I want to try to communicate this well so bear with me and my rambling. I hope my point comes through.
I feel that any standard of living that we lust for is, or can be, a god. And sometimes we try to force a standard of living on other people. For example Africans or Indians or American Ghettos. We say,
“Let us develop programs for you, let us provide homes for you, let us get you jobs, let us give you money, let us show you how to eat well.”
What makes our answer for their life so right? If all we do is teach the poor how to live like wealthy americans than all we will have ended up doing is creating more wealthy pagans who still will lust for more wealth and less of God. We’ve provided them the riches that they lusted for, but none of the true substance that they need to live, namely Jesus.
Now don’t get me wrong, we should care for the poor, the homeless, the widow but we must not forget EVER that there is a real danger of feeding their lust for more worldly wealth. In other words, I think we need to find how to provide for those people (material things) without spreading the cancer of Americanism in their hearts and minds even more.
What does it subtly say to a person when we give them something nice and new that they couldn’t buy on their own? First of all, they will like it. Second of all, they will like us for giving it to them. Third of all, I feel that it subtly says that we thought that they needed that thing. We thought they needed it so they might think everybody else thinks they need more things like this too. So now they have in their hearts a desire to live up to a certain standard. To lust after more. To try harder to get that next thing. And when they can’t do it (and they will never achieve it), they fail. They beat themselves up. They go to extremes (prostitution, drugs, alcohol) to try to attain it, or they simply give up (suicide) for if money is your god and you don’t have it… what is there to live for?
All this to say… I feel there is a unique way to reach the lustful-american-mind of the poor in america, and I want to find it. I want to provide to the poor, windowed, and homeless in way that makes Jesus known and their bodies nourished, but doesn’t proliferate their desire for more wealth. I know that if they truly KNOW the King Jesus that they will lust for only more of Him, but how can we provide for their current needs while we teach them about Jesus?
Maybe my answer is simply, the Gospel. Maybe it’s as simple as bringing them the good news with a meal and pray that they hear the message. I hope that is the answer, because that is the best one I can come up with.
K.B.
