So not sure the best place to share these thoughts, but felt
this might be one appropriate place. Especially since I haven’t written here
for a while.
These thoughts (I'll try to keep it brief) come on the
morning of an election day here in the Philippines, a day many, including the
community I live in put their hope in politicians who promise to make life a
little easier and provide seemingly much needed relief to hurting people and
struggling communities (my own community hopeful that after six months without
electricity we might actually again be able to use the electric fan, cell-phone
charger, or light bulb to read and see each other at night).
While talking to my family back in the States earlier today,
I found myself trying to get them to feel bad for me that I have lived without
electricity for the last few months, including the last few weeks which have
been incredibly hot (95+ degrees during the day and often 90 degrees still at
night), not to mention yesterday as I recovered from a terrible head cold in
this same 95+ degree heat.
For my sake and theirs, I'm thankful that they didn't give
me the sympathy I was looking for, as after hanging up, I looked online and
discovered that still today about a quarter of the world's population, the
majority from Africa and Southern Asia still live without electricity today,
making me only one of nearly 1.5 billion people world-wide who suffer the
challenges of not having electricity. And in many ways, experience the benefits
:)
My conversation with my family, and subsequent thoughts,
makes me think about other conversations I’ve had with missionary friends of
mine (both nationally and internationally) who have chosen to live
counter-culturally, living lives of simplicity and contentment, rather than
continuing to live in extravagance. Often times, following short visits home,
my friends and I will get comments from our families and friends questioning
whether we really want to keep living like we do, or whether or not it is
really God’s will for us to be doing what we are doing. My own family has often
questioned whether I should have to endure the cross-cultural challenges, and
simple living that I have chosen as a missionary in a community very different
from where I grew up.
To remind them in response to their concern for us, that they
also don't have to live like they do. And in fact, that they too might question whether their own lifestyles are 'really' God's will for their lives (just as they often
ask if our way of life is really God’s will).
Is it God's will that so few should live like kings and
queens while so many live with so little (including electricity, but even more
importantly food, health care, adequate housing, education, clean water, etc.)? Or that our lifestyles should extend past what is sustainable if everyone on
the planet lived like that? It brings to mind a Bible passage from Exodus that
seems to show a more balanced Economy according to how God desires His people
to live.
"This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Everyone is to
gather as much as they need. Take an omer[a] for each person you have in your
tent.’ The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.
And when they measured it by the omer, the one who gathered much did not have
too much, and the one who gathered little did not have too little. Everyone had
gathered just as much as they needed." (Exodus 16:16-18)
Can you imagine Moses in the wilderness dividing the people
into camps, telling a small percentage of the people that they could collect as
much of the manna that they could, eat as much as they could, and end up
throwing half of it away, while the majority were only able to collect and eat
enough to survive each day, while many of their women, children, and elderly
ended up dying because they became malnourished?
Somehow we are able to preach this passage in Exodus 16 and
understand it in the context of the Exodus event, and God's deliverance of the
Israelites from Egypt, but we don't quite do a good job of applying it today
(as Paul tried to do in his own context during the days following Jesus' ascent
into Heaven – 2 Corinthians 8).
Maybe if we saw that those who hoarded extra or kept more
than their share at the expense of those that didn't collect enough (not to
mention those that defiled the Sabbath by trying to work on a day God
specifically said not to) were called out and made Moses angry, and that on a
much larger scale today the few of us that have access to more continue to
hoard more and more at the expense of those who die more frequently and go
hungry more often because of unequal distribution of wealth and resources, not
just in the world, but more sadly in the church!
As I write this, in the early morning hours here in the
Philippines, I am thankful for an electric fan and internet access, since
I'm staying at a friends house in Tatalon where I used to live. But tomorrow
I'll go back to Montalban, again to surround myself with those who, in terms of
material things, have often got the raw end of the deal. Thankfully for them,
and me by nature of being close to them, "God (has) chosen those who are
poor in the eyes of the world to be rich in faith and to inherit the kingdom he
promised those who love him." (James 2:5) For sure life is about more than
the things we possess, and maybe the higher order of things are the spiritual
blessings and riches that God promises to those who remain faithful.
Brothers and sisters. Particularly those in the Body of
Jesus Christ. Please think upon these things, and take this seriously. I ask
each of you, wherever you live in this world, and at this point, particularly
those of you who are rich by the world's standards (if you make more than
$50,000 every year you are in the top 1% of the world's 'income bracket'). Do
you really have to live like you do? Like kings and queens and royalty, while
others merely live to survive? I know not everyone who is reading this has the
choice, so to those of whom that is true, I ask forgiveness for the way I
myself have in the past, and sometimes still today live, at your expense. But
for those of us who do have a choice, and who often do live as kings and
queens, I ask the question again. Is our lifestyle a lifestyle that is sustainable
were everyone on earth to live like that? (Which, if you are an American like
me, the answer is probably not, considering if the whole world lived like an
average American, not just the top percentile, we would consume four planets,
which we simply don't have).
It is time to ask ourselves the hard questions of life. And
take the narrow road. For while the narrow road can only be walked by repenting
of our sins, receiving the free gift of grace and faith of our Lord Jesus
Christ, and surrendering our lives to Him, that faith/new life should lead us
to loving our neighbor as ourselves, caring for the other parts of our Body as
much as our own, and seeking to bring health and vitality to that Body which
often means caring for the weaker parts more than the strong, and often cutting
out the fat/excess from the bloated parts so that the rest of the Body doesn't
have to live with the added stress.
May God hold all of us (including myself) accountable to His
Word and His Will/Desire for our lives.
1 comment:
I always liked the quote:
"Live simply, so others may simply live." - Mother Teresa
I feel like she sums up a lot in very few words. Reminding us all of our responsibility to ourselves and our neighbours...
Great thoughts!
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