Topic(s): Christian Life, Blessings, Priorities

Author’s note: Entering a foreign culture is cause for reflection and
opportunity for comparison. Sitting on the plane returning from a mission
trip to Tanzania, Africa, and then waiting for a delayed connecting flight
in a busy DFW airport, my thoughts turned in this direction.

Though Americans and Tanzanians live on the same planet, they
live in different worlds. In so many ways we are a hundred years
ahead of them—medically, technologically, educationally, and
materially. We would not even consider trading places with them.
In areas like transportation, food preparation, hygiene, farming,
and entertainment, their lifestyle does not even register on the
same scale with the American way of life. For these reasons, we
feel sympathy for them.

But in other ways, they still have what we left behind. They seem
to enjoy life and laugh a lot more than most Americans (cf. Prov.
17:22). They still have time for Bible classes and preaching (1
Cor. 1:18). They have large families with plenty of children playing
all around (cf. Psa. 127:3-5). They still enjoy the simple pleasures
we gave up long ago. They aren’t rushed and have time to
“stop and smell the roses.” For these reasons, we find ourselves a
little envious.

So, who has the “good life?” You decide...

•  They worry about getting enough vitamins and protein in their
  diet; we worry about getting too much cholesterol and fat.
   
• They wear their clothes out because they wash them on a
  rock; we throw ours out because they are last year’s fashion (cf.
  Prov. 18:9).
   
• They worry about chasing rats away; we worry about winning
  the rat race. [“Come ye yourselves apart into a desert place, and
  rest a while: for there were many coming and going, and they had
  no leisure so much as to eat” (Mk. 6:31).]
   
• They live in mud huts because they cannot afford better houses;
  we live in better houses that we cannot afford. [“... beware of
  covetousness: for a man’s life consisteth not in the abundance of
  the things which he possesseth” (Lk. 12:15).]
   
• They are poor and humble; we are rich and proud. [“Because
  thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of
  nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable,
  and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17).]
   
• They die at forty with disease and poor medicine; we die at
  fifty with heart attacks and lung cancer. [“...know ye not that your
  body is the temple of the Holy Ghost...therefore glorify God in
  your body, and in your spirit....” (1 Cor. 6:19, 20).]
   
• Their women never wear pants in public (only dresses); ours
  hardly wear anything at all. [“In like manner also, that women
  adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and
  sobriety...” (1 Tim. 2:9a).
   
• They bathe naked (nearly) in a river for lack of indoor plumbing;
  we have it and (sun) bathe naked (nearly) on a beach.
  [“...whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed
  adultery with her already in his heart” (Mt. 5:28); “...that no
  (wo)man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his (her)
  brother’s way” (Rm. 14:13).]
   
• They are glad to have any clothes without holes; we won’t
  wear clothes unless they have the right name on it. [“...not with
  broided hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array” (1 Tim. 2:9b).]
   
• Their children are poorly dressed but sit quietly through two
  hour services; ours are immaculately clothed but get a drink of
  water every ten minutes and won’t behave. [“Children, obey your
  parents in the Lord: for this is right” (Eph 6:1).]
   
• We’ve wiped out malaria and typhoid; they are not bothered
  with hypertension and lung cancer.
   
• They worry about malnutrition, undernourishment, and starvation;
  we worry about anorexia, obesity, and bulimia.
   
• They are poor and satisfied; we are rich and discontented.
  [“But godliness with contentment is great gain” (1 Tim. 6:6).]
   
• They have little and want little; we have a lot and want more.
  [“For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can
  carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith
  content” (1 Tim 6:7, 8).]
   
• They ask for an extra preaching service each night; we complain
  if the preacher goes over five minutes. [“Blessed are they
  which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be
  filled” (Mt. 5:6).]
   
• They know nothing of TVs and VCRs; then again, they know
  nothing of dirty movies and seven wasted hours a day. [“Blessed
  are the pure in heart: for they shall see God” (Mt. 5:8);
  “Redeeming the time...” (Eph 5:16). ]
   
• They don’t have telephones; but they don’t have telemarketing,
  either.
   
• Their pace is slow, but they have time to talk after a worship
  service; ours is fast, but we have little time for each other. [“...tarry
  one for another” (1 Cor. 11:33); “...let us consider one another to
  provoke unto love and to good works” (Heb. 10:24).]
   
• They have no cars so they walk everywhere; we drive everywhere
  and then walk in the park for exercise.
   
• Their men marry seven wives at a time; ours marry seven
  wives—one after another. [“Whosoever shall put away his wife,
  except it be for fornication, and shall marry another, committeth
  adultery...” (Mt. 19:9).]
   
• They live in misery and long for heaven; we live in luxury and
  doubt the afterlife. [“Even so, come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20b);
  “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the
  righteous into life eternal” (Mt. 25:46).]
   
• Their children play with homemade toys for hours; ours tire
  of electronic games ten minutes after opening them.
   
• They are poor, and steal; we are rich, and covetous. [“Let him
  that stole steal no more...” (Eph. 4:28); “Mortify therefore...covetousness,
  which is idolatry” (Col. 3:5).]
   
• They believe in superstition and witchcraft; we have motels
  with no thirteenth floors and read our horoscopes each morning.
  [“Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these...idolatry,
  witchcraft, hatred...” (Gal. 5:19, 20).]
   
• They live in mud huts with no doors, but are unafraid; we live
  in mansions with alarms and fear for our lives.
   
• They have no Bibles but beg for them; we have several that
  we rarely open. [“...they received the word with all readiness of
  mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were
  so” (Acts 17:11).]

Which has the good life? Neither. Who does? Those who make it
to the perfect land of eternal delights (Rev. 21)!