Let justice roll on like a river,
righteousness like a never-failing stream! Amos 5:24
I've been thinking about justice lately, or maybe, more precisely, injustice. What started me thinking was the rising price of gas, the growing global food shortage, and the correlation between the two. We knew that as more grain products were used for ethanol, the price of grain would rise and the availability of grains for human consumption would decrease (Already 20-30% of grains grown in the US are used for biofuels). What we (at least, we the general public) did not expect is that it would happen so quickly. In our search for a way to maintain our lifestyle, and even in our desire to be more "green" and less oil dependent, we created a crisis which the rest of the world has to deal with.
It seems so unjust. We (the privileged people of the world) created this problem. We are the ones who consume too much. We are the ones an eventual oil shortage would most effect. And yet, when we try to solve the problem, they (the people who already have less) suffer. Sure, food prices are rising here too. And there's a lot of talk about recession. But I don't know anyone in danger of starving, not even one of the 98% of the students at my school who qualify for free or reduced lunch. We are cushioned here in this land of opportunity.
But our problems become the worlds' problems. According to an e-mail from my friend Jason, "Prices for staple foods like rice have more than doubled over the last four months in places like Cambodia. Rice, the main source of
nutrition for many of the world's poor, is now priced beyond what they can afford. To the already 1 billion people that struggle to live on less than $1 a day, the U.N. now estimates that an additional 100 million of our global neighbors will struggle to avoid starvation."
An NPR special on the global food shortage said, "UNICEF and the World Food Program are falling behind in donations, unable to keep pace with the spiraling cost of rice. It has hit $950 a ton, three times what it was at the start of 2007."
For people living on a dollar or two a day, that sort of price increase makes survival nearly impossible.
What do we do in response to all this? In an article entitled "Reconsecration to a Wartime, Not a Peacetime, Lifestyle" Ralph Winter suggests that we rethink our lifestyles. There are lifestyles appropriate to peace, and lifestyles appropriate to war. We are at war. In Matthew 10:34 Jesus says "Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I did not come to bring peace, but a sword." Jesus is bringing about his kingdom here on earth. The power of heaven is fighting against the rulers of this world, and God has called us to join the fight. He tells us to go, preach the good news, disciple the nations, feed the hungry, clothe the naked, care for the widows and orphans, visit those in prison. That is our battle command. And knowing that we are soldiers in battle should effect our lifestyle. Paul tells Timothy in 2 Timothy 2: 3&4 "Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier." We should not be entangled in the pleasures of this world. There are so many unnecessary, frivolous things that we even begin to see as needs, or at least as our due. And meanwhile, millions are dying without the chance to hear of the One who died for them.
Think about these statistics for a moment from Serving India Ministries
Experts estimate that for $13 billion a year we could provide basic nutrition for every starving person in the world. American Christians spend $21 billion a year on cable TV.
For $6 billion a year we could educate every child currently not in school. American Christians spend $11 billion a year on coffee.
For $9 billion a year we could provide safe drinking water for the millions who die without it. American Christians spend $21 billion a year on soft drinks.
Approximately 160 million adults in America claim to be Christian. If each one of us would increase our giving by just $15 per month to ministries who are effectively serving the poor, we could feed every starving person in the world, educate every child currently not in school, and provide safe drinking water for the millions who die from lack of it.
How will you respond?
2 Timothy 2: 1-4
"Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus. And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also. Thou therefore endure hardness, as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. No man that warreth entangleth himself with the affairs of this life; that he may please him who hath chosen him to be a soldier."
