I’ve not traveled the world much and I know there are many places where poverty and hopelessness are the rule.
I’ve had the opportunity to minister in places of poverty, but I’ve not experienced the sense of hopelessness that I feel in many poor places that AIM serves in the U.S.
In most cases, the people who live in these places of hopelessness are not particularly poor by global standards.
They have roofs and clothes and food.
So why do I visit people in 2nd or 3rd world situations who are living in shacks with dirt floors, or in garbage heaps and see joy?
There’s a principle here: material poverty doesn’t equal hopelessness.
In Mexico, for example, there is a lot of poverty.
However, in the places I’ve been, I’ve not felt the sense of hopelessness I feel in many parts of America.
In fact, in most of these places the people are quite joyful.
After one mission trip in Mexico I was able to talk to my son Ryan, about the seeming paradox of joy in the midst of poverty.
I asked him if he felt like the people we had been with were happy or sad.
He said they didn’t seem sad to him and agreed with me that they seemed happy.
Now the hook was set, so I asked the next question, “How can the people be so joyful when they have so little?”
He thought about that a bit, which was my reason for asking the question, and we had a good conversation.
What is the tipping point for hopelessness?
There may be many contributors to hopelessness, but it’s apparent to me that poverty isn’t a common denominator.
I think that hopelessness is the end result of the absence of God as a present, conscious reality in someone’s life.
Not all people who are without God are hopeless.
This is so, because they give themselves to other things and stay busy.
Ultimately, hopelessness will set in as their pursuits of meaning prove altogether unfulfilling.
That’s why the persecuted church has joy.
The joy of the Lord is their strength.
Regardless of their situations, regardless of their circumstances they have joy.
The reason for their joy is the present reality of God in them.
His presence in their lives is the source of joy, not the things of the world.
