Why Not Me?

Why Not Me?

Recently we received in our office an email from a fellow ministry partner in Haiti. He reported what their immediate needs are and what the direct effects had been on their ministries (loss of life and property.) Along with the horrific sudden loss of life that has taken place in Haiti, in his words, their most dire request is, “Now everyone needs, everyone is thirsty, everyone is hungry.”

Maybe you’ve been asking yourself a lot of the same questions that I’ve been asking: Why am I living in these conditions, in this time, in this family, in this place? Why am I not living as others are? Why am I comfortable? Why am I repulsively wealthy (if you are reading this article it is very likely that you are repulsively wealthy compared to most of the world’s population)? Why not me? Why wasn’t I born into economic poverty?

A couple of things come into play with these questions that are helpful to us. First, in Luke 12.48, the Scriptures tell us that “…everyone to whom much was given, of them much will be required….” Meaning, if we look at our circumstances we will see that there is gross imbalance and in that gross imbalance we are expected to act responsibly. This is saying that we are responsible towards others so that the gross imbalance given to us does not continue unchanged. The answer: give of what you have.

Secondly, we should remember that when Jesus says in Matthew 5.3, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,” He is reminding us that economic riches (or poverty) is not the only measure of wealth/poverty. When we get too caught up in measuring our wealth or poverty in only economic terms we, as followers of Jesus miss the point completely. The world is full of people living in complete economic poverty, who have literally nothing material. But they live with such spiritual urgency, dependency, and need that they have great wealth in their life. Spiritual wealth. Their circumstances propel them to seek God, and finding Him is the greatest wealth. On the other hand those of us who live in extreme economic wealth struggle to find urgency, dependence, and need in our lives, and therefore we find great poverty. Our circumstances distance us from seeking God.

Times like these call us to give, and to begin defining wealth/poverty in new and more holistic ways. Who of us, as we look deeply into our lives and recognize the activity of our Creator, cannot claim that we are included in the group of “everyone to whom much was given” and respond to this very real plea, “Now everyone needs, everyone is thirsty, everyone is hungry”?

Why not me?