The Fat Ones
We sing a lot of songs in church that talk about how much we need from God and how desperate we are for Him to give that to us. To me that's a nice thought but when I wake up I'm here, in California, getting a $100,000 education, getting fat, worrying about which things to spend my money on, and it's hard for me to truly relate to need. I make up this artificial need, I need God to make me feel better, to keep me from stressing out, and sometimes I wonder how God can stand it. In all fairness, God should tell me to shut up until I really need something but He, for whatever reason, decides that I am important enough for His energy. For God, no matter how small it is, my pain is real. But the problem is I don't realize that. I think that my problems are huge but in reality I have what I need, I need nothing.
I can’t help but think that when we sing these songs asking for God to “heal our land” that we are blaspheming. What are we praying for? We’re the fat ones, we’re spoiled already. Are we praying for ourselves or for those who actually need what we are asking for?
-2.6 Billion (this is 40% of the world’s population) do not have proper sanitation.
-1 billion people use unsafe drinking water sources.
-114 million people do not get basic education.
-584 million women around the world are illiterate
-800 million people go to bed hungry each night 300 million of these are children.
-There are 2.2 billion children in the world 1 billion of them live in extreme poverty.
-5 million people in Sudan have no access to health care or a school.
-Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger a majority being children under 5
-A woman in North America has a 1 in 3,700 chance of dying in child birth. In south Africa it’s a 1 in 16 chance.
-There are more slaves alive now than in any other time in History, 27 million.
Is it fair that we have so much and they have so little?
All the need in the world and what are we, the fat ones, doing over here in America? We’re actually telling God we need something. What we should really be praying for is humility. We should be thanking Him for all we have. When we are paying for God to “heal our land” we had better be talking about the people who really need it. And if our prayers are for them then maybe we’re hypocrites. Maybe to truly pray for healing is to prayfor God to take our wealth from us and give it to them. we may actually the infirmity which is infecting the very land we're praying will be healed. Is it fair that we have so much and they have so little?
I realize my writing this post is hypocritical but I am desperate. I am not desperate for God to give me any more than I have (though sometimes I think I am). I am not even desperate for revival, at least not the kind of revival which draws more and more people into a safe haven we call “church.” The revival I am desperate for is the kind that meets needs instead of asking for their own to be met. I am praying for that revival in my own life. I’m praying that I may even be willing to lose everything to meet that need
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
-Matthew 16.26
I can’t help but think that when we sing these songs asking for God to “heal our land” that we are blaspheming. What are we praying for? We’re the fat ones, we’re spoiled already. Are we praying for ourselves or for those who actually need what we are asking for?
-2.6 Billion (this is 40% of the world’s population) do not have proper sanitation.
-1 billion people use unsafe drinking water sources.
-114 million people do not get basic education.
-584 million women around the world are illiterate
-800 million people go to bed hungry each night 300 million of these are children.
-There are 2.2 billion children in the world 1 billion of them live in extreme poverty.
-5 million people in Sudan have no access to health care or a school.
-Every 3.6 seconds someone dies of hunger a majority being children under 5
-A woman in North America has a 1 in 3,700 chance of dying in child birth. In south Africa it’s a 1 in 16 chance.
-There are more slaves alive now than in any other time in History, 27 million.
Is it fair that we have so much and they have so little?
All the need in the world and what are we, the fat ones, doing over here in America? We’re actually telling God we need something. What we should really be praying for is humility. We should be thanking Him for all we have. When we are paying for God to “heal our land” we had better be talking about the people who really need it. And if our prayers are for them then maybe we’re hypocrites. Maybe to truly pray for healing is to prayfor God to take our wealth from us and give it to them. we may actually the infirmity which is infecting the very land we're praying will be healed. Is it fair that we have so much and they have so little?
I realize my writing this post is hypocritical but I am desperate. I am not desperate for God to give me any more than I have (though sometimes I think I am). I am not even desperate for revival, at least not the kind of revival which draws more and more people into a safe haven we call “church.” The revival I am desperate for is the kind that meets needs instead of asking for their own to be met. I am praying for that revival in my own life. I’m praying that I may even be willing to lose everything to meet that need
For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
-Matthew 16.26