"From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked."
Luke 12:48