As an excellent example of the change in focus now occuring in evangelical circles, check out a very insightful essay by Heather Koerner at Boundless, a webzine for twentysomethings published by Focus on the Family:
It’s struck me over the last few weeks: I am “the rich” that the Bible talks about.
I have heard pastors and authors say it before but, for some reason, it never stuck. To me, “the rich” conjured up pictures of Bill Gates, Michael Jordan, Oprah Winfrey or Warren Buffett. It’s “the rich” who own those million dollar homes on the coasts. Or who live in that certain neighborhood in my town. Or who shop at those stores where nothing ever goes on sale.
. . .
But I was wrong.
I was reminded of this by Randy Alcorn, author of many books including Money, Possessions and Eternity. Alcorn points out that if you and I have sufficient food, decent clothes, live in a house or apartment and have a reasonably reliable means of transportation, we’re among the top 15 percent of the world’s wealthy.
That challenges my perspective. After all, I had all those things when I considered myself a “poor as a church mouse” college student. If you had told me then that I was wealthy, I would have probably laughed. But all I could see were those immediately around me. Just as a 6’5″ NBA player may feel comparatively short, we may feel comparatively average, less than average or even poor.
But our wealth perspective is skewed. The fact is that 6’5″ is tall. And the fact is that most of us are rich.
Even the average Christian teenager in America, who has about $1,500 in disposable cash income each year, makes more than 80 percent of the people on the earth.
Read it all here.