Comforting the Afflicted or Afflicting the Comfortable

My travels take me to many different parts of the world, but most of our work is in Third World Nations where the poverty and conditions make life very difficult. I have seen people living and surviving on so little that you wonder how they can do it. And yet one thing I have always noticed is that kids are kids no matter where you go in the world. They might not know where their next meal will come from, but they still seem to be able to make the best of the situation they find themselves in. I have seen kids with no toys, play with a stick and an old bicycle rim and have a great time.

Even though their lives are very hard, they seem to always have a smile when they see a camera. I love taking pictures of these kids, as they give one hope for the future with their positive little attitudes. They do not know what life is going to bring them, but they face it head on and make the most of it. This is why it is often times hard for me to come back to the US after one of these trips and hear people complaining about how tough life is for them here at home.

Sometimes even among Christians we hear these same complaints. We drive to church in our nice cars. We sit in our comfortable church buildings on our padded pews with heat and air conditioning and all the comforts of home. We sing from our song books, read from our Bibles and give an offering when the collection plate is passed. Some complain that the service was to long, or the singing wasn't what they wanted. While we sit in our comfort and often complain, other people around the world would love to have what we have.

I remember hearing a sermon many years ago intitled "Comforting the Afflicted, or Afflicting the Comfortable." I sometimes think that we need to spend some time letting our minds dwell on this statement. Christ came to comfort those who were afflicted, but I sometimes think today that preachers might do better to afflict the "comfortable" to help us to better understand what our purpose in life really is. It is not about how comfortable we can make our lives, but about what we do with our lives to touch others with the message of Christ.

We recently travled to Gorblee, Liberia to work with the church in that area. When we arrived I noticed their church building. They had put on some new palm fonds for walls. The roof was made of an old discarded United Nations tarp. The benches were made from split bamboo. Try sitting on those for two or three hours. Talk about afflicting the comfortable, it is hard to get comfortable on a bench like this, but the brethren don't seem to mind. They are just glad to be coming together to worship and thank the Father for the blessings of life. They walk for miles to come and attend the services and sit on benches that are not comfortable. They sing their songs from memory as they have no song books. They share the few Bibles that they have between them, as not everyone has the privilege or blessing of having their own Bible. How many Bibles do we have sitting on book shelves unused? They listen to the teaching and the preaching. They commune together with the Lord.

Perhaps one of the hardest things for me is to hear them sing songs like "Count Your Many Blessings, Name them One by One." How can they count their many blessings, when they have so few? And yet they sing the songs and they count their daily blessings. Having survived many years of war and hardship, each one of them knows that they truly are blessed by the Father. It is always a reminder to me of how blessed I am when I look and see their conditions. But it is all they know, so they sing from their hearts and give thanks from their lips for what they have and how God has blessed them.

Next time you sing the song, "Count Your Many Blessings, Name them One by One," stop and think what the Lord really has done for you. How He has blessed your life. And let us each learn to appreciate our comforts, but not to take them for granted. May God bless and use each one of us to His glory.