Only our Daily Bread?

Bill Brown ... Xiamen University
"...but give me only my daily bread." Proverbs 30:8

"Give me my daily bread, not others daily bread." Bill B.

How often I pray, "give us this day our daily bread," but Agur prayed to be given only his daily bread--no less, but also no more! I'm sure his prayer would not be popular in today's society, where where advertisements proclaim, "You deserve it!", and a Hong Kong airline claims, "You are the center of the world!" But as Wall Street crumbles, some might begin to wonder what we have done to deserve our wealth--and has it been good for us?

A leader once said, "Nothing is going to change our American way of life." But has our way of life led us closer to our Father or farther from Him?

Why did the wiseman Agur want only his daily bread? Agur said in Proverbs 30:7-9):
"Two things I ask of you, O Lord; do not refuse me before I die:
Keep falsehood and lies far from me; and give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread. Otherwise, I may have too much and disown you and say, 'Who is the Lord?' Or I may become poor and steal, and so dishonor the name of my God."

When we see how we've used our wealth, it is easy to understand Agur's concern--or Christ's warning that the wealthy will not easily enter the Kingdom. The greater our wealth, the greater our pride. The greater our pride, the more we "deserve" our wealth, and way of life, until our daily bread is no longer enough, and we want others daily bread as well.

I'm all for a comfortable life! Since my youth I've tried to make money. I sold toys when I was 6 years old to make money to buy more (I earned $25, which was a lot back then). I mowed lawns, delivered papers and TV guides, sold greeting cards and seeds--you name it, I tried it. But when I did finally become a "success" in business, I was less than thrilled by the way it seemed to take over my life, priorities, and value, and it was with no small measure of relief that I gave it up to teach in China. Ironically, a close friend who continued on in business and is now a multimillionaire told me a couple years ago, "I wish I'd have gone with you to China."

I want a comfortable life for my family, and the money to put my kids through college, help them with their weddings, or to travel with my wife. But how much is enough, and how much is too much for me to responsibly handle? And what price am I willing to pay--or to make others pay?

I feel for those struggling in the current economic crunch. But had we been better stewards of our unparalleled prosperity over the past few decades, we might not be facing these problems today. I hope it's not too late to learn from it, and that what we're seeing is not the curtains closing but rather a wake up call to change our priorities. While Christ said it was hard for the rich to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, he did not condemn riches. On the contrary, he called for us to be better stewards of our wealth, and opportunities.

Today, the country that boasted "nothing can change our way of life" is borrowing money from poorer countries so it can dole out money to encourage people to keep spending to get the economy back up. Is our "way of life" worth such a price?

There are many facets of this complex problem that I don't understand, and I'm not sure I trust any media, be it Western or Chinese, right wing or left wing or green wing. But I do know what the Scripture says about accountability and stewardship.

One of Christ's hardest sayings is, "To him that has much, much is given. To him that has little, even what he has is taken away." Lord! You would take from the poor?! But what he is saying is that we will be given only has much as we can handle. If we can't handle it, it will be given to those who can.

As I write this from China, I read almost daily that the center of economic gravity is shifting to Asia. I'm not sure if that is inevitable or not, but if it does happen, it is not because Asia "deserves" it but because we have shown that we do not. Perhaps they may be better stewards. If so, I hope we can learn from them and one day regain the inheritance that was not taken from us but squandered away.

Bill Brown
Xiamen University
www.amoymagic.com