“Do not be anxious about anything….”
“…Each day has enough trouble of its own.”
Philippians 4:6 and Matthew 6:34

When our adopted children arrived from Ukraine in 2002, they had a long, hard adjustment to the US economy, coming from a place where wages are suppressed and prices are adjusted accordingly. In other words, things cost a lot more in the US, but we have a lot more to spend. That was tough for my kids to grasp. They didn’t understand what constituted a good deal, and they didn’t know how to use the currency. It was a whole different system.

One of the first places we went with our newly adopted children was to the Nike Factory Outlet. That was a good trip. Here you can choose the shoe you want, and then get it in your size. That is a radical departure from life in certain countries. It was really neat for our children not to have to pick based on seeing a shoe that looked like it might fit, but finding a shoe and asking for it in their own measured size.

Even buying at half price at the Nike outlet, a few pairs of shoes in the USA added up to about six months’ wages for a person who is well paid in Ukraine. A pediatrician, as I mentioned previously, earned forty US dollars per month in 2002. An ice-cream cone at McDonald’s in Vinnytsia was twenty cents. That’s much cheaper than in the USA, but the disparity in price and income is such that regardless of what a dollar is worth over there, we have incredible wealth in the USA.

It’s hard to adjust to the enormity of the resources that all US citizens have readily available. Those of us who don’t feel like we have a lot of money when we compare ourselves to some of our friends need to go and spend a little time in some other part of the world. Having visited places where attempts to spread wealth equally resulted in uniform poverty, it is astounding how financially blessed Americans have been under our economic system. The fantastic wealth we have in America is both a challenge and a blessing. The challenge is that our wealth may distract us from thinking about our true home and can hamper our recognition that God provides our daily bread. The blessing is that our wealth allows us to financially support the work of brothers and sisters in other countries. What a privilege it has been to use some of the resources with which God has blessed me, often through the generosity of others, to care for and provide for my dear children who were born a world away.

We may not be able to attain to the lifestyle that Robin Leach used to promote with the “rich and famous,” but even America’s poor live far better than most people in the world today and throughout all of history. What we experience routinely is something that is inconceivable to most of the people who live on earth right now and who have ever lived on earth.

We take our wealth for granted. We get upset if the toilet is broken. Many people can’t imagine having a flush toilet in the house, especially their own flush toilet. It’s just ridiculous what we take for granted.

Even as believers and wealthy Americans, you and I have a very hard time getting a clue about God’s inexhaustible resources. Most of us have a pauper mentality. Please, don’t think that I’m about to launch into a prosperity gospel here. I am not saying that because God is rich, we should, therefore, try to accumulate more material wealth for ourselves. In fact, just the opposite is true.

Do you remember what happened to the Israelites if they tried to keep manna overnight? What they tried to store rotted. Jesus told us to pray for “our daily bread.” He also told us not to store up treasures on earth where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal. When we are secure in the knowledge of God’s wealth and love, we no longer have to live like paupers hoarding our possessions. God will supply what we need when we need it, as we obey Him.
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