Yesterday I was speaking with a friend about wealth in America and poverty around the world. He seemed to be of the school of thought that we do enough for the needs of those outside our country and that we need to care more for our own before we concern ourselves with the needs of those living over seas.
I asked Him what he felt our response as Christians should be. I asked him where Scripture states that we should care for our own before we care for the needs of others. After some discussion, he pointed me to Genesis and the account of Joseph, how God blessed Joseph with a gift to bless Egypt during a time of famine.
I read this account and I thought that my friend might have had a good point. But then I kept reading.
Genesis 42:1-2 reads:
When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you just keep looking at each other?” He continued, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”
When the top 4% of the world are living on 75 times more wealth than the bottom 96% of the world is, don't you think their statements echo that of Jacob's?
I imagine they say something like:
I have heard that there is wealth in America. Let us go there and get some for ourselves, so that we may live and not die.
As Christians, we must believe that God is in control of all things at all times in all ways. As Christians, we must believe that God loves all people at all times in all ways. Which brings us to the question, why does God allow famine, droughts, and plagues that lead to poverty?
The answer is that God provided us a Joseph!
God has provided us with a man (or a woman), or several, to see visions, to dream dreams, and to plan ahead. And, God has provided them with the means to do so.
The issue, then, is not that God allows these things to happen and that He fails to provide. The issue is that when God provides for the needs of His people, those of us who receive His provisions sit on them, we waste His blessings or we absorb His blessings for ourselves.
You see, God has blessed the nation of America, He has poured His favor upon us. And, as Christians living in America, we have made the wrong assumption that God intends for us to sit on, to waste, or to absorb His blessings. God does not intend for us to do this, but rather, He intends for us to share His blessings and to bless others.
Perhaps this is the test. And, if it is, we are failing terribly!
With this in mind, read the parable of the talents, Matthew 25:14-30. Pay attention to what happens to the lazy servant.
