Privilege: I Have, Therefore I Am.
Last week I wrote a blog post, in Afrikaans, in which I spoke about how followers of Jesus uses social media to point people to the material blessings of God in their lives.
I didn’t do it because I don’t believe in the blessings of God, nor do I hate on those who believe God blesses them- materialistically.
I did it because I see the damage it’s doing to the Gospel, when we only show pieces of our interpretation of the gospel- on Facebook.
I did it because my brother keeps on thinking that I am blessed, because I have a job, a car, and an iPhone. Which, in comparison to Jesus’ description of what qualifies you as blessed, is so far from blessed. In fact, owning a paid-in-full car puts me amongst the richest in the world.
We have got to stop making “being blessed” synonymous with our new cars, college graduations, job promotions, and overseas holidays- unless there’s a true testimony of struggle and God’s divine intervention involved.
Because, you are NOT blessed with those things. You are PRIVILEGED with them.
Let me echo it another way: You are NOT BLESSED with material things, if it will only bring glory and comfort and praise and respect to you, the individual. You are PRIVILEGED with material possessions- worked for or inherited. To me, those things turn into blessings when the value of them stretches beyond your own comfort and pocket, into the hands and hearts of those of whom Jesus said, “…whatever you did for the least of these, you did for Me…”
You see, in 2017, we’ve become so comfortable with the great divide between have and have-nots, that we’ve mistaken our privilege for blessings. We hold on to the lie that God only help those who help themselves.
As someone who’ve come from literally only one change of clothes and R200 in my pocket the day I was released from prison on December 7th 2005, to typing on a MacBook I fully own, at a desk with a heater next to me, a warm shower and bed waiting, a car (at the mechanic), and a job to go to, I cannot and will not deny that God has been on my side in ways that I still can’t explain or give reason to.
But to deny the fact that I’m currently a privileged middle-class Coloured man, and pass it all off as “I’m just blessed”, is to also accept that God blessed Apartheid and was on the side of the oppressor. Because look at their farms, and houses, and careers, and the schools their kids go to.
Because clearly, what you have materially is a sign of God’s blessings. And for nearly 50 years, white people had everything!
What we have is privilege, not blessings!
And if I- as someone previously disadvantaged, with a looooong way to go- could acknowledge in a lot of ways, my “blessings” as privilege, and that I have a responsibility towards God to use my privilege for His glory. How much more powerful would it be if you, as a white South African, acknowledge that you are privilege- earned or inherited.
And to sometimes not call yourself “blessed”, no matter how religiously correct it may be. Calling your privileged position “blessed”, often sounds like a get-out-of-jail-free-card. Like you cannot help that God chose to bestow on your race or family everything He had.
But sometimes, your privilege masked as “blessedness”, it can hurt…..me personally!
It opens questions and wounds in me I never thought existed in the first place.
In light of my Afrikaans blog post, a dear friend of mine removed me from all of his social media networks, because, in his words, “I’ve seen you missing the plot the last few years”.
I have no idea what the plot is, but I would intentionally miss it every single time, if one group, race, gender, is favoured above the other.
I don’t want to be part of such a plot.
I don’t want the things I own to give meaning to my existence and my relationship with God. I’ll gladly miss a plot that teach me otherwise.
Your “blessed” friend
I V O R
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