The Inequity of It All

I pride myself on being a city person, but even I admit to being quite sheltered, even in a major metropolis. It’s easy to stay within the neat, upper middle class confines of the city, while only marginally brushing up against the needy. The truth is, I am regularly confronted with needs around me, but I am mostly consumed with my own lack - the supposed injustice that impinges on my life (the painfully slow commute, the long line for coffee, the people whose problems monopolize my time, to name a few). 

You could say that I’m jaded by the pervasiveness of what I see around me. And yet, another part of me is conflicted by its inequity. I have certain privileges, while others do not. It’s hard to know what to do with these feelings, and perhaps I am like that rich young ruler who in the end could not sell what he had to give to the poor (Matthew 19:16-22). Indeed, what I know is that only God alone is good (v.17). His grace has made possible for my salvation though I was undeserving. And He will overturn all present inequity, promising that the poor in this life who are rich in faith and will be heirs of the kingdom (James 2:5). Thus, I am reminded once again, to long for His kingdom come, while living by faith to see glimpses in the present.