The month of August found a group of students and adults from Woodbrook Campus Life delivering phone books around Lakewood as a fundraiser for the coming school year. This task took us into areas of dramatic contrast: one route contained the country club on the north end of American Lake, while the next went to the impoverished neighborhood of Woodbrook; the next two routes were in Tillicum, where within minutes we would move from massive lakefront houses (and even a castle!) to rundown apartments and trailer parks. Since my teens and I dwell on the poorer side of that spectrum, it sparked some good conversation. I asked the four teens with me during our lunch break whether God is more pleased with rich or poor people – they said “poor.” I asked what they thought “rich” people like those who live by the lake are like – they said “they’re greedy,” “they’re stuck up ‘cause they think they’re ‘all that,’” ‘they’re obsessed with their money and their stuff,” and “they’re lucky.”
Then I pointed out to them that, while this is the case for some, several houses we delivered to on the lakefront that morning belong to people who volunteer at and give generously to the Tillicum Youth and Family Center: people they know by name. Then there were other houses we delivered to on the lakefront that house people who have given generously of time and resources to Tillicum Baptist, our partner church in the community. I also told them about the day I was at one of those houses on a Saturday afternoon as the owner came home from work. I remarked about him putting in hours on a Saturday and he informed me that he had worked every Saturday for over 20 years. Perhaps getting a big house involves a little bit more than luck.
But imagine the response when I informed them that I knew some “rich” people who are convinced that poor people in America are only that way because they are lazy, or because they waste all their money on alcohol or drugs. One boy replied with special indignance, “My parents have worked hard all their lives, and they’re still poor. They’ve just got bills to pay!” Another chimed in, “Yeah, some people are like that, but not all poor people.” We all agreed that both the rich and the poor have stereotypes about each other that aren’t always fair or accurate.
Then we got to the real heart of the issue: how does God want us to use our money? Does he value the big check a rich person gives more than the small amount a poor person puts in the offering plate? The teens seemed unsure how to answer this one, so I answered for them: “If someone makes a hundred dollars a week and gives ten dollars to God every week, God is pleased with that sacrifice. Whether you make $15,000 a year when you become an adult and get job, or $115,000 a year, God wants you to give generously and sacrificially, showing that you trust him and are willing to give so that people know about him.” One enthusiastically chimed in, “And the amount you give to God, that’s what he’ll give back to you.” “Well, sometimes,” I cautioned, “but not always. What’s important to remember is that no matter how big of a house you have, how many Lamborghini’s are in your garage, or how many boats you own, one day all of those will be burned up, and you’ll stand before God. And if God says to you and me, ‘I am pleased with the way you used your money, because you were generous, you sacrificed, and you glorified me,’ that will be worth more than anything we could ever buy with our money in this life.”
I think we all learned something from what we saw in our neighborhood this month, as we tried to look at it together through God’s eyes.