The Wealth/Comfort Thing
I've been reading a little throughout Bloggerdom surrounding the topic of wealth and comfort in the everyday lives of the North American. (westerner) [see Jordon - Mike Todd]
I guess I think about this sort of stuff too - how to deal with it, what does it always mean, how aware of it am I in my own life...
Living the life of the student isn't that conducive to wealth, but Ang and I lack nothing - so we try to give until a sacrifice is made.
I think the challenge is to be free with our wealth, therein, being free of it. Obviously, comfort isn't always in relation to material wealth either.
The things that challenge my comfort at times are the boundaries I've created in my mind regarding cultural norms, and Christianity in that context. My development in Canada has been in a society that craves pleasure, isolates the individual, is independent, materialistic, busy - and I can't escape all or even some of that. I've seen it time and time again when people achieve all these things they are striving for - they're confused, depressed, lonely... on and on.
Growing up here I feel influenced by those traits - I'm objective about it - and I don't see the wealth aspect of my comfortable life as the predominant struggle.
Instead, the areas of comfort I'm really challenged with - and I guess this has to do with the "giving my all" to God - are areas when I feel the voice of the Spirit simply whisper "do this, or pray for healing in that guy", or "say this..." and I'm left thinking "whoa - he's a stranger, what if I'm misunderstood, is this really from God, or from me, what if nothing happens, what if something happens?" And by the time I process it all - the moment has passed.
I'm trying to work through this and abandon my comfort in this regard. Sometimes I feel like it's crazy that I have a struggle here, because if I really think about those situations and the best and the worst things that could possibly happen - the good almost always outweighs the bad - and my rationalizations and justifications leave me feeling like I really missed out on something - I stalled when I should have went for it.
The other area I'm challenged with in regards to my comfort and lifestyle is the "reality of being called to dangerous places". I have a real passion for the globe - and it seems logical that if I want to reach out to people that don't know God - with the understanding of God that I've been led into, the 10/40 window would be a good place to do it.
Aside from all the media hype, wrong preconceptions, and just plain ignorance - I know that not every country in that area is a "safe" one... and I have worried about it thinking of my wife and thinking of Bennet.
Yet with all of that, I know that the providence of God will hold. I heard a guy speak who was living in Djibouti on the horn of Africa - he simply said that, "the safest place to be with my family is in the will of God."
That's a satisfying thought - I mean, as many times as I've been unreliable in my dealings with God - He's never gone and acted the same way. He's never disappointed, or even left me feeling a little bit "high and dry" about which way to go, or what direction to point my life in... so I guess like many of you I'm learning as I'm living how to get that real feeling of comfort.
That internal sentiment that sort of feels like you're where you need to be, and you're not holding out on God or anyone...
No comments:
Post a Comment