So last night before bed I once again picked up “God Politics” to try & keep plowing through. There are so many good books I want to read & being I am a slow reader it take a real concerted effort to get anywhere, plus
I swear the paper or something of this book must be thinner it’s taking me ages.
So I was reading last night the chapter where Jim Wallis is talking about “Micah’s Vision for National Global Security”. Once again he was quoting stats & making very legitimate comments which I already knew or agreed with. So I turned onto page 198 & read
“Almost half of the world – three billion people – now lives on less than $2 per day, and one billion people live on less than $1 a day”.
After reading this for a second I thought “yeah I know this & it’s real bad” & then I thought once again. So essentially half of the world is living in “extreme poverty” & in that moment it hit me like never before. For a moment I had to put the book down & compose myself, discovering a tear was rolling down my cheek.
-I thought about the fact that just today day I had received my $30 mp3 player case which for one billion people of the world they would have had to spent their whole months income to purchase.
-I thought about the fact if I had a friend who was hungry I would buy them a meal & it would “make a difference” & in the same way I could/should at least buy a meal for someone whom I haven’t met who is also hungry.
-I thought about the amount of time & money I spend buying cd’s & finding little gadgets to eBay to buy.
-I thought about the street kids I had met in Calcutta only a few month earlier who I found out were literally earning $2 per day.
All of a sudden the excuses that “I can’t really make a difference financially so why really try” faded away & I repented.
It’s a difficult revelation to realise (in my heart) that me working as a volunteer in Australia (at the very bottom of the rung financially in this country) is so many multiple times richer than half of the world.
I am still not sure what I am going to do, it’s a journey & God needs to do a lot more with me yet. I know I already to quite a few things but the fact of the matter is I could do so much more & that is the point.
I don’t want to just appease my conscience by making random financial gifts, it needs to be a real sacrifice.
I hate when this happens because it’s so humbling but I also like it because I know deep in my heart when I have a revelation of my brokenness & how much I need God he has so much more freedom to work through me, at least for a while till I become self absorbed again.
Today please don’t just read again that 3 billion people of the world are living in “extreme poverty” & say “Oh yeah I already knew that I wish I cold do something about it” because you can do something.
Peace
Poverty is a rough one to know what to do with. I know what to do when I see someone in front of me. Help. Give. Bless. It is harder to deal with the systems that cause it.
One side says that the only solution is to use the power of government to “spread the wealth around a little.” It’ll never work.
The other says “let the free market decide.” This will work for those with good principles, but not for those who are in bondage to systems of belief that keep them poor!
There is a third solution. Missionaries. I don’t only mean missionaries to preach “the Gospel”, although that is a big part. I also refer to people who will live amongst the poor and exemplify the way out! (I think I need someone to do that for me sometimes!)
Mission is the answer. Outreach. Serve. Give. Love. Work. The Bible.
Keep struggling it through to the answers!
In Jesus,
Jon D.
Wow. I just went to check out “God’s Politics.” I am interested to hear your thoughts on the book. I visited Jim Wallis’s blog and the first post I stumbled on was so far off I was almost shocked (and I had to leave some comments).
I won’t judge him by that one post! (In fact, I won’t judge him at all if I can help it!)
Maybe I’ll have to read that book myself one day.
God Bless!
Hey Jon. Yeah I would have guessed that on first look your possibly would not agree with what he says. I also suspect from my little knowledge of you that if you read the book you would agree with quite a lot of it. Would love to talk to you about it further but not through this medium I really am getting heaps out of it.
Peace.