My lovely wife and I did something today that we rarely do, we took part of the afternoon off and just flipped through the channels on the television. There was nothing of eternal value that we garnished from these short hours, but there were two short programs that caught my attention.
The first was focused upon a shopping mall in Dubai, and the word opulence does not justify the items for sale in this place. Set with the backdrop of what could best be called a city of the future where nothing but desert was a few short decades ago, the finest, most luxurious items produced on the planet were all for sale on the many opulent floors of this gigantic shopping area. And all the people that were shopping there looked like they were meant to be there. The verse that entered into my mind was Mark 8:36, “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
One of the other programs we watched was set in the city of Las Vegas, better said, under the city. It revolved around people who live in the storm sewers and obsolete tunnel systems that go on for miles. The cast off, the downtrodden, the dregs of society if you will, nearly all of them addicted to some drug or alcohol, or a combination of both. Destitute does not describe well enough the people who live out of dumpsters. The complete and polar opposite of the previous program. The verse that ran through my head while watching these people? “For ye have the poor always with you; but me ye have not always.” (Matt. 26:11)
I would ask you to contemplate this statement, these people on both ends of this spectrum live on the same planet, and we are related to each of them, to all of them. I can guess quite easily the reaction that those who, if you removed them from the sewers and placed them in that shopping mall, would be. No offence, but they would probably grab all they could, hold on to some of it and pawn the rest for their fleshly desires. If you were to take those from the mall and put them under the streets of Las Vegas, well, they would probably run out screaming. And my friends, this was just two very short programs in two very different places, there are millions of places like both of these all across this planet.
Now, I want to offer you two other verses, or accounts from the Scriptures if you will. One would be what is commonly referred to as the sermon on the mount, and the mostly poor people that were there that day, and the other would be when the Lord spoke to the rich young man. One walked away sad, the others were thirsty for more. “The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” (Prov. 27:7)
Over the years I have attempted to witness for the Lord to those who not only believe they have much, but actually do, and to those who may not have been exactly destitute but did not have far to go before they hit rock bottom. Would you care to guess which individuals were thirsty for the Word of God? A man in prison is continuously looking for hope, for something that he can grab onto that will give him a reason to look forward to tomorrow. The man driving the Rolls Royce believes himself to be at ease, living a comfortable life with no major concerns. Both need Christ, one is perhaps looking for Him more than the other.
I ask you to proceed with great caution in the days to come, for those who are at the moment running this planet are attempting to persuade people to hate what they call the elites, and they are in many ways using the downtrodden to do so. I would ask you to recall another verse here and apply it as these evil days progress. “And ye have respect to him that weareth the gay clothing, and say unto him, Sit thou here in a good place; and say to the poor, Stand thou there, or sit here under my footstool.” (James 2:3) Remember, the ground at the foot of the cross is level, only One was lifted up that day.
