First-World Problems

During my daily Facebook scroll I read this blog post
A letter to the North American church

The afternoon brought carved out time to spend with friends.
Three genuine ladies who lift me up by just being themselves and filling my home
While our children played, decorated cupcakes, snuck M&M's, and sang "Happy Last Day Of Being Seven To You"
We shared life over a cup of coffee
There's no need to waste breath on small talk, and it's refreshing sharing joys as well as failures, moments of clarity and peace as well as struggles and insecurities.
We talked about living life as Christians - here, in this place, in this moment, surrounded by our children, and in the reality of dysfunction that is life.
What are we teaching them, not just from text books, but from our actions, reactions and habits.
It was good...

And later, just before bed and a second scroll through Facebook this...
"There's a blog post to be written about the attitude of the lady in Panera this evening who was told that the type of bread she wanted was unavailable and what it says about the culture we live in..."

We do not live in a Third-World Country
Our homes have multiple rooms, sometimes multiple levels
Our freezers and pantries are full
And there are four different grocery store options within a two-mile radius of most homes
Said grocery is overflowing with items, most pre-packaged and unnecessary
A walk through Target will offer you 172 different types of hand soap, body wash and shampoo
We get coffee from drive through windows and find individualized ways to take it
Baking and Cooking are tasks easily subbed out to the restaurant down street
And our cars full of gasoline, which required their own savings account for maintenance get us there
And we have money to pay for all of the above
We live in a world of excess
In a First-World Country
Yet
God, the creator of the universe, who spoke stars into existence
God, our maker, who knit together our being
Placed us here, in this time, in this place
To be different
In our actions
In our speech
In our way of life
There are a lot of "First-World Problems"
And yeah, I get caught up complaining about them too
Car issues, and cost of maintenance - Grocery store trips - Budgets - Menu planning - Etc.
If we claim to be Christians - followers of Christ,
First-World Problems are NOT supposed to be OUR problems

"To God's elect strangers, in the world...who have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through the sanctifying work of the Spirit, for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by his blood..."

He knew where I was going to land
He has a plan
Sanctification does not happen over night - it's a LIFE LONG process
But we have to pursue it
Be obedient - in this place, in this time
And accept the Lordship of Jesus in our lives
How that all looks?
I'm still working on it
And until I get it, I'm trusting HE has it all worked out, I just need to be faithful.

First-World Problem people need JESUS
Just like the people with Third-World Problems
And if we know HIM, We've got work to do.