Kristen Welch is a wife, mom of 3, and blogger at We are THAT family. She is also the bestselling author of Raising Grateful Kids in An Entitled World, and a new book called Raising World Changers*, which released on May. 1, 2018.
I Dare You to Ask These Questions
- Why do you think God has allowed you to be born in North America . . . and to be blessed with such material and spiritual abundance?
- In light of the superabundance you enjoy, what do you think is your minimal responsibility to the untold millions of lost and suffering in the world?
I read these two questions in Revolution of World Mission by K. P. Yohannan, founder of Gospel for Asia, and they revolutionized my life and the way I parent. He urged every North American Christian to ask themselves two questions that keep me awake at night. These are the questions that have shaped my home and turned my family right side up. I want to spend my life answering them. I want my children to answer them with how they choose to live and give. Go ahead. Ask yourself these questions. Where you live is not an accident, not the luck of the draw. There is a reason you are where you are. God has a purpose for placing you here and not there.
Why do you think this is? I don’t think it’s a mathematical mistake that one-third of the world is rich enough to ease the burden of the other two-thirds, who are desperately poor and living on less than one dollar a day. Nor is it a curious coincidence that we are already sitting on the answer. It’s something we teach our children from the cradle. It’s called sharing. We have more than enough, and we have enough to share. It sounds like a match made in heaven.
Maybe it was God’s plan all along for us to love others and, instead of accumulating more stuff, to give some of what we have away. America is a land of opportunity. It’s a place where we can achieve all we want and more. But just because we can get more, should we? It’s a hard question only we can answer. This isn’t about the size of a home or a car or a bank account. It’s not about guilt or lifestyle—it’s about the size of our hearts. I know people who have much and give much.
I know people who have almost nothing and give even more. Yohannan challenges us with more tough questions in No Longer a Slumdog. He asks, “How many more cars, clothes, toys and trinkets do we really need before we wake up and realize that half the world goes to bed every night with empty stomachs and naked bodies?” I believe when God asks us what we did with our talents, our resources, our land-of-the-free, home-of-the-brave opportunities, we will be accountable for our answers. We may give already. But we have been given so much. We can give more, share more, and do more. Not to prove we are good people or because we need a longer list of good works. We give because our purpose is to glorify God. We give because he first loved us, and we are to love others. We give because we have it to give. We give because we want to raise children who give. We want to see our kids change someone else’s world.
Maybe this is why we have so much. Maybe this is why we were born where we were born. Maybe this is why we are where we are today. I don’t know where you are right now. You might be in any country in the world. You might be in the middle of your house in the middle of suburbia folding laundry. You might be reading this on your shift break at your job in the hospital on floor two. You might be standing in line at the pharmacy, waiting for a prescription for your mother, who is very sick. You might be in the lowest season of your life or in the best. I don’t know. But I believe where you are matters.
I believe we are where we are for a reason. And we simply must acknowledge that God in all his power and sovereignty placed us among the world’s richest people for a purpose other than fulfilling the American dream. Someone in your world, at your job, in your neighborhood, or on your path needs to know that you are where you are because you can help them where they are. Someone is waiting for you to share your money, your time, and your life with them. We were created to reveal the glory of Jesus to others.
Raising World Changers in a Changing World is now available. Click here to find out more. *
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