A house we helped rennovate, to be used to raise funds for a local Christian school.So, what is one way that we are to respond? A couple simple words found in 1 Timothy challenge our motives and thoughts as we consider this question.
Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share. In this way they will lay up treasure for themselves as a firm foundation for the coming age, so that they may take hold of the life that is truly life.Some questions stemming from this passage...
Who are the rich in this present world?
Are we putting any of our hope in wealth?
Do we believe God provides us with everything for our enjoyment?
Are we truly generous and willing to share? Everything?
Are we taking hold of the life that is truly life? Do we believe that life is as good as promised?
You see, I was convinced after spending time in this passage in Chicago, that 1 Timothy 6:17 is speaking directly to us. We quickly say that can't be us...but what does it mean to be wealthy? A thought...being broke does not equal being poor. I am not saying that the current financial struggles of so many in America are not serious issues, but the reality is that many of us still have relative wealth (maybe easy for me to say, I know).
A challenge to our view of wealth. Here are some things that make me wealthy, that may be a bit contrary to our normal view of wealth:
- Education
- Health
- Options
- Stability
- Sense of hope
- Past experience
- Friends
- English
- Literacy
- Network
- Spiritual Life
My point: Our network, in a serious sense, makes us wealthy. The exciting thing relating to the command in the passage in 1 Timothy to be "generous and willing to share" is that we can share these other aspects of our wealth. We can share our NETWORK. We can creatively connect those who have less wealth with people in our network who can help them. If we can't help them, we probably know someone who can. Our network is just one example. Think about how you can give away these other things in your life. We were created with spiritual gifts...for the good of others (1 Corinthians 12). This applies to EVERYTHING we have. How can you share your gift of English with someone else?
Bottom line: Around 40% of the world lives on $2 or less per day. The fact remains that we have to be out interacting with the world (everyone in the world) to have chances to make these connections. We have to connect in relationship with people who are different from us.
How can I embrace the life that is truly life by sharing generously ALL that the Lord has blessed me with? How does being wealthy affect my spiritual life? Questions I'm pondering. What are your thoughts?
Many of these thoughts come straight from Joel Hamernick with my interpretation.
8 comments:
Kyle,
I was sitting in church this morning as the pastor was talking about his trip to Africa and the people he met and the needs he saw. As he talked God put the passage about the rich young ruler on my heart. I have long believed, or at least said I believed, that following Christ requires great sacrifice and enormous cost. As I have reflected on the passage today, it's really sinking in. I'm fairly certain that Jesus was using money only as one example of what his followers need to give up. So what does it look like to give my money away? Time? Talents? Prestige? Pride? Go back to money. Even as an RD, I'm rich. I have all the possessions I need for survival, and many more I don't need. On top of that I have been putting money in an emergency fund, mutual fund, and savings account. But for what? It hit me today that as that money is sitting there doing no good for anyone but the bank, there are people without homes or warm clothes or food. What if all I had was my daily bread...living paycheck to paycheck and blessing people around me with the humble amount of excess I have? Check out Francis Chan's video blog relating to this... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E2oi6y292kE ... it's what started the conversation in my head. God continued it in church this morning and now you've added your contribution. I just wanted to share what God's been challenging me with since it so closely relates to what you just wrote about. Love ya bro!
Ryan,
Your thoughts are so great. In fact, some of these other things may in fact be harder to give up. I have been following Francis Chan's thoughts on this and I cannot argue a lot of the legitimacy in them. I do think they require the proper functioning of the church (which is rare) in supporting each other, in essence, being each other's health and life "insurance" (also something cool modeled by Shane Claiborne out in Philadeplphia).
Keep thinking about this. It's an important to wrestle through. In the meantime, share what you know you can share. And share it often. Keep challenging me in this.
Love you as well,
Kyle
kyle,
moving among the poor i am realizing just how far i am from them and how difficult it can be to actual give things up. sure my salary isn't huge, especially by american standards. i can choose to live in a small place and eat daal bhat (rice and lentils) for every meal. but with the organization i am with i receive health insurance, i have the opportunity to invest in retirement plans, and at any moment, if i needed to, i could hop on a plane and fly back to the usa. these things will always keep me on a different playing field.
i'm learning what areas i can move closer to the poor, and trying to hold on to important things - like eating healthily, or making time to exercise.
but my relationships, my opportunities, my education and my resources will always in some ways keep me from truly living incarnationally among the poor. i think it's important we seek out ways to move closer to this - and yes, it involves sacrifice, submission, and even suffering. not happy words in our culture.
Hmmm, Just wanted to post that I read all of this post and the comments. Interesting thoughts to process, interesting places on the journey that we all are on...
I liked your comment about being broke isn't being poor. I recently mentioned that on a ridiculously long post I put up.
I liked the mention of networks...we rarely think about how much our community actually is an asset, a unique one.
Great post Kyle. I love the way you are thinking? Is Ryan A a Chan fan? Didn't read elderchild yet. Need more time to think and digest...
andrew,
thanks for your thoughts from personal experience. i've thought about that reality a lot: that i can truly get up and get out of a situation when the reality is that many people don't have that "luxury".
i guess that means we can, in humility, do all that we can do, trusting that God is the provider and ultimate empathizer.
i think that connection and our "social network" alone is deffintely huge. but also wealth in the conventional sense can leave us poor. we can live such a contained life that we miss out on community and all that entails.
im totally with you. the more we give up the more we realize blessings that have been missed out on. its not hard to bring joy and blessing to someone. Even living simply...something i am learning about and experiencing, has already opened my eyes up to the ways God wants to use others in our lives to meet our needs or meet the needs of others. Also, the bible is put into a completely new context when you read a passage and can say, thats me, I am truly striving to live this way.
God is so good. I am encouraged by your thoughts.
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