I recently had my car totaled at no fault of my own. I was near to paying off the car and, if averages hold true, I would have had that car for another 7 or 8 years without any car payment. Another one of my friends was in a hit and run and, unfortunately, he was not able to get the specific make and model of the car, let alone the license plate number.
These events got me thinking again. In the “woe is me” moments, I need perspective. These bits of information help me.
According to www.ourworldindata.org over the period from 1960 to 2014 the following has occurred:
- Literacy has gone up 43%
- Life expectancy has increased by 21 years
- Caloric intake has increased by 688/per day
In recent history, the relative cost of a television set in 1971 would have cost an American worker two months salary. Today, it would cost an American worker two days.
Going further back, in the 17th century, the most powerful man in the world was Louie the XIV of France. Every night, he would have 40 dishes prepared for his dinner and he’d pick the one he felt like eating. Today, a receptionist can stop at a grocery store on their way home and have even more choices that are fresher and healthier.
According to http://www.globalrichlist.com/ (a fascinating website that brings awareness to global income disparities and has an quick little calculator where you can put in your net income and see your global ranking) an income of $32,400/year will show that you are in the top 1% worldwide.
We could go on but it gives me perspective. Not only in an economic way but in a spiritual way.
In Mark’s Gospel we read Jesus’ teaching, “Children, how difficult it is to enter the kingdom of God! It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the kingdom of God.” And they were exceedingly astonished, and said to him, “Then who can be saved?” Jesus looked at them and said, “With man it is impossible, but not with God. For all things are possible with God.” (Mark 10:24-27).
This is concerning to me in two ways.
- I am not a likely candidate to enter the Kingdom of God. Yes, I have been justified by faith in Jesus Christ, but “...the cares of the world and the deceitfulness of riches and the desires for other things…” are a dangerously fatal hindrance to my Christian growth (Mark 4:19). Without desperate dependance on God, I will live a wasted life.
- The people that I minister to in the Kenmore community, even though many are poor by American standards, in more ways than one are actually rich on a global scale. Factor in the support received through charitable and government support agencies, this becomes more firm.
Therefore, the only way they will enter the kingdom of God is by a miracle of God. Period.
What desperate prayers should be echoing in my office, my car, my bedroom! It is no surprise to anyone who has lived in this country long enough to see that we are so distracted, so entertained, so comfortable. Why would we follow a suffering servant? Why would we carry a cross when we can carry an iphone? Why would we wait on the Lord when we can barely wait on a microwave hot pocket?
Okay. I’m heated on this, but it hits me hard. It is not natural for me to rejoice in my sufferings (Romans 5:3-5) or to thank God through tears that I am counted worthy of the Kingdom of God that I might suffer (2 Thessalonians 1:5). I’m naturally bent to escape discomfort, persecution, and injustice and too quick to pray that others would escape these things as well.
So, as upside down as it seems to the world to say, I am thankful for my car accident. I am glad for the many reminders God is giving me to take each breath with gratitude and without entitlement. His is the Kingdom, and the glory forever.
-Ryan Lawrence