Blessings – why me?
At the True City conference, the president of Yonge Street Mission spoke. He said the Bible names three sources of wealth:
- Wealth is a blessing from God
- Wealth is obtained by oppressing others
- Wealth is inherited by someone blessed by God or who oppressed others
(He noted that the Bible doesn’t talk about becoming wealthy by working hard.)
I struggle that I fall into category One. I am wealthy because I was born in Canada, I received an education and also went to university, and now I have a job above minimum wage. I didn’t do anything particularly difficult to follow that path.
I did nothing to deserve this blessing nor this wealth. But why did I get to be born here and educated? Why did God choose to bless me?
You see, I work with refugees for one of my jobs. Why did they have to be born in a country of instability and upheaval, forcing them to flee everything and start over here? Canada is a safe place for the most part, but these refugees will still live in poverty and will not enjoy the wealth I enjoy. Why did God ‘choose’ to not bless them with wealth?
The short answer is I am blessed by God so I can bless others.
The hard part is determining what that means. When I take home my pay cheque, what do we spend it on? How can I celebrate with my wealth when I know others suffer? Yet, God does love celebrations of his Goodness.
Giving a token amount away would help, but I don’t think that is what I am called to do. Giving until I suffer a bit might help me to remember the wealth is from God and not my work and I still need to rely on him to provide. I could celebrate some with those who have nothing. Maybe do all of these.
And I think I need to follow the desires of my heart too: that the root causes of injustice are what need to be changed. Because giving of my wealth to those in need will never help all in need until there is a decrease in the reasons people are in need.
Eradicate category Two would be a worthy use of my wealth.
Comments(3)
I hear what you’re saying. It’s great to tithe and all, but is it enough if you’re not feeling it where it counts? Tithing certainly doesn’t cause us to feel need. I like the idea of eradicating #2 as part of the solution. Now if only we could get everyone to think like that …
I’d love some texts or some more information. I am teaching a class of students about money and wealth and am including Biblical texts to fuel our study. Did you take any notes that day that you’d be willing to send me? It would be greatly appreciated!
I wrote to the president, and this is what he said about wealth and poverty:
“That material is my own take on the passage and grows out of my having read every verse of Scripture I could find on poverty and wealth. However this take really rests on the teaching of James.
“James 1:16 Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. 17 Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow.
“James Chapter 1 is a summary of what is to follow in his work. He uses the Chapter to intro themes he intends to expand on later. As you move into James you see he has some very hard things to say about those who abuse Gods gifts and are less that fair in their dealings with the poor.
“The key here is that God is named as the author and giver of every good and perfect gift. If it is from God then it is Good. If it is Good then it is from God.
“To some degree I am also arguing from silence. There is no historical data to suggest that hard work leads to wealth. If that were true slaves would be wealthy. Garbage pickers in third world dumps would be wealthy.
“I would have to go back through too much Scripture to go beyond James but I have yet to see any Biblical testimony that over rules the James teaching.
“Now the converse is not necessarily true. Proverbs does say if you are lazy you may end up poor. And there is no reason to believe Biblically that God does not bless the labour of human hands. We work in the hope that God will bless. But in the end nothing that is truly good comes without God’s provision. The old Calvinists knew this.
“Pseudo good may come from a source other than God. I may get my wealth from charging too much. I can not credit that to God. If God says we are to sell food to the poor at no profit and we make a profit off selling food to the poor then Biblically our wealth is the result of an oppressive act and therefore not good a good gift.
“Anyway, my view really rests on my understanding of what James has to say. Everything else I think or believe is just a spin on James.”
I hope that helps.