Wednesday, October 12, 2005
HOW RICH ARE YOU?
HOW RICH ARE YOU?
By Harold Sala
Oct 04, 2005
"And if anyone gives even a cup of cold water to one of these little
ones because he is my disciple, I tell you the truth, he will certainly
not lose his reward" (Matthew 10:42).
How rich are you? In 30 seconds you can take inventory, seeing how you
rate in comparison to the rest of the world. I'll ask you four rather
basic questions, and you can simply give a yes or no answer. Question
#1: Do you own more than one pair of shoes? Not too difficult to answer
judging by the display of footwear on the floor or shelf of your
closet. Question #2: Do you own your own car, truck, or motorcycle?
Again, not too tough when you consider the difficulty you may have
finding a parking place for that second car, boat, or camper. Question
#3: Do you have a choice of food each day? Last question: Do you have
more than one change of undergarments?
Listen carefully to how most people in the world answer. If you
answered yes to three of those four questions, you are rich compared to
most of the people in our world because only one in ten people around
the world can answer yes to even three of those questions.
And you think you have it tough? Yes, riches are relative. When we were
living in Asia, one of our children asked, "How come we are so rich
here and so poor when we go home, [meaning to the States]?"
Most of the people of the world live only a meal away from hunger.
Having no refrigerator they go to the market each morning to supplement
their diet of rice or beans. Shortages, storms, or famine affect them,
especially the poor of the world who grow poorer each day. According to
the United Nations, 42,000 die of starvation each day. For them,
poverty is terminal. But of course it is hard for most of us to relate
to that as we look in the mirror and plan our next diet.
Riches and wealth are relative, yet no matter where you are in
relationship to the rest of the world, what you have and need is
intensely personal. If you are hungry, the condition of the rest of the
world isn't as important as your immediate need. If you are a single
mother and your income is exhausted and you live in a large city
surrounded by thousands of unfriendly strangers and no help is in
sight, you are faced with a crisis of major proportions.
Bob Pearce, a man great in compassion who founded World Vision, wrote,
"I have lived in Asia and seen the wretchedness and poverty and the
revulsion of disease and the disgust of ignorance. I have also noticed
that when you look the other way it is so much easier to pass by until
you do not see it at all. The pain of suffering has been totally masked
out by the little world you live in. Hunger, be it physical or
spiritual--lies at our doorstep. We do not ask for it; we do not
like it; but nevertheless it is there. The needs of people knock one at
a time. Eventually every person must answer the question, "What am I
going to do about it?"
You can, of course, say, "That's not my problem!" and shut the needs of
others from your mind; or you can say, "I can't change everything, but
I can do something about the pain at my elbow."
Two friends were walking on a beach covered by starfish washed ashore
by a high tide. The starfish were destined to die soon in the burning
sun on the sandy beach. One man began picking up starfish and gently
tossing them in the ocean. The friend says, "What are you doing? What
difference does it make? You can't begin to save all of them." "True,"
he said, "but it makes a difference to the ones I save."
So is it, friend, with those you can do something about. Frankly, I
don't have all the answers, but as I have come to grips with the
enormity of the problem, it's amazing how I begin to see needs and hear
the Spirit of God say, "Help, here!" or "Do something about this!" And
when you do that, you do make a difference.
Resource reading: Matthew 10:37-42.
****************************************************************
DISCLAIMER: FoodForThought shared this message as submitted and do not
claim to own any copyright privileges on it. All the messages are
believed to be free for circulation or public domain. All messages come
in either by email in original form or copied from the internet sites.
The work was submitted to us as an item for distribution, and it was
posted solely on the basis of its quality. It's a FREE service.
****************************************************************
To subscribe/unsubscribe, tell friends about FoodForThought, share a
reflection, read past issues and feedbacks, give donation or submit a
prayer request please go to: http://www.dailyfoodforthought.org
If you have no access to the internet, use these emails:
To subscribe: subscribe@dailyfoodforthought.org
To unsubscribe: unsubscribe@dailyfoodforthought.org
Feel free to forward this to your friends, family and associates!
Have a nice day!
© 2005 FoodForThought
