A Niggle

I have a niggle that really annoys me - and thankfully, it is supported by biblical verses, so I can have this grunt even at certain Christians.

This world is in the most darkest and dire situation. We refer to the "Third world", bt in reality it is almost two thirds - that is, out of 6 billion people, 4 billion are considered to be without the basic needs - Food, Water, Shelter, Health, and Education - once these 5 have been established, you are getting somewhere. And we sit at home, we see these advertised - some poor starving child in Ethiopia, whose ribcage is showing, who is so weak that he cannot be othered to bat the flies away from his face. It is saddening, but what is even more saddening is that we have become apathetic about the problem.

As a child, I had a dream - an actual daydream, a fantasy - and I also did some basic maths - there are 2billion people in the developed world - that's 2 billion people that theoretically, have the capability to help out the other 4 billion - that is a 1:2 ratio. say we needed a group of volunteers to build a school for 200 children - to satisfy the ratio, we would need only 100 people to build the school - that is more than enough! and this propogated a ream that I believed possible - right up until the day I became cynical, but sadly, realistic. It wouldn't happen because nobody could be bothered to do it. We simply would not get all 2 billion of us, around the world, getting out of our daily office jobs, out of the daily routine, and giving each other a hand - across race, creed, colour, nation.

My Niggle, however, does not just lie with those who are apathetic enough to not do anything - but it lies also with those who believe that "awareness raising" is a much more worthwhile thing to do than actual raising of money. we see so much of it, there is no point raising awareness of the fact that there are people living without clean water - everybody knows that, it is common fact - you would have to find somebody who is really clueless and out of it who does not know that there are billions of people who do not have access to clean water, or enough food, etc.

My deepest niggle is expressed best by James chapter 3 - A passage saying that faith without deeds is useless.

I believe in prayer - I believe that we can pray for these situations to get better - but Jesus left this earth with no physical presence left - he gave us his Holy Spirit to do his work for him - so whilst as we might pray for something to be done, ultimately it has to be done by us - it will only get done by Human hand - God is not going to simply hop down to Ethiopia and bring about some food - because we have the resources here on earth to be able to do it ourselves. This is what james was getting at - he gave the example of a homeless man begging for food - if a man comes up to you and begs for food, give him some! Do not turn around and say "I pray that you shall not go hungry tonight" and then leave him with nothing! Maybe God will hear your prayer and someone else will give him food - but you could've done it yourself.

God wants to use us! God wants to use our talents, our skills, our expertise, in a place that is perfect for us - in a situation where we can do the most good.

Sir Cliff Richard was onced interviewed by a charity, I think Tearfund, if I remember correctly, and they asked him what was he able to do: Can he build a school? No. Can he dig a well? No. Can he make a lot of money? Yes - fine then Sir Cliff should do what he is best at and give them money, whilst they got on with what they were best at.

I am basically saying that God has given you gifts and talents - and whether you believe in Him or not, it doesn't matter - you have gifts and talents - they are a gift to you - so use them to bring about a better world.

Please be intelligent about what you do with your life - one day, you will be lying on your deathbed and look back - and would you like to look back at a boring office job for 40 years, raising a family, and then having wondered where your life went spend your retirement jetting about all over the place? Or would you rather look back, and think of all the smiling children with new schools, all the women who can have medical care, and can safely give birth, all the rural farmers that now have water to irrigate their fields and produce a good harvest, to feed the whole villiage? Maybe you don't get to see those faces because you are best at an office Job - but maybe you might know the existence of those faces, if you use that job to earn money, because that is what you are best at - and you have helped them out monetarily?

Make a difference, do something with your life that you will be proud of, and please, for God's sake, use your gifts and talents with intelligence, wisdom, and to help bring about a better world.

Niggle over.