Extolling the Virtues of Sacrifice

Sacrifice is not a term we like to use in the wealthiest country in the history of the world. We buy to satisfy our needs and our cravings, and we don’t like to wait - we want what we want and we want it now. To illustrate this, let us gaze with wonder at the following: US citizens had a negative one percent savings rate last year, and the average credit card debt for an American family is $8400. We are dealing with some pretty disturbing numbers here.

As disturbing as these numbers may be, they are not quite as shocking as the figures pointed out by Rob Bell in one of his recent sermons. In fact, they were so shocking that I felt compelled to look up his sources and found, to put it simply, some pretty remarkable statistics.

We should first acknowledge that pretty remarkable statistics are nothing new. Ministries, politicians, talking heads, pastors, companies selling things like spray disinfectant—everyone, it seems—make use of these statistics in various marketing ventures. The statistics are meant to create the sense of a compelling need, usually because none exists in the first place. Having seen the need, the targeted audience is meant to respond and do whatever it is that the marketer wants them to do.

Having said that, I am going to join the ranks of those sharing these pretty remarkable statistics. I am not in the compulsion business, so I don’t mean to create a sense of compelling need. Nor do I mean to make you do anything in particular in response to that need. All I ask is that you consider what you read, and talk about it with your friends, and then be courageous enough to do what you think you should do, whatever that may be.

Pretty Remarkable Statistic #1: 1.1 billion people are without safe drinking water, while Americans consume 26 billion liters of BOTTLED water annually.

My wife brought home some bottled water from the grocery store about 6 months ago, and I was reading the label on the back one afternoon and found that the water was “bottled from a municipal source in Wisconsin.” I wondered if “bottled from a municipal source” meant that some guy was sticking this big empty bottle under the faucet in his sink. I do like bottled water, but tap water works just fine in most places, and frankly, clean water is something that I have come to see as a right given to each of us by our Constitution. But we should all be aware that clean water is something that over 1 billion people will never have, unless we help them get it. For example, I have discovered that several different organizations will actually go into villages and construct wells from which the people can draw clean water for the next 10 years. That sounds great, doesn’t it? It actually only costs between $4000 and $5000. That seems both reasonable and achievable.

Pretty Remarkable Statistic #2: Every 16 seconds somewhere in the world someone dies of hunger, while 2 out of 3 Americans are considered overweight.

My wife hates wasting food, but inevitably, at the end of dinner we have something left over on our plate that we end up throwing away. I always say we should have a box where we put the extra food and then we can send it to Ethiopia or somewhere that needs it. That’s a horrible joke, and I think I’ll stop saying it, but it is pretty crazy how much food we waste while people are actually dying of hunger. I am not even close to overweight, but that is due mainly to metabolism. I bet if my metabolism was different that I would be overweight, because I sure eat like a horse sometimes. And while I feast like a king, someone just like me who happened to be born in a different part of the world goes without food.

Pretty Remarkable Statistic #3: Americans spend more annually on trash bags than nearly half the world does on ALL goods.

Wow. I can’t really think of something funny or interesting to say about that. This is the type of statistic that is a little embarrassing, if you ask me.

Pretty Remarkable Statistic #4: An estimated 22 million people died from preventable disease in 2001; 10 million were children.

Over the last year, there have probably been 5 different occasions where I felt sick or felt that something might be wrong with me, and I have yet to see a doctor. It’s certainly not because I don’t have the ability. On the contrary, the company I work for pays for 100% of all medical expenses no matter what. So you would think that I would go to the doctor more often. But I don’t; I don’t have a good reason why I don’t—I just don’t. But I could if I wanted. I could just go to a doctor and get a prescription to take care of some ailment, or I could just go down to the local drugstore and buy something over-the-counter to fix whatever is wrong. This is a luxury that billions of my brothers and sisters in this world cannot afford, and millions of them are dying because of it.

Pretty Remarkable Statistic #5: 1 in 16 women in sub-Saharan African dies in childbirth.

It’s far more interesting to compare this pretty remarkable statistic with another one: 1 in 3400 women in the United States dies in childbirth. We must either conclude that all of the good doctors are here in the United States and none exist in Africa, or we must face the fact that these women in Africa die simply because they do not have basic reproductive health care.

Pretty Remarkable Statistic #6: 40% of the world lacks basic sanitation facilities.

Many of us won’t even go into a gas station restroom that has perfectly good plumbing. Or in the case of Britney Spears, some of us will go into a gas station restroom with bare feet. Basic sanitation is another right that I tend to assume is standard issue for every American. If garbage were to start piling up in our alley, I would probably call the city and ask why they weren’t picking up our garbage. And if they couldn’t help, I would probably take the garbage down to city hall and put it in their alley. And in-house plumbing; good grief. If we still lived in the outhouse days, I don’t know if I could make it. I love the fact that we can just make our waste disappear just by pushing a little handle. But the fact remains that good sanitation is one of the primary reasons that I don’t die of preventable diseases.

Pretty Remarkable Statistic #7: All of us could do something to change this, but many of us won’t.

The most pretty remarkable statistic of all is the one where we realize our own contributions to the lifestyles of the impoverished. We are each complicit in the travesties that exist in our world.

Consider the costs of eradicating some of these needs:

The cost of basic education for all: $6 billion.

The cost of water and sanitation for all: $10 billion.

The cost of reproductive health for all women: $12 billion.

Basic health and nutrition for all: $13 billion.

To put this in perspective, consider that Americans spent just over $18 billion on consumer products (largely for Christmas gifts) during the weekend of November 24-26, 2006, which is the largest shopping weekend of the year.

That’s basic education for all and reproductive health for all women. Or it’s basic education and water and sanitation for all with a little left over. Or it’s basic health and nutrition for all or reproductive health for all women with a lot left over.

All. That means everyone who needs it. Everyone in the world.

People wouldn’t die anymore because they are hungry. Fewer women would die in childbirth. Preventable diseases would actually become preventable again. More kids would learn how to read and could study the Bible or classics or their own history.

The apostle Paul wrote, “Right now, you have plenty and can help them.” To his friend Timothy, he wrote, “Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and give generously to those in need, always being ready to share with others whatever God has given them.”

Is it possible that Paul is talking to us as well? Would it be safe for us to assume that, in our position as the wealthiest nation and the richest people in the history of all mankind, we have a responsibility to take care of others? Or are we meant to spend it all on ourselves instead?

Anytime I hear about these needs, I always feel kind of guilty that I don’t do more. Or I feel sad for those people. But frankly, the problem just seems too big. I can’t affect change by myself, and I know that I can change the situation for just one person, but it’s a person that I can’t see or don’t know, and I’m not even sure that the organization that I give my money too is actually giving it to that person anyway. But I’m getting tired of my own excuses. I’m coming to see that I can actually do something about it.

What if I decided that it was time to begin giving more? What if I decided that, in order to give more, I would need to begin sacrificing something that I wanted so that someone with a greater need could have something? This would mean setting up a sacrifice fund. That could be a jar, or an envelope, or a notecard in my pocket. And anytime I decided to sacrifice something, I would put that money into that jar or write it down on that notecard and pretend that I spent it buying whatever it was I wanted to buy. And then, at the end of each week, or at the end of each month, I would give that money to a person in need or give it to someone who can give it to a person in need.

What if I deliberately made a choice each day to not buy something that I would normally buy? What if I found myself in line at Jamba and said, “You know, I can do without the all-fruit smoothie today.” That’s $4.10 right there. I could feed someone who is starving right now.

What if I took it even further? What if I didn’t buy a pair of $80 jeans that I wanted and deposited that money in my sacrifice fund instead? What if I decided that I didn’t really need a new iPod even though my old one doesn’t work anymore and, in its place, I chose to send a kid in the Philippines to school for a year? What if my wife and I sold one of our cars that we don’t really need and set that money aside to provide for the health of an entire village?

Could the folks that read Burnside make a substantial difference for some village or some town or some family who is desperate for the basics in life? I believe so. What about the churches we represent? Or the families? Or schools? Or workplaces? Or groups of friends?

Could we actually do something that changes people’s lives, both as individuals and corporately as this community?

The Global Policy Forum states: “Never before has the goal of abolishing poverty been within our reach: there are no longer any insurmountable technical, resource or logistical obstacles to achieving it.”

I wanted to buy a Snapple yesterday. I love Snapple Apple. It cost $1.59. I decided not to.

Let the sacrifice begin…