The Irresponsible American Dream

Guatemala 2011 (Students International photo)

I often am worried that people will think my decisions in life are irresponsible. I am afraid that people will think that I am just frivolously trotting off to Halifax and to Mozambique for the sake of adventure. Is it irresponsible to spend time and resources that I don't have to help in these places? 

Although I did not want to admit it, I think I have been listening too much of this Western "wisdom" that says financial security is what we aim for. We want to go to school so that we can get a good job so that we can be financially secure, and comfortable in the luxury that is North American life. That is what a "responsible" adult does. 

According to this worldview, I am not a responsible adult. 

But this past week, I have realized that the American Dream may not  be as responsible as I think it is. In fact, I would call it rather irresponsible.

This weekend, a group of students from Acadia went to a missions conference called Jesus to the Nations in Halifax. While I only caught the last bit of the conference, I and many of the students were deeply affected by the stories we heard of the lostness all over the world. 

In particular, we were moved to tears and to action by the stories of children in Cambodia who are sex slaves. Thinking of these many, many children whose know nothing other than rape and such horrors, and thinking of sex slaves who are even transported within our own country's borders, we knew we have to do something. 

I study economics. I know that human trafficking and slavery will not stop until there ceases to be a demand to use our brothers and sisters as objects. And I know that the human heart is capable of such evil that this will never stop without the intervention of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Furthermore, I know that the church is the only institution in the world who wants to share this goodness. We are part of the church. Therefore, it is up to us to bring light to the world's darkest places. 

There are billions of people living in poverty and without clean water. 

There are millions of people who have never ever heard Jesus' name. There are millions who don't have the Scriptures in their own language. Millions of people die from AIDS and other preventable diseases. There are an estimated 27 million people who are in slavery today: more than any other time in history. 

We know these things.

We have skills, resources, education,  and a relationship with God. We could help.

But we go to school, get a job, and complain about traffic and slow internet.

This is Easter weekend, and I can be pretty sure that this is not why Jesus lived and died and rose again. 

In fact, Jesus told us why he came:

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 Luke 4:16-18 (NLT)

When he came to the village of Nazareth, his boyhood home, he went as usual to the synagogue on the Sabbath and stood up to read the Scriptures. ¹⁷ The scroll of Isaiah the prophet was handed to him. He unrolled the scroll and found the place where this was written:

¹⁸ “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me,
    for he has anointed me to bring Good News to the poor.
He has sent me to proclaim that captives will be released,
    that the blind will see,
that the oppressed will be set free,
¹⁹     and that the time of the Lord’s favor has come.”

²⁰ He rolled up the scroll, handed it back to the attendant, and sat down. All eyes in the synagogue looked at him intently. ²¹ Then he began to speak to them. “The Scripture you’ve just heard has been fulfilled this very day!”

There is hope for this world, and it is in Jesus. Not even death could stop him. He is the only One who can end slavery, poverty, war, and despair. 

But it is us who he uses.

So I ask you: what is more responsible? Our own American (or Canadian) Dream? Or being part of restoring the world to what it should be?

I have but one candle of life to burn, and I would rather burn it out in a land filled with darkness than in a land flooded with light.

-Ion Keith Falconer.