Can you remember the last thing that you worried about? Are you worried about anything right now?
I’ve never been a big worrier in life. When I face stress or struggles, I’ve gotten really good at relying on God to take care of them. So far, that’s worked well for me. But recently, I’ve had a number of experiences and conversations that have shaken up ideas about God that I’d had since I was a child, and made me wonder if maybe reading the Bible from inside a safe, suburban home growing up had caused me to misunderstand a few things. Let me explain.
When I wanted to help the poor, I would go to feed the homeless, but I would make it all about me. I would go to bed feeling good about having volunteered and thinking about how much God would bless me for it. I would not lose sleep worrying about where the homeless people I had met would lay their heads that night.
Why was I so sure that God would take care of my every want, need, or desire, when I didn’t give a thought to how he took care of my homeless neighbors across town?
Somehow, I grew more comfortable with the image of God as one who would bless me for doing good works than one who desperately cared about the poor and wants us to do the same.
When I got into my first choice college, when I could afford to go to physical therapy for my knee because we had health insurance, I assumed it was God’s blessings that had allowed me do those things, as if he was rewarding me for being a faithful follower to Him. There’s just one thing wrong with this view: the unstated assumption. The assumption was that those who hadn’t been blessed like I was must not have deserved it. Most people would never admit this out loud, but it seems that the way we live confirms that we think we are more deserving than other “less fortunate” people.
It is true that God cares for me, but what about the refugees of Darfur, the starving in Haiti, or the struggling inner city student in Detroit? I have to think that God has an even greater hand of protection over them, yet their struggles continue. Does this mean that God is taking better care of me than of them? I beg to differ. Maybe I have been taking too much for granted, writing it off as God blessing me for being such a great person, when really it’s only because I’ve been fortunate enough to be born on the right side of certain political, economic, and social structures. I don’t deserve that, it’s just the way it’s happened. So we must realize that God wants to bless the struggling, oppressed people of the world as much as he wants to bless us, and if something is prohibiting them from drinking safe water or working under decent conditions, it’s probably because of our greed, even unknowingly.
I fear that we have become very complacent as a culture. We justify our comfortable lifestyles unnecessary spending by quoting verses that say that God loves us and wants the best for us. But chances are, those verses were not written to the “salaried and caloried” part of the world, as one writer put it, but to people who were poor, abused, and oppressed. It is true that I work hard and God wants me to take time for myself. But how much harder do the hundreds of scavengers in the dump work every day, looking for food? Why did I always put my needs before theirs?
It makes me sad when I realize that even though I do make a point of giving to the less fortunate, I still live at a level that is above 95% of the world. I am not, as Michael Miller put it, “giving until it hurts.” As the saying goes, there is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed. And I cannot possibly justify my greedy behavior by saying that God loves me, when there are others out there hurting who God loves just as much. It is only through reading the Bible from their perspective- on the fringes of society- that we will ever begin to wrap our mind around how much God loves and cares for the poor and hurting of the world. Let us strive to understand that, to live it out, and to never forget it.
I’ve never been a big worrier in life. When I face stress or struggles, I’ve gotten really good at relying on God to take care of them. So far, that’s worked well for me. But recently, I’ve had a number of experiences and conversations that have shaken up ideas about God that I’d had since I was a child, and made me wonder if maybe reading the Bible from inside a safe, suburban home growing up had caused me to misunderstand a few things. Let me explain.
When I wanted to help the poor, I would go to feed the homeless, but I would make it all about me. I would go to bed feeling good about having volunteered and thinking about how much God would bless me for it. I would not lose sleep worrying about where the homeless people I had met would lay their heads that night.
Why was I so sure that God would take care of my every want, need, or desire, when I didn’t give a thought to how he took care of my homeless neighbors across town?
Somehow, I grew more comfortable with the image of God as one who would bless me for doing good works than one who desperately cared about the poor and wants us to do the same.
When I got into my first choice college, when I could afford to go to physical therapy for my knee because we had health insurance, I assumed it was God’s blessings that had allowed me do those things, as if he was rewarding me for being a faithful follower to Him. There’s just one thing wrong with this view: the unstated assumption. The assumption was that those who hadn’t been blessed like I was must not have deserved it. Most people would never admit this out loud, but it seems that the way we live confirms that we think we are more deserving than other “less fortunate” people.
It is true that God cares for me, but what about the refugees of Darfur, the starving in Haiti, or the struggling inner city student in Detroit? I have to think that God has an even greater hand of protection over them, yet their struggles continue. Does this mean that God is taking better care of me than of them? I beg to differ. Maybe I have been taking too much for granted, writing it off as God blessing me for being such a great person, when really it’s only because I’ve been fortunate enough to be born on the right side of certain political, economic, and social structures. I don’t deserve that, it’s just the way it’s happened. So we must realize that God wants to bless the struggling, oppressed people of the world as much as he wants to bless us, and if something is prohibiting them from drinking safe water or working under decent conditions, it’s probably because of our greed, even unknowingly.
I fear that we have become very complacent as a culture. We justify our comfortable lifestyles unnecessary spending by quoting verses that say that God loves us and wants the best for us. But chances are, those verses were not written to the “salaried and caloried” part of the world, as one writer put it, but to people who were poor, abused, and oppressed. It is true that I work hard and God wants me to take time for myself. But how much harder do the hundreds of scavengers in the dump work every day, looking for food? Why did I always put my needs before theirs?
It makes me sad when I realize that even though I do make a point of giving to the less fortunate, I still live at a level that is above 95% of the world. I am not, as Michael Miller put it, “giving until it hurts.” As the saying goes, there is enough for everyone’s need, but not for everyone’s greed. And I cannot possibly justify my greedy behavior by saying that God loves me, when there are others out there hurting who God loves just as much. It is only through reading the Bible from their perspective- on the fringes of society- that we will ever begin to wrap our mind around how much God loves and cares for the poor and hurting of the world. Let us strive to understand that, to live it out, and to never forget it.
2 comments:
Kelly's depth of passion, compassion, insight, and wisdom is something the rest of us can, and should, strive to match. Such power from such an amazing young woman.
Well said, Kelly. We love you. love, Mom & Dad
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