Rich

There’s a popular bumper sticker that reads “God Bless America,” but hasn’t America already been blessed? It’s easy for us to fall into a mindset of viewing “our” world as “the” world, because it’s all we generally see. We’re constantly bombarded with images of the latest styles and models of everything, and it can easily leave us feeling like what we have isn’t enough because we see people that have even more than us. But how does what we have compare to what most people in the world have? Maybe what we have is enough; maybe it’s more than enough. Maybe God has blessed us with everything we have so we can bless and give to others.

I wish I could say I wrote that. I didn't. It describes the latest Nooma Video: Rich. But I sure have been thinking about this topic a lot, especially how it relates to Angela and I in ministry.

I am constantly living in the tension of wanting more and wanting less. On the one hand, I really desire things. I would like a new motorcycle, a paraglider, a house of my own. These are the things I think about when I want things. But the reality that I will not make enough money for those things, as long as I am serving in ministry here, weighs heavy. That weight turns to frustration, then to anger, then to bitterness. But not always, cause the other side is that I am acutely aware of all that I do possess. And most of what I own, I have not earned. Most of what I own has been a gift, one way or another. And having seen poverty first hand (I did mission work in Haiti a while back), I realize I am rich. I do have a lot. Maybe too much.

So I waffle. One day, I want and feel I deserve more stuff. Another day, I feel I should sell all that I own and live more simply, doing what I can to help those less fortunate. But that gets me thinking in another direction. Who are the less fortunate anyway? Usually I think less fortunate people are those that have less than me. A more fortunate person would then have more than me. But how can I gage the less/more fortunate on that scale? I have met people who I would call less fortunate, based on this judgement, but have found a richness in them that only thoes tight with Jesus are known to possess. And I have met more fortunate people who have black empty souls. So, who should we really be helping? Who really has the greatest need?

And that gets me going on another topic. People say that if you see a need, you should do what you can to meet it. I think this is wrong for two reasons: 1) how do we really know what a need really is? We look at poor Hatian children with no shoes and say: "man, we must get thoes poor kids some shoes. They need them!" Did it ever occur to us that maybe they don't need them? That, maybe their feet are conditioned to walk their terrain. That just because we need shoes to make it through life, doesn't mean they do. I am not advocating denying Hatians access to footware, I am just challenging us to rethink our idea of our standard of living and challenging us to realize that our standards are not necessarily right. 2) Jesus did not command us to meet every need we see. He didn't meet every need he saw. Yeah, he healed many and performed many miracles, but he didn't heal everyone. A sermon I heard some 6 years ago still rings sharply in my ear. Hadden Robinson said: "Who is your neighbor? Your neighbor is someone with a need you see and are in a position to meet." I think churches get this wrong. They see a million needs and run a million halfassed programs to try to meet all those needs. We can't. We shouldn't. We should be in tune with our Savior to know which needs are there for us to meet and which needs are not for us to meet.

Man, how did I get here? Anyhow, what I really meant for this post to be was a plug for Rob Bell's Nooma video series. They are challenging, thought provoking, interesting, and just right for a new generation of evangelicals. Check them out. If you don't want to buy them, you can see some of them on youtube or google video. Just do a search for Nooma. I look forward to seeing this latest video called "Rich".

And about all that I just said, I am not looking for excuses to not be a servant, to not meet needs, and to justify my worldly wealth. Ok, maybe I am, but I know they are not excuses for that and God challenges me daily in all these areas. Sometimes I do well, I think, and other times I am left wanting. I don't want to be left wanting.