It's Time To Do Something About The Cost Of Living Crisis
Something needs to be done about the cost of living crisis, I read a post saying, on social media. It’s outrageous and unfair, to charge us so much. And I agreed. I’d had similar thoughts myself over the last few weeks.
And then I thought to myself. Our system has always been like this. People have always gone hungry. People have always died from the cold. People have always had to scrape every penny together to get by.
Except up and until now, it hasn’t been me, (it may not have been you) and it certainly wasn’t the writer of the post, and the millions of middle classes who now have their disposable income threatened.
Yesterday I went to a new museum in Florence called Hzero, a huge model railway project that was started in 1972. It was really magical to follow trains around the track, and seeing all miniature towns, and houses and people down to the smallest intricate detail.
As I was walking around, and thinking of the price of entry (quite steep for a family ticket), and the wealth that allowed the founder to be able to dedicate 50 years off his life to building a model railway, it felt in stark contrast to the rising costs.
Like Massive Attack sang in ‘Hymm of The Big Wheel,’ - ‘ the earth spins on it’s axis, one man struggles, while another relaxes.’ Isn’t it funny how there can be so much suffering in the world, and yet some of us are spending money on entertainment?
Coming to Christ is pulling me to really look at this injustice. Whereas before I might have thought to myself, that I was ‘doing good’ and ‘helping people,’ I now, call this into question. Each time I walk past a beggar on the streets, I notice the thoughts that come into my mind. ‘’I’m in debt, so I need to save every penny,’ ‘’I don’t want to stop and stand awkwardly looking for change,’’ ‘’they’ll just spend it on alcohol or drugs.’’
Before now, it was as if I was accountable to no-one. I could have these thoughts, and I could walk on by, and though I did give money on occasion, I didn’t really honestly look at my own judgements.
Followers of the ‘great awakening narrative’ have been told in various ways, that we should ‘turn inwards,’ that we should do what we can to raise our vibration, whether it’s by spiritual practises, or doing the things we love, which bring happiness to ourselves.
Christianity tells us that the path is by thinking of others. And that by thinking of others, we also help ourselves. These words, from Psalm 41 come to my mind,
blessed is he that considereth the poor: the Lord will deliver him in time of trouble.
The Lord will preserve him, and keep him alive; and he shall be blessed upon the earth: and thou wilt not deliver him unto the will of his enemies.
Sometimes I hear about the things Christians do to help others, whether it’s allowing a pregnant teenager to live in their house, or dedicating time to volunteering, or donating large proportions of their income to charity, and I feel that I have a long way to go, to soften my heart, to really get anywhere close to having that kind of selflessness.
Growing up in this Satanic system, we have been taught to think of ourselves, and take care of ourselves. While there is a definite shadow side to selfless self-sacrifice, in that it can lead to resentment, exhaustion, or being taken advantage of by others, and we need to put on our own oxygen mask first. But to me what I have recognised from my own experiences in the new age, and testimonies like this one for example, is the way it catches people into a healing cycle, experiencing benefits but then craving more, in an addictive way, that is actually akin to drug addiction.
Research has actually found that volunteering is good for physical and emotional health and raises energy levels, which seems to support this biblical idea, that there are many benefits for us from helping others. It is like a ‘natural law’ of our reality. Not to focus on ourselves as the God within, and spend many hours cultivating that, but instead to look outward into the world.
As a human race, we haven’t done that. We have often ignored the poverty, and the hunger, because it hasn’t effected us, and now it seems that it is coming knocking at our door.
Psalm 37, says about that righteous that, ‘in days of famine they will enjoy plenty.’ The more we can trust that God will take care of us, the less we need to focus on taking care of ourselves, and can instead put our attention on others.