Dangling carrot

Last Sunday, a mission team that we sent to Bulgaria had a chance to speak to the church during our morning worship service.

One of the women on the trip told of her first day in this Communist country. She said, “It was lifeless grey buildings everywhere. And the people were the same way. We hear about Communisim in this country and we think of another country and the Cold War, but you don’t know, you don’t know how Communism crushes the human spirit. As we drove around, I was appalled, and I closed myself off. I said ‘God? Where are you? I don’t see you here.’ When we got back to our rooms, I cried. I cried for 3 hours for Bulgaria, and I prayed ‘God, help me to see you in Bulgaria.'”

She continues, “The next morning, God answered my prayer. We went to the orphanage, and as we went in, all we heard was children singing praise songs! And they were so happy! You think our kids sing loud? These children were almost screaming, they were so joyful and excited. They were singing the songs that they had learned at the youth camp the previous year, and they sang them because thats all that they had. They only owned the clothes on their backs. For food, the government gives them half a loaf of bread a day. The prisoners get a whole loaf, but the oprhans only get half. But that was okay, because they knew Jesus.

“They really humbled me. When I was doing my journal that night, I thought about what I saw and I felt lacking. I love God for all He has done for me, and I thank him for my family, and for my job, and for all the things He has blessed me with. But I don’t know if I could sing just because of Him. Thats what these kids were doing – He was all they had, and they were joyful. I prayed, ‘Lord, let me learn to rejoice just in who you are.'”

I write this as a follow-up to a note swap… Capitalism and Christianity on a collision course. CAPITALISM…thats an American concept! Usually we see Captialism and Communisim on a collision course, or Christianity fighting Communism. But I want to point out a political point.

We’ve got it good here, materially. And the fact that it isn’t illegal to worship God and Christ here (yet) puts us far and above those countries where it is a crime. None the less, our capitalist lifestyle leads to the same crush of the human spirit that communism does. Our missionary above concluded with that truth. She has no idea how to appreciate God simply for who He is. She, until now, only knew how to see God within a materialist mindset.

I think thats scary.