Identify

i've been reading Isaiah lately. It has struck me that all my life i have accepted that all the good stuff was written for me but the bad stuff was written for someone else. I mean, i honestly try to follow God. I try to do his will...so doesn't that automatically make those good verses for me?
Take for example, isaiah 3: 10-11:

10Tell the innocent how fortunate they are, for they shall eat the fruit of their labours. 11Woe to the guilty! How unfortunate they are, for what their hands have done shall be done to them.

I don't consider myself innocent. In fact, i think i'm far from it. Television has robbed me of most of my innocents, curiousity, and stubbornness have taken the rest. So what part does that leave me then? The guilty. I am guilty and the verse clearly states that what i have done to other will be done to me. Thus, it is a warning to me to be careful how i treat others, but not just the others i see.

By buying clothing i know has been made in sweatshops i dirty my hands. I help poeple take advantage of the poor. This will come back on me.

There are lots of verses that talk about the poor. I've often thought of myself as poor...but the truth is, i'm part of the richest 6% of the world. I have more money, education, healthcare, and other benefits than 94% of the world. 63.3% of the world survive on less than $3 AUD a day. This means that there is literally billions and billions of the world that are significantly poorer than i am. Now what on God's green earth would make me believe that i am poor??

It could be the advertisements that are constantly telling me i need more. I could be the mentality of keeping up with the Jone's. It could be television that tells me i'm always poorer than the average family. It could be all of these things. But i am not a subject of the advertisers. i am not a subject of the television. I am a subject of God's and as such i should be looking at life through His eyes and not anyone elses. This reminds me that i have a big responsiblity when it comes to my wealth. My responsiblity is to those who don't have it, to share it responisbly, and not to waist it on things that won't last.

Our life is not our own.