enlarge the place where this truth fits

i was just doing my usual internet surfing, checking friend's blogs and the news. i came across this article: More than 1 billion people going hungry, UN says. i read the first line, and i fell back in my seat and breathed a low "wow."

how do i respond to such a thing? i hope the next breath includes a "God have mercy!" prayer. and yes, God, have mercy! have mercy on these people, have mercy on the rest of the world that is fed and overfed, and have mercy on me, one who has more than i could ever need. God come, have mercy. enlarge the place where this truth fits.

i read an article this past week by walter brueggemann.* he describes how (based on Old Testament passages) we have the option to eat and be satisfied, or eat until we're fat. in one option, we are citizens, in the other, we are consumers. depending on our mindset, we either operate out of our recognition of God the Creator who sustains us, or we think that we're somehow in control, but we fear losing that control, so we take all we can while it's still available to us. we reduce ourselves to consuming for our own benefit, rather than participating with humility and a proper view of where our sustenance comes from, and our dependence on one another to serve and be served.

i need this to be my governing perspective. i am a dependent creature. i am dependent on my Creator to sustain my life. i live because of God's goodness to me, and i am unable to provide for myself. furthermore, i am dependent others, on my community. i trust that as they, like myself, are dependent on the One true sustainer and trust Him, we will take responsibility to look out for one another. if i am certain God will provide for me, i am no longer bound by selfish consumerism and can freely give to others. indeed, as Brueggemann says, "It is clear of course that when creatures opt for only consumerism and forget that larger reach of citizenship, the need and entitlements of widow, orphan, and illegal immigrant evaporate in an ocean of self-preoccupation.”

i am not a self-sustaining person. i cannot live this life completely independently, like i try to convince myself sometimes. i am bound in a covenantal relationship to my Creator, and by extension, to His creatures. i am placed in a community and i have obligations to them. i cannot extract myself from them, nor should i! i am dependent on them, just as they are dependent on me. and it is a beautiful relationship, even if it is broken.

yes, Lord, enlarge the place where this truth fits!



*Bruggemann, Walter. “Options for Creatureliness: Consumer or Citizen.” In Horizons in Biblical Theology, Vol. 23 (2001), pp. 25-50.