Back in 2004, as I touched down in America from a trip to the Dominican Republic, I remember being sharply taken back by the culture shock i felt. The endless wealth, consumerism, and overall prosperity was more than I could take… and my reaction was not necessarily one of love. I grew bitter towards worldly comfort, and bitter towards America. It was easy for me to rise up in my own personal self-righteousness and condemn the wealth around me. Problem is not only did I just look down on the wealth… but I also began looking down at the people who possessed the wealth. Like there was something inherently ungodly about having the comforts of this world.
Let’s just say things have changed…
I mean I was that guy that said, “Give me the rough conditions… I’ll take the involuntary fast… the no toilet.. the no running water… give me the uncomfortable environment for Jesus!”
Now… in perfect hypocritical-eat-your-own-words fashion I am pleading for wealth and comfort!!
And stepping foot on Romanian soil this month was an answer to all my pleading. Culture shock is something we potentially experience every four weeks, but this for sure is the greatest degree of transition… first, because I’ve been in Africa for three months and then in both Nepal and India for a month. Goodness gracious!!! The intensity and duration of Africa, the almost dangerously unhealthy conditions and lack of anything in Nepal, and the dirtiness and awkwardness of India… overwhelming would be a gross understatement.
And then we touch down in Romania. Sidewalks! Trash cans! Cars that don’t honk every 2 seconds! Medians! Smooth streets! Grocery stores! Landscaping! Showers! Hot showers! a kitchen to cook our own food with! to eat whatever we want!! a refrigerator!! Electricity! Wi-fi Internet at our house!!!!!!!!!!! Contacts who speak English! Church that is translated! Worship songs that I recognize and can join in with!
I could go on for a while! i’ll spare you.. you get the point. Everything looks and feels strangely like America.
And with it my comforts… but perhaps, also, my idols..
My reaction… unlike my repulsion experienced in coming back to America several years ago… I was EMBRACING all my creature comforts with complete freedom… lavishing myself with wi-fi and hot showers! Some serious worship was going on in those first couple days… No kidding!
But sadly, it was just a few days until all these most gracious gifts from above became my rights… became my entitlements, my rewards. The evidence of such ungratefulness is unbelievable, almost comical… but it’s true… and it’s me… it’s us… its sinful human beings that don’t know how to be thankful. “Did nine months of nothing not teach you anything, Matthew?”
“Take care lest you forget the LORD your God… lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery…” (Deut 8:11)
Wow! See, the Israelites were champs at calling out to God in distress and then forgetting God in prosperity…. and I am no different!
Let me take an honest minute to let you in on my complaining…
“What the heck? My wifi signal is weak!” After using wifi on my bed, I walked downstairs with my laptop, was lying on a couch as comfortable as could be, and legitimately got upset my signal was weak! About a month ago i had to reserve almost an entire day to go get internet, hiking up and down a mountain to an internet cafe that was less than ideal… which only worked if by chance the power in the village was on.
“Oh my gosh! My sprite is not cold yet? Unbelievable!” I bought a sprite and put it in a freezer to chill… it had been i don’t know thirty minutes or so. Not to mention the fact that i had the ability to purchase a sprite, and had a freezer! i haven’t even seen a freezer in over a year! And we haven’t had cold soft drinks in as long as i can remember!
“I can’t believe there is hair in the drain of the shower, how gross?!” First off.. when is the last time i have had a running water shower? Secondly, the water is hot! i mean HOT! Oh poor Matthew, he has to clean out someone else’s hair from the drain. “Grow up!”
“The piano keyboard speakers don’t get any louder?!” okay.. its been almost a year since I’ve played a nice piano or keyboard. honestly, when I warmed up before service I started to tear up just putting my hands on the keys. Secondly, I am worshiping in ENGLISH with other people affirming and singing the same eternal truths that I am. I haven’t joined in worship with familiar sounding instruments in as long as i can remember! … The first service i went to, it was unbelievable… i was again crying in worship… my heart overflowing in thanksgiving to God, both that He is good, and that “I CAN UNDERSTAND!!!” But my profound gratefulness didn’t take long to wear off…
And on and on it goes… the grumbling spirit… is there an end to it?
And so I feel a tension set itself up within me… i really love all these comforts. I’m not kidding… and I’m not hiding behind some super-spiritual mask that says I’m above them, I’m not… I want them! Do you have ANY idea how excited i am to get back to America? And to not only have the stuff… i mean those things matter, but there are more important things still…
… to be with family, to be with my friends, my loved ones… to be able to understand everything that people say… to go to church and have a good time… to be in an environment that doesn’t completely shift every other day… to have some sense of sanity and stability!!
these things are coming… how will I respond? How will I stay humble and thankful for all God’s blessings? How will I guard against ungratefulness and the insatiable desire for more?
How can we all not only remember, but walk in the reality that all we have is a gift from God… that we aren’t entitled to ANYTHING in this life. The only right we have… the only thing we truly deserve, if we want justice… is hell. Every one of us has offended a most holy God and deserving of unending wrath and judgment. That is what I am entitled to if I want to talk about rights…
“But the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus.” This whole life is a life of receiving insane amounts of grace. Let us walk in that reality… and it is my firm conviction that we will start looking at everything with new eyes, seeing all as evidences of grace rather than personal rights… that sunrise… grace. That bird flying… grace. The crickets chirping at night… grace. That new born baby… grace. Friendship and family… grace. That dollar in your pocket… grace. That caramel frappacino at starbucks… grace. Church… grace. Salvation… grace. Jesus… grace. It’s all of grace!!
Let’s walk in grace and be the most thankful people on the face of the earth… we have the most to be thankful for. Whether with little or much… we have it all… “having nothing, yet possessing EVERYTHING!” (2 Cor 6:10) We have Christ… that makes us the richest people in the universe!
