What is wealth? Is it choices? Opportunity? Material possessions? Services? By American standards, I am a middle-class citizen. However, by any measure I am one of the wealthiest people ever to have lived. Think about the experience of grocery shopping. Your horseless carriage brings you smoothly to the front of the establishment, where you pause to grab a basket suspended on wheels. Then the doors automatically open to let you into the temperature controlled environment, music softly playing in the background. You wander down aisles and aisles of choices with perishable food kept fresh by humming servants who never sleep. Having made your selections, your purchases are automatically tallied and bagged, and an employee politely offers to bring them to your carriage. My Lords and Ladies--King Solomon himself did not experience such daily ease!
Continually, I marvel that I am living in a time in history when silent servants are the norm. We have machines to wash our clothes, clean our dishes, dry our hair, create light, cool and heat our homes, transport us, play music, and entertain. We even have machines that turn on our other machines so that we not have to rise from our seats! Truly, we have embarrassingly more than enough. My question today is not whether or not we appreciate what we have, but whether or not we are good stewards of the exceptional riches God has given.
P. S. Public restrooms make me laugh; I don't have to lift a finger to flush a toilet, turn on water, or pull a towel, but engineers still refuse to design a stall that doesn't squish the user from the swing of an inward-opening door.
Continually, I marvel that I am living in a time in history when silent servants are the norm. We have machines to wash our clothes, clean our dishes, dry our hair, create light, cool and heat our homes, transport us, play music, and entertain. We even have machines that turn on our other machines so that we not have to rise from our seats! Truly, we have embarrassingly more than enough. My question today is not whether or not we appreciate what we have, but whether or not we are good stewards of the exceptional riches God has given.
P. S. Public restrooms make me laugh; I don't have to lift a finger to flush a toilet, turn on water, or pull a towel, but engineers still refuse to design a stall that doesn't squish the user from the swing of an inward-opening door.
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