As Americans our idea of “blessing” is completely distorted.
We view poverty as something to be eradicated and when we think of evangelizing those “less fortunate” than ourselves it is in terms of ultimately bringing them “up” to our level of economic status. God provides for those who help themselves doesn’t he? Wrong.This Westernized watered-down brand of Christianity we’ve been buying into is blasphemy and derision. We’re so completely inundated and controlled by consumerism and our individualistic tendencies that we’re blinded to the world’s painful realities and Jesus himself. Jesus’ wasn’t interested in the poor because he felt pity on some embarrassing situation they were in.”Blessed are the poor for they will inherit the kingdom of heaven.” While other Gospel writers modify this to say ‘poor in spirit’ I feel the point remains the same. Those who have nothing material to fill their lives and hearts with to become their idols and gods can more fully embrace community trust God and find their true worth and sustenance in Him.There is an imminent need for the comfortable lower middle and upper class Christians to experience the poverty of others. But this need isn’t so we can better learn how to minister to them improve their situation or have sympathy for them. Our need to experience this kind of poverty is out of the spiritual poverty of our own nation culture and souls. We need them to teach us what life is really about.Why do we think we can “fix” poverty? Not only is this impossible I don’t think Jesus wanted it fixed. Just because Western culture is preoccupied with capitalism and profit and Americanized commercialized Christianity has therefore misconstrued a ‘blessing’ as meerly material or monetary it doesn’t mean we should concede. You can drive right down to Ralph’s and buy whatever you want.Even if you recognize that God “blessed you” with money to buy your groceries you still pat yourself on the back for the hard work that earned you that money. This kind of mindset is by no means dependent on God. I was reading a book once in which an African man living in extreme poverty spoke of feeling sorry for Americans because when he acquired even an ear of corn he knew it was straight from God. If an American were to acquire the same they wouldn’t give God a second thought— after all they earned it.It horrifies me to think of how brainwashed our society myself included is by consumerism. We are our own worst enemies because we’ve bought into the idea that we are most important— that even the most frivolous of our desires deserve to be fulfilled. That’s the American Dream really— buy whatever you want and feel justified doing so.It isn’t that wealth and possessions are intrinsically evil— but they serve as distractions of tangibility deceptively and destructively chaining our world into one that isn’t home. We don’t own our possessions— they own us. We’ve become so wrapped up in this warped mentality that we’ve failed to see the world’s situation for what it is.Some parents’ most distant thought is about giving their children toys; they are more concerned with finding them food. The last thing they care about is assimilating to our retail Christianity. But at the end of the day we’ve managed to reconcile in our heads the fact that we “deserve” to use our money to buy that new plasma screen TV we “need” so badly instead of giving to the missionary raising money to help feed families in a refugee camp— families who have literally had to move their entire lives every few days for the past four years fleeing from their own government in a civil war. This kind of thing isn’t comfortable to think about— at least not nearly as comfortable as our $50000 SUVs.