Are the Doomsayers are wrong...?
The title may sound like a dream for the poor and the afflicted. It may be scoffed at by those who work day by day with the broken hearted and discouraged. But while there is still pain and tragedy in our world, things are changing for the better!
The very reliable source of the Christian Science Monitor published the attached graph and backed it up with references![1] It reports that Global Wealth is rising beyond “even our optimistic expectations in 2023” says a November report from Goldman Sachs.
Fifty years ago, Bangladesh was once the third-poorest nation in the world. Today its per-capita income exceeds even India!
In less than twenty five years, extreme poverty (earning less than $2.15/day) has dropped from 29.3% of the world’s population to 8.6% in 2023. Wow! (And that’s a drop from 75% about 100 years ago.)
The “Wage Gap” between lowest earners and highest earners in the United States has unexpectedly narrowed in the last three years.
And the Cato Institute has measured 8 quality of life measures and reports that “overall inequality between countries had closed by about half in less than 30 years.”
Crime, both in the U.S. and globally, has been falling in all but 4 of the past 24 years.
Mary sang so long ago: “God has filled the hungry with good things…” and good people who have been inspired by God around the world have been working together to help the broken-hearted and the dispossessed.
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Of course there is great work to be done. There are major areas that need improvement: Immigration, Climate Change, Racism and Lonliness (just to name a few).
But the signs that God is at work are all around us. We only have to have “Ears that hear and Eyes that see” (Prov 20:12 & Matt 13:9)
Unfortunately, so many of us have been like the iconic child, covering our ears, shutting our eyes and yelling: “la, la, la, la, la… I can’t hear you!!!!”
We, like so many around us, have joined the chorus of bad and fearful news in an effort to overwhelm those around us with our point of view. We don't stop to prayerfully consider if it’s true, or honorable, or just or pure as Paul encourages us to do. (Phil 4:8)
We all too quickly lean into that which is not pleasing or commendable. We ignore the excellent and the Godly. We have become wrapped up in our own “news bubbles” that rarely include, but judge and exclude those we have labeled “extreme.”
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Yes, we are overwhelmed by the increasing tidal wave of change.
Yes, we long for our political leaders to work together on the massive issues facing us.
Yes, we are torn by the hard choices facing us with Hunger, Abortion, War, Addiction and much, much more.
But using fear to coerce others is harmful. And it destroys us and those around us in the process. It may “work” in the short run. (As most parents know.) But in the long run it destroys us and damages our capacity to love deeply, authentically, and unconditionally.
There are many reasons for why we have withdrawn into these fortified walls of angry opinion.
Some of them are:
- Pandemic aftershocks where over 1 million people died in the U.S.A. alone. We have seen Schools, Businesses, the Social fabric and basic Trust all upended.
- The “Media tribalism” we live in promotes fear, pain and a disaster mentality to “sell” its "product".
- Rapid Technological and Social Change keeps us off balance.
- We unconsciously expect quick results and rapid responses to our self-centered concerns.
All this has come during a time that the church has lost the confidence of people of all ages. Meaning and isolation have grown within and without. Suspicions and Conspiracies about all around us and have replaced Amazement and Awe as topics of conversation.
And will we, as followers of Jesus the Messiah, the Christ, step into this “Brave New World” and continue to join the chorus of naysayers and skeptics? Have we taken on the identity of Social Trend Consumers with the result that we lose our souls?
Or can we once again hear with Godly Ears and see with Godly Eyes?
Can we disengage from our screens and our self-centeredness enough to once again hear and see God’s graciousness and unconditional love?
Can we re-instill the Holy into our worship, our prayers, our relationships and our daily actions?
In other words, can the church re-discover our Soul? …and once rediscovered… begin to live a Godly, Messiah/Christ-filled life in the Holy Spirit again?
This is our deepest calling that leads us into all the many and wonderful ministries of compassion, healing and justice that God has blessed us with.
And truly, this is the deepest need of the world today…. To reclaim its God-given soul and purpose in the midst of great change and turmoil.
Let us come together, unclench our fists and spread our arms wide in the infinite love of God, creator of us and of all creation.
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