WE LIVE IN A WORLD OF EXTREMES.
EXTREME POVERTY & EXTREME WEALTH FOR EXAMPLE.
I am learning that wealth cannot be measured. It is relative. There will always be people who are richer and poorer than me each who have been given the gift of life. There will always be people I can help and others that may want to extend a helping hand to me. This is the pattern in which our world goes around.
That is why it is so powerful when Jesus commands us to…
LOVE OUR NEIGHBOR.
What exactly does that look like?
I know I fail at this task EVERY. SINGLE. DAY.
But, I want to get better at it.
What would it look like if everyone LOVED
his neighbor as he loves himself?
In Cambodia at least, it would look like no body going hungry…
It is custom here to ask whoever you meet during a meal time (breakfast, lunch or dinner hours) if they have eaten already. The phrase is “ñyam buy hai null” which literally translated means “eat rice already or not yet?” If the person responds saying “null” or “not yet,” it is typical that the person who asks would offer to share his meal. I absolutely adore this aspect of Khmer culture and think it is a great principle that each of us could learn from.
In my opinion, this is a great example
of how someone can love his neighbor literally.
Offer him a meal.
But, because we live in a world of extremes, people still go hungry. Cambodia, along with the rest of the world seems to be divided by classes and they don’t seem to interact with each other much.
THE RICH KEEP GETTING RICHER, THE POOR KEEP GETTING POORER
and the gap in between just keeps growing.
The rich in Cambodia are driving Lexus’, Mercedes, and Rolls Royce’s,
while the poor don’t even have shoes to protect their feet.
The rich are eating feasts every day while the poor are praying for a neighbor
to ask if they have “eaten rice already” and be offered to sit down and
share a meal with them so they don’t go hungry.
I spoke with a woman today who is a recycler. She takes her cart out every night rummaging through peoples garbage with her husband and youngest daughter in hopes of finding things of value like cans and plastic bottles she can sell back. She earns about 5,000 Khmer Riel a day. That’s roughly $1.25 USD.
This is when reality hits…
“I just spent twice that on the smoothie I had for lunch. My plain ticket to fly here cost more than an average Khmer persons yearly salary. My ‘savings’ is just rotting away in a bank account so that I am financially ‘secure’ next year when this person may not even have a meal today.”
Yet, it is relative. I wouldn’t know how to survive on $1.25 a day. To me, it’s a miracle she’s still alive and able to feed her kids. She is so much stronger than I am. She has to be. She has to have the strength to keep going or her family won’t have food for the day. She knows what it means to live from day to day God bless her soul.
Through observing these patterns of extremes, through asking questions, I am learning to be thankful for the blessings the Lord has given me. I used to feel guilty when I would compare my circumstances with those of the poor but I’ve come to find that
feeling guilty won’t change anything…
So, I begin to ask God,
“What am I to do with all that I’ve been given? How do I respond to the extremes of life in a way that is honoring to You?”
The answer I’ve received so far is to…
LOVE! LOVE! LOVE!
One day at a time.
One person at a time.
As I myself want to be loved.
This is good. Thanks for sharing your thoughts. It is hard not to do the comparison thing even among people who have similar economic status. Thanks for the reminder that I just have to be responsible with what I have and love on others!
my fav blog of yours yet! such great thoughts to wrestle with. all thoughts that our team has wrestled with..as a team and individually since living here in cambodia. so good. you’ve written this out well. i cant even process all of my thoughts into coherent sentences let alone a blog lol. thanks for this mari. love ya.
Great thoughts! I know what you mean about making comparisons.I too have been guilty of that. Here are some words of Jesus on this same matter “The poor you will always have with you and you can help them any time you want, but you will not always have me.”(Mark 16:7 NIV) Many have labeled this as one of the hard (severe or selfish)sayings of Jesus. It may seem so — unless you understand the context in which Jesus is stating this. The event leading to this statement happened during the last week of Jesus’ physical life. Despite what seemed His greatest hour of popularity, Jesus well knew that in less than one week’s time, He would be hanging from a Roman cross, being denied by the very ones whom He had counted among His friends. That wasn’t, however, the only reason for this seemingly careless turn of phrase. There, among his disciples was one Judas Iscariot, who was in charge of the funds which Jesus and His disciples shared in
common. Judas was known to have dipped his hand into the till from time to time. He probably felt that the perfume and jar which were broken and spilled out could have been sold later, if donated intact to Jesus’ cause. Then Judas could have skimmed off a goodly portion of the final profits. By how Judas betrayed Jesus for 30 pieces of silver, we do know that he was motivated more from avarice than for any concern for the poor. May God forgive us and protect us from being this same way. May we in turn allow Jesus to be first within our lives and ministry. Amen! God bless you Amarja and thanks for allowing me to share my mini sermons here. Love you much, Your Dad