We need the orphan as much as the orphan needs us

I live in a new suburb of the nice part of a city known nationwide for being the unofficial capitol of conservative Christianity, Colorado Springs. You could watch the local news for weeks straight and not see any stories about real crime in this city of somewhere around 600,000 people. In other words, you could say I live among some of the richest, safest, and most comfortable people in the world. I guess this should be a good thing, but sometimes I walk around outside and feel like I live in Disneyland. Like none of this is real.

It's real easy to start to think that my life is just about me. After all, I'm bombarded by about 3000 advertisements everyday, all trying to convince me that I am in need of something to be more successful, happy, and comfortable, and their product or idea or system is just what I need. And of course, the product can be completely customized to meet my individual needs. I'm the customer who is always right, and the consumer who always wants to "have it my way".

You see, I don't actually know any poor people. In American terms, nobody would consider me wealthy- I'm a 27 year old kid who works for a non-profit! But from a global perspective, I'm a king (check out Global Rich List sometime to see where you fit in on the global wealth scale- you'll be shocked). The fact that you are reading this post online, in English, means you are probably doing pretty well too. If you have a car, you are immediately in the top 8% of the world. I don't know what that means for those of us who have 2, or 3, or 4...

Please don't over react and think I'm saying that money is evil and we should just burn it all (although the pyrotechnic in me might enjoy THAT bonfire!). It's nothing more than a tool. What I'm saying is that we, meaning you and me and our friends and family, are probably in danger of losing perspective on what life is about. Because we like to think it's about our needs and desires and happiness. The only problem is that that's not what the Bible says.

The over-arching theme of the Bible is about a God who hears the cry of the oppressed and rescues them. But what happens is that those rescued people quickly forget what it's like to be at the bottom, and soon become the oppressors. God tries to warn them, to remind them of who they were and what He did for them, but if they don't repent, something interesting happens. Remember, God always hears the cries of the oppressed, and He will rescue them. Which is not as fun if you are the one doing the oppressing.

When I think of this, I realize that I live in the richest, most powerful country ever. And I don't often hear the cries of despair and pain that come from the forgotten, abused, and forsaken, because I don't even see them. But God does, and He is on their side. I have to ask, which side am I on? Do my actions, decisions, dreams, and prayers lean toward those who are underfoot or to those who are standing tall and proud on the backs of the least? Am I working against God when I think I am following Him?

I worship a God who made Himself nothing, who left His rightful high and lofty place to live among the poor and forgotten, and who even allowed them to end His life of love (Philippians 2). But I, by accident of birth, find myself among the rich, and I don't want to humble myself to serve those just a little less privileged than me. I'd rather focus on my wants and desires, trying to make my life a little better. I even tend to view salvation as something for me, another product that is good for me to buy, one more thing to give me the life I want. Have I become a consumer of God rather than a follower of Christ? Have I become a taker instead of a giver? If I truly follow Christ, if I really want to be like Jesus, how can that path lead anywhere but lower and lower?

This is why I need the orphan. The orphan may need my help for real, physical needs in a broken and hurting world. But I need the orphan for my own salvation. I am in danger of hoarding more and more wealth for myself in bigger retirement accounts while ignoring the hungry all around (Luke 12:13). The orphan reminds me that I've been blessed to be a blessing. I'm in danger of focusing on my own comfort to the extent that I isolate myself from the poor (Luke 16:19). The orphan reminds me that if I separate from the poor, I'm also hiding from God. I'm in danger of saying to God "Master, we preached the Message, we bashed the demons, our God-sponsored projects had everyone talking," and hearing in reply "You missed the boat. All you did was use me to make yourselves important. You don't impress me one bit. You're out of here" (Matthew 7:21 Message). The orphan reminds me that God is not a genie in a bottle waiting to make my life better, but that I should be attentive to his voice and respond with love for those he loves.

But bigger than all that, I am in danger of missing the opportunity to join with God -who loves the whole world- in his beautiful project of redeeming his entire creation, not just me. He is inviting us, his children, to partner with him in the thing he cares most about, the thing he gave his life for. He is inviting us to be more like him. To give up our own lives to love, to serve, to share joy, to offer hope, to proclaim freedom, and to actually live to the fullest. Do we truly believe we can be like him? Do we truly believe the Spirit of God dwells in us? Do we really love the world so much that we will give our life for those who don't love us back, just like Jesus did?

We need the orphan because we have so many influences distracting us from the real point of life. The cry of the oppressed can pierce the siren call of self-love and refocus us on God's self-giving-love. The point is not to be moved by guilt or even by extreme need. The point is to spend time with the one who loved us first, to love him back, and to love the world just like he does. What could be a better life than that? It seemed to be good enough for Jesus.