The Need For Government Assistance - It's My Fault

As I have watched the political debates among friends and family on facebook I see how easy it is to take one thread and pull like crazy and also how pointless it is.  Picture a man on the street corner with a bullhorn screaming that you are going to hell.  Does that change your life?  Hardly.

I offer up a change of pace in regards to the finger pointing and political party rallying.  This is mind-blowing, are you ready for this?

It is my fault that the government must fill the gap and provide for the hungry, the sick, and the poor.  My fault.  I take responsibility. 

As you read this please don’t think about the person next to you. This is my confession.  My failure. I am talking about me.  Christian or not, please here me out.  Even if I happen to be tithing 10% to our church, the Bible says that kind of giving is the bare minimum or a starting point.  Do my actions show that I love my neighbor as I love myself?  What does that kind of love look like?  Maybe giving half of what I earn to the poor constitutes my actions following my beliefs (i.e. our friend Zacchaeus in Luke 19).  Notice that I say give.  Not “pay in taxes”.  But since so few people are giving “sacrificially”, I don’t fault the government for having to step in because I have not stepped up.  How easy would it be to say “WE have not stepped up” or “YOU have not stepped up” or "THEY have not stepped up"?  That would alleviate some of the accountability I feel. That is tempting.  But wrong.  I am not responsible for anyone else’s choices but my own. 

As a Christian I am called to give sacrificially.  That sounds “churchy” so lets break it down and define “sacrifice”. How about this: “To sacrifice is the surrender of something prized or desirable for the sake of something considered as having a higher or more pressing claim”.  How does that look in my every day life?  Maybe we should eat out less often and give the difference to a food bank.  Maybe I should reduce our “gift fund” and give the difference to World Vision.  Maybe we should be content in our home and give our salary increase to notable charities instead.  If I had a Starbucks addiction I could cut that out or at least cut it down drastically.  The options are endless and while some changes cannot happen over night there are changes that can begin today.  Do I put together dinner to eat in the car on the way to the softball game or do we get fast food every Tuesday night for 8 weeks?  Trading for Christ on an everyday basis must be an intentional choice. It will not happen by accident.

I could blame everyone else for his or her choices.  But in some ways it is easier to take responsibility for myself.  I can’t elicit change on the part of everyone else.  Only myself.  Point your fingers and change nothing.  I have taken ownership and change begins now.