Often when Christian westerners visit a poor country they see the poverty and compare their own lives to what they’re seeing.

Then they begin to ask themselves these kinds of questions:

“Why was I born in a rich country and these people born into a poor country? Why do I get to live in a nice house and these people live in wooden shacks?”

It’s good to take notice of that disparity and learn to appreciate what you have as a westerner.

But I would like to challenge that kind of thinking just a little…

Another thing a westerner might notice is that, while these poor people are living in small shacks, they don’t appear to be too devastated by it. In fact many of them seem to be happier than a lot of westerners living in their nice houses.

So the main problem isn’t the poverty. The main problem is sin.

The main problem isn’t that they live in small shacks while you live in a nice house.

Because the fact of the matter is, westerner, that when Jesus comes back, He’s going to burn your house down too.

So the question is not: “Why was I born rich and them poor?”

But rather: “Why was I born into a nation, a family, a situation where I was able to hear and believe the Gospel?”

And then: “What must I do to see to it that those who don’t have access to the Gospel get it?”

Don’t rejoice (or feel guilty) that you have a nice house, car, TV, etc…

Rejoice that your name is written in Heaven.