Presenting ...
... a weekly letter of encouragement.
Singapore
June 21, 1995
Good Morning!
ONE OF LIFE'S ILLUSIONS:
Recently I relaxed in the lobby of one of Asia's loveliest
hotels located in a country classified as "Third World."
As chauffeured Mercedes and Jaguars cruised to the entrance,
the beautiful and the privileged alighted to the gracious welcome
of white-gloved hotel personnel.
Later, as I was being chauffeured to the airport
in an air conditioned automobile, I gazed out the window and noticed
a bent over old man, cane in hand, laboring under the blaring
sun as he shouldered a heavy backpack up a steep series of steps
that would eventually take him across the highway upon which I
was traveling.
I could not help but think, "What inequity! How unfair!
Why the disparity?"
...Until I recalled Jesus' teaching:
"Many who are first will be last; and the
last, first." (Matthew 19:30)
About the parable of the rich man and Lazarus: In eternity
the fellow previously living in poverty and sickness on earth
now enjoys heaven's bliss with Abraham, while rich Lazarus now
languishes in Hell. (Luke 16:19-31).
"Because you say, 'I am rich, and have become wealthy,
and have need of nothing,' and you do not know that you are wretched
and miserable and poor and blind and naked..." (Revelation
3:17)
As you and I enjoy His bounty in our "island" of affluence,
surrounded by the world's impoverished, it behooves us to remember
that,
"...EVERYONE WHO HAS BEEN GIVEN MUCH, MUCH SHALL
MUCH BE REQUIRED..." (Luke 12:48)
May God help us amidst our "illusion" of prosperity
to maintain an eternal perspective as to the true
riches, and of the responsibility that
comes with privilege.
My prayer is that you are having a great week!
Dwight Hill
© Copyright 1996 Dwight Hill. Unlimited permission to copy or use is hereby granted subject to inclusion of this copyright notice.
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