If God is So Good...

Have you ever thought about how much water you use in a day? Honestly, I never really have before. Our water bill is always ridiculously low regardless of how much we use so I don't really ever think about it. But for some reason today I did. I was showering tonight and was praying for the less fortunate around the world. I thought about how many children around the world die for lack of clean water to drink. Daily they are dying. Today I drove through a car wash; I refilled my water bottle and my kids cups countless times, even dumping out perfectly good water because it was "old;" I bathed my kids; I washed my dishes and a load of laundry; I watered my garden and my flowers, after which I used the hose to clean off a few things in the yard; I took a relaxing bath at the end of the day and I still took a shower because I needed to wash my hair. All in clean, drinkable water. I felt sick when I thought of it. Maybe it bothers you too. Maybe you think less of me because I waste so much water on a daily basis. But what can we do? We live in America where all we have to do is turn on one of the multiple faucets we have in our homes and we have an endless supply of drinkable water. We have fancy filters because our clean, drinkable water isn't clean enough. But again, what can we do? It's not like we can just bottle up our water and send it to impoverished kids around the world.

As I was thinking through this, I thought about all the people that use this as a reason to discredit God. "If God is so good, why are there kids all over the world dying? Why are there people without water and without food? Where is God for them?" It's a reasonable question. My answer is where are you? Yes, you. Maybe your hot button isn't clean water, maybe it's education or healthcare or natural disaster relief. Maybe it's human trafficking, corruption, poverty, or the plight of the orphan. Whether or not you believe in God, God has given you that passion. That very same passion that you use to discredit God was actually put there BY God. Humans are selfish creatures. The goodness that is within us does not manifest itself from nothing. It comes from a great and loving God.

And I know what you're thinking. What can I do? What can one person do? I can't go rescue women and children from trafficking anymore than I can bottle up my water or box up my leftovers and send them to Africa or China or wherever. I can't go and rescue every orphan, or even one orphan from being neglected in some far off orphanage. I'm not "called" to be a missionary, a Red Cross volunteer, or a Peace Corps worker. What can I do? The thing is, you can do a lot. 

Did you know that if you have a combined household income of more than $50,000 you are in the top 5-10% of wage earners in the world? As my pastor says, "See you didn't even know that you are rich!" Maybe you make even more than that. The good Christians will all smile and humbly say, "Yes we are truly blessed." But is that where it ends? Do we really believe that God has blessed us for the sole purpose of accumulating more wealth and personal comfort? Do we honestly believe that the purpose of all our blessings is to hoard them and squeeze every ounce of enjoyment from them we possibly can? Or could the purpose be higher than ourselves?

The Bible tells us on more than one occasion that we are blessed to BE a blessing to others, not just to hold onto the blessings for ourselves. Read the Abrahamic covenant in Genesis 12. God blessed Abraham not so that he would simply hold onto the blessing and enjoy it. God blessed him to be a blessing to all people. Read in the gospels about all the ways Jesus encouraged people not to love money but instead to give to the poor and to take care of widows and orphans. To one would-be follower who Jesus "felt genuine love for," He told him to sell all that he had and give to the poor. (Mark 10) When the man declined, Jesus went on to say "How hard it is for the rich to enter the Kingdom of God." (Mark 10:23) I don't know about you but I'd like to go ahead and sign up now for the kingdom of God, as opposed to the kingdom of the American Dream. (I'll write more later about the drastic steps we're taking to live this out!)

So back to the original query...what can you and I do about the children who lack clean water? We can't bottle it up and send it, even using less would have minimal (if any) affect on them. There is something that you and I have that can be used...money. Talent. Resources. Connections. We're all blessed in some avenue, many of us in more than one. Have you ever asked yourself how your blessings could be used to affect the thing that breaks your heart and causes you to question God's existence or goodness? I know for a fact there are great ministries and non-profits around the world providing clean water to children around the world. I bet they could use some funds. Or volunteers. Or whatever. And trust me, I get it. We're all maxed out on everything. "We don't have any extra money or time." Maybe we just need to reevaluate where our time and money are going and start to redirect it to the causes God has placed on our hearts. When you do, I promise you will see God. "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." (Matthew 6:21)