Not Guilty; Grateful.

I’ve recently been doing a sermon series with my church called “How to be Rich.”  No, it’s not a series on how to get rich quick; it’s how to be rich.  I’m basing it on the book by Andy Stanley of the same name and the sub-title gives a little more insight into what it’s all about; “It’s not what you have, it’s what you do with what you have.”  One of the things we quickly learned is that pretty much all of us are rich.  And if you’re reading this you probably are too.  You may be looking at the pile of bills on your kitchen table and be thinking “funny, I don’t feel very rich.”  Well here’s some interesting statistics for you (according to Stanley’s book).  If you make $37,000.00 household income per year or more, you are in the top 4% of all wage earners in the world.  If you make $48,000.00 or more, you are in the top 1%.  It kind of makes you rethink that whole occupy movement doesn’t it. 

For me personally I have a wife who works, and I do too and so it’s probably not all that surprising when I say we are in the top 1%.  Not only that, we get to live and do ministry on Cape Cod.  We’ve got the beautiful ocean and beaches, pristine golf courses, and more ice cream shops than you can count.  There are places in the world where women walk hundreds of yards with big bowls of water on their heads each day just so they can have it for drinking and cooking.  We spray water all over our yard to keep it green.  There are places in the world where kids would be happy with one decent pair of shoes.  I counted the shoes in my closet the other day and came up with sixteen.  I dare you to go count your shoes when you are done reading this.  It can be quite the eye opening experience. 

I think it’s a good thing to understand that relative to the rest of the world we are very rich indeed.  But I’m not writing all of this to try and make anyone feel guilty.  I honestly don’t think you should feel guilty.  We had no control over being born American.  I’m also a big believer in the Bible teaching a strong work ethic, and that in turn can make many rich even by American standards depending on what field they work in.  And all of that is okay.  Guilt is not the emotion we should be going for.  The correct emotion or attitude that should well up in all of us when we think about such things is grateful.  We have so much to be grateful for.  And when we are grateful we should be grateful to God because He gives us so much.  The financial blessings come from Him.  He did after all create us with the gifts and abilities to allow us to earn a living.  But his blessings are so much more than just financial.  James 1:17 tells us every good and perfect gift comes from God. 

Remember those 16 shoes in my closet I referred to?  As a way to express my gratitude I decided I’m going to purchase 16 items at the grocery store for our local food pantry; one item for each pair of shoes.  It’s not anything major I know, but I’m also going to challenge the rest of my congregation to do the same thing this Sunday.  I figure if we get enough of us doing it we can stock them up pretty good for the Thanksgiving season.  1^st Timothy 6: 17-18 challenges us not put our hope in riches but to be rich in good deeds instead.  This is one small good deed, but when you add them all up they can start to make a difference.  Maybe you should go to your closet and start counting.