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The American Standard of Living
Apr 28, 06:52 AM
“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.” 1 Timothy 6:17-18
Many years ago, as I was first beginning my involvement in international missions, we used to take short term teams into Mexico. Part of the ministry was taking food and clothing into the desert villages of San Luis Potosi. I will never forget my first exposure to life out there among the dozens of villages in the harsh and hostile environment of the Mexican desert. The memory of that first village is embedded in my soul. It was called Tanquito. I had never seen anything like it; the people had nothing and lived in tiny huts made out of the brush and sticks of their immediate environment. They had very little water. They lived on cactus, some chickens and whatever beans and corn they could manage to procure. They made rope out of the sisal and sold it for a few cents a day. I was totally blown away by the conditions. But they were not too busy to come to the church and worship in the middle of the day and receive a ration of food. They joyously clapped, sang, and thanked God for provision
Our missionary hosts announced that there was an American pastor there (me) and the people were so impressed and glad that there was this American pastor! Does he have a word for us? I found myself on the spot. I usually am never at a loss for words but I was then. I was dumbfounded. How could people live in those stark conditions and still believe in God’s unfailing goodness? What could I, as an affluent American, possibly say to them? I mumbled some words that I do not remember, while inside I was dealing with my own spiritual and emotional devastation.
Soon we were on to the next village, a couple of hours deeper into the desert. It was called, Jikote. I will never forget what I saw there. They had a pit of nasty green water in the middle of the village which supplied all the people. I watched as a young girl walked down some make-shift steps into that pit to draw water into two large pails. She put them on opposite ends of a long stick and carried them on her shoulders up out of that pit and several hundred yards back to her family’s crude house.
Returning to America, I saw our society in a different light. The opulence of our way of life was sickening. For years since then, as I have traveled the world, it has constantly been impressed upon me how out of touch America is with the rest of the world. Anyone can see that there is something horribly wrong with a world with that much disparity between the haves and the have not’s. In the church, morality has normally been associated with certain individual behaviors, but morality has a social component as well. The disparity between the American standard of living and the rest of the world is fundamentally immoral. We can no longer sit in the comfort of our homes and churches and thank God for our blessings. While I believe that there will come a time, perhaps soon, when the American standard of living will be brought more in line with the rest of the world, in the meantime, we must remember that our call to share what we have with those in need is not an addendum to our spiritual agenda. It is at the very heart of it.