What is it about the very wealthy that makes those of us who have little so angry? The noble, self-righteous part of myself believes that it is all the suffering and poverty in the world that turns my stomach sour against the wealthy. The world would be a much different place if the one percent would loosen their grip on the world's resources. Hunger could be eliminated, starvation made a thing of the past. Clothing and shelter could be provided for those with none, with healthcare provided for all who have need. Yes, so many problems could be solved if the rich would just let some of the rest of us get a taste...
There was a point in my life when I looked with disdain on certain "types" of the poor. Standing behind someone in a grocery line who paid for the order with foodstamps or WIC, all the while talking on their iPhone and then loading those groceries up into their Mercedes. Abusers of the welfare system and a blight on our society, I never gave them a chance. I never asked to hear their story. I could barely even make eye contact for fear that they would see the scorn in my eyes. Then, last week, I got put on part-time layoff at my job. I found myself for the first time in my life needing to apply for unemployment benefits. I don't have an iPhone, but I do have an Android. We have a pretty nice car. We also receive WIC checks, and part of my family is on the free state medical insurance. It's ok. I don't tell all of this to get pity, but to be transparent and honest, and to make a point.
The reason I felt disdain towards those who I viewed as abusers of the system was because they had cool stuff. Stuff that, in my eyes, they didn't deserve. I had worked damn hard to get where I was, and here before me was a leech, someone feeding off of my tax dollars and receiving benefits they hadn't worked for and didn't deserve. Thing is, probably to most people on the outside looking in, I have now become part of the leeches. You know what's funny? All that stuff, some of which I have, and some of which I still want, it's not enough. Not even close. Sometimes, when I'm working in a particularly wealthy customer's house, I find myself wondering what I would have to do to get a job that would be able to provide the means to get all the cool stuff they had. When you really break it down, it's envy, pure and simple.
This envy mentality is at the heart of so many things in our lives today. I believe it's at the heart of the countless get rich quick pyramid schemes that turn our closest friends and family into customers to be wooed and seduced into our brilliant new business strategy that will supplement your income so that you can finally have all that glorious stuff you've been working so hard for but never been able to afford and you'll at last be happy and content with no worries. It's a big part of why we feel the need to buy guns to protect ourselves, and by ourselves I refer to all that stuff we've worked so damn hard for that by God, no criminal or psychopath or out of control tyrannical government is ever going to take away from us. It was there, just barely cloaked and under the surface of the "Occupy" movement, when thousands of people who were fed up with the injustice of our system decided to speak up and proclaim loudly, "Unfair!" This kind of behavior dates all the way back to the beginning, when the serpent told Eve that God was withholding the forbidden fruit because if she ate it her eyes would be opened and would become "like God" (Gen. 3:5). Satan presented Eve with something that God had and she did not, and she wanted it.
I know, this isn't a new thought. In theory, we all know that having more stuff won't bring us peace and happiness. Only a relationship with Christ can bring true peace; He is all we really need. How many actually live that though? Next time you find yourself ranting and raving about the injustice of the one percent, stop. Stop, and look deep. Are you really just mad because they get to have so much stuff that you can't possibly ever afford? This mentality of envy and greed has absolutely no place in the church, and yet it is there, brewing just under the surface as we check out the cars everyone else is driving or the latest phone your buddy got or that sweet new gear the guitar player is using up on stage or that new addition the church down the road is spending an obscene amount of money on. Yeah, it's there, but it shouldn't be, plain and simple.
There was a point in my life when I looked with disdain on certain "types" of the poor. Standing behind someone in a grocery line who paid for the order with foodstamps or WIC, all the while talking on their iPhone and then loading those groceries up into their Mercedes. Abusers of the welfare system and a blight on our society, I never gave them a chance. I never asked to hear their story. I could barely even make eye contact for fear that they would see the scorn in my eyes. Then, last week, I got put on part-time layoff at my job. I found myself for the first time in my life needing to apply for unemployment benefits. I don't have an iPhone, but I do have an Android. We have a pretty nice car. We also receive WIC checks, and part of my family is on the free state medical insurance. It's ok. I don't tell all of this to get pity, but to be transparent and honest, and to make a point.
The reason I felt disdain towards those who I viewed as abusers of the system was because they had cool stuff. Stuff that, in my eyes, they didn't deserve. I had worked damn hard to get where I was, and here before me was a leech, someone feeding off of my tax dollars and receiving benefits they hadn't worked for and didn't deserve. Thing is, probably to most people on the outside looking in, I have now become part of the leeches. You know what's funny? All that stuff, some of which I have, and some of which I still want, it's not enough. Not even close. Sometimes, when I'm working in a particularly wealthy customer's house, I find myself wondering what I would have to do to get a job that would be able to provide the means to get all the cool stuff they had. When you really break it down, it's envy, pure and simple.
This envy mentality is at the heart of so many things in our lives today. I believe it's at the heart of the countless get rich quick pyramid schemes that turn our closest friends and family into customers to be wooed and seduced into our brilliant new business strategy that will supplement your income so that you can finally have all that glorious stuff you've been working so hard for but never been able to afford and you'll at last be happy and content with no worries. It's a big part of why we feel the need to buy guns to protect ourselves, and by ourselves I refer to all that stuff we've worked so damn hard for that by God, no criminal or psychopath or out of control tyrannical government is ever going to take away from us. It was there, just barely cloaked and under the surface of the "Occupy" movement, when thousands of people who were fed up with the injustice of our system decided to speak up and proclaim loudly, "Unfair!" This kind of behavior dates all the way back to the beginning, when the serpent told Eve that God was withholding the forbidden fruit because if she ate it her eyes would be opened and would become "like God" (Gen. 3:5). Satan presented Eve with something that God had and she did not, and she wanted it.
I know, this isn't a new thought. In theory, we all know that having more stuff won't bring us peace and happiness. Only a relationship with Christ can bring true peace; He is all we really need. How many actually live that though? Next time you find yourself ranting and raving about the injustice of the one percent, stop. Stop, and look deep. Are you really just mad because they get to have so much stuff that you can't possibly ever afford? This mentality of envy and greed has absolutely no place in the church, and yet it is there, brewing just under the surface as we check out the cars everyone else is driving or the latest phone your buddy got or that sweet new gear the guitar player is using up on stage or that new addition the church down the road is spending an obscene amount of money on. Yeah, it's there, but it shouldn't be, plain and simple.
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