Privilege

Privilege

When someone has been given much, much will be required in return; and when someone has been entrusted with much, even more will be required.

“I’M READY,” my son, Jonny, said as I pushed play. The video showed fifty eighteen-year-olds on the starting line of a race as we heard the announcer declare, “Before we get started, I’m going to make several statements. Take two steps forward if the statement is true.”

“Take two steps forward if your parents are still married.”

“Take two steps forward if you attended private school.”

“Take two steps forward if you never had to help your mom or dad with the bills.”

“Take two steps forward if you’ve never wondered where your next meal would come from.”

With the final question, the video switched to an overhead shot. Racers were now spread out, with some still standing on the starting line, some fifty feet ahead, and people everywhere in between. It was a sobering image.

“Those questions had nothing to do with the choices those kids made, right? They were all things beyond their control. And some of them have a huge head start,” I whispered as Jonny nodded slowly, processing.

Privilege is any advantage you have because of the country or region where you were born, the era in which you were born, the body you received, the family you were born into—the list goes on. There is no shame in where you stand at the beginning of life (in this analogy, at the beginning of the race)—whether it be on the original starting line or with a head start. But today’s verse reminds those of us who are somewhere ahead of the original starting line that God requires more of us.

If you have been given a head start, what are you doing about it? How are you using your advantages, your privileges to assist others and bring honor and glory to God? What eternal fruit will your earthly labor produce? These are hard, convicting questions, and I find myself falling short of the mark on a regular basis. It’s never too late to reexamine faulty assumptions, make changes, and course correct.

Lord, help us to see clearly the areas in which we’ve received a head start and help us to be wise in stewarding that investment. Amen.

-Julie

One Good Step: Read the parable of the talents found in Matthew 25:14-30. Ask God to show you one way to use your talents and giftings for his Kingdom.