The Problem with "Privilege"
In a fallen world, we have become obsessed with fairness. While there are certain admirable qualities about being fair and desiring fair and equal outcomes to equal situations, we have taken things a step further: We have decided to trace all perceived injustices back to their ancestral roots and blame the current generation for past misgivings and the benefits they may have received (or just assumed they have received) as a result of such injustice.
It is understandable that the world is having a hard time reconciling the idea that while all men are created equal in the sight of God, not all men are born into equal circumstances because of the fallen nature of the world we live in. However, this very plain truth should be evident for every Christian.
As I search the Scriptures, I do not see God holding people responsible for sins of a past generation, even if there was gain by the current generation because of it. To be sure, sins of one generation can affect the generations to follow (Ex. 20: 4-6). While unrepentant sins of successive generations do lead to national punishment, for a people pledged to God, God makes it equally clear that individually He only punishes according to each person's actions apart from previous generations (Ez. 18).
The current fervor of our culture to shame or condemn based on perceived advantages based on race or status is, in many cases, nothing more than a cover for covetousness. As a people of God, we should be content with the circumstances that we have been placed in, as long as our basic needs have been taken care of, so that we might be a witness for Christ (1 Tim. 6:6-10).
But the idea of privilege has our culture looking to everyone else's circumstances as a excuse for grievance that destroys godly contentment. It does this in two ways: First, it creates a false sense of guilt in those who are bombarded with the idea that their circumstance, because of skin color or socioeconomic status, is unjust by merely existing. Second, it produces envy, strife and covetousness in those who feel that they have been wronged by merely being born into a circumstance less fortunate than others. Many professing Christians are adopting this harmful view into their lives, as well, and it eats away at the thankfulness we should have toward God for the provision that we have, no matter how meager or plentiful.
Consider the words of James...
What causes quarrels and what cause fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask [God]. You ask [God] and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. --James 4:1-3
Isn't that the state of our nation right now? Why would we, as the people of God, wish to emulate that? Why would we trade out the knowledge, provision and blessings afforded us by God through Christ for discontentment based upon a comparison to someone else's circumstance? Why would we choose envy and strife over joy and contentment?
As if those reasons aren't reason enough to change our attitudes, there is a greater reason still.
Listen to these amazing words by Paul in Athens:
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us... --Acts 17:24-27
You see, the circumstance...the family...the race...the country...the poverty (or riches)...even the very time in which we were born was hand-crafted by God Himself. While you and I are distracted by the haves and the have nots of the world, God is carefully placing each person in each home in each country and each circumstance for one reason only: that each person might reach out and find Him.
The very idea of invoking privilege as a reason that would make us more or less ready to accept the gift of Christ in our lives flies in the face of a God who has placed you (and me and everyone) in the most likely situation where we might actually reach out to encounter His grace through Christ to begin with. By even acknowledging privilege as a commendable value, it reveals in us as a people that the greatest treasure that we consider having in this world is actual treasure (or position) and not Christ. It also puts us in a position of an unrighteous judge toward God basically saying that, "God doesn't know what He is doing." I'm not sure I can go there.
Our true treasure is that Christ has died for us and counted us, unworthy as we are, as one of His own. We have reached out to Him and found that He was not far from us, as He has promised. He has given us new life and the promise of the Holy Spirit. He has satisfied all of our longings and we have found Him to be enough. He has given us the mission of spreading this message of truth, grace, love and forgiveness to a hurting world seeking all the wrong type of privileges that never satisfy and only leave people longing for more.
As such, this worldly privilege is the enemy of the gospel of Christ. We would do well not to see through its corrupted lens.
It is understandable that the world is having a hard time reconciling the idea that while all men are created equal in the sight of God, not all men are born into equal circumstances because of the fallen nature of the world we live in. However, this very plain truth should be evident for every Christian.
As I search the Scriptures, I do not see God holding people responsible for sins of a past generation, even if there was gain by the current generation because of it. To be sure, sins of one generation can affect the generations to follow (Ex. 20: 4-6). While unrepentant sins of successive generations do lead to national punishment, for a people pledged to God, God makes it equally clear that individually He only punishes according to each person's actions apart from previous generations (Ez. 18).
The current fervor of our culture to shame or condemn based on perceived advantages based on race or status is, in many cases, nothing more than a cover for covetousness. As a people of God, we should be content with the circumstances that we have been placed in, as long as our basic needs have been taken care of, so that we might be a witness for Christ (1 Tim. 6:6-10).
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| The problem with the concept of privilege (other than it is unbiblical) is that it is so hard to quantify. By only looking at one diametric (race or economic status), we oversimplify the differing circumstances that may affect individuals or even whole families. Consider: The single largest determiner of poverty in America today is to be raised in a single parent home. Therefore, by simply coming from a two parent family, regardless of race, there is an advantage over those whose homes are broken. The most common factor of those incarcerated is the lack of a father in the home. Again, simply having a two parent family brings an advantage. The fact that the black community suffers from a larger proportion of single parent homes and thus also has higher proportions of poverty and crime cannot be simply laid at the feet of "white privilege", no matter what the unrighteous history of the past generations may have been. |
But the idea of privilege has our culture looking to everyone else's circumstances as a excuse for grievance that destroys godly contentment. It does this in two ways: First, it creates a false sense of guilt in those who are bombarded with the idea that their circumstance, because of skin color or socioeconomic status, is unjust by merely existing. Second, it produces envy, strife and covetousness in those who feel that they have been wronged by merely being born into a circumstance less fortunate than others. Many professing Christians are adopting this harmful view into their lives, as well, and it eats away at the thankfulness we should have toward God for the provision that we have, no matter how meager or plentiful.
Consider the words of James...
What causes quarrels and what cause fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel. You do not have, because you do not ask [God]. You ask [God] and do not receive, because you ask wrongly, to spend it on your passions. --James 4:1-3
Isn't that the state of our nation right now? Why would we, as the people of God, wish to emulate that? Why would we trade out the knowledge, provision and blessings afforded us by God through Christ for discontentment based upon a comparison to someone else's circumstance? Why would we choose envy and strife over joy and contentment?
As if those reasons aren't reason enough to change our attitudes, there is a greater reason still.
Listen to these amazing words by Paul in Athens:
The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is He served by human hands, as though He needed anything, since He Himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything. And He made from one man every nation of mankind to live on all the face of the earth, having determined allotted periods and the boundaries of their dwelling place, that they should seek God, in the hope that they might feel their way toward Him and find Him. Yet He is actually not far from each one of us... --Acts 17:24-27
You see, the circumstance...the family...the race...the country...the poverty (or riches)...even the very time in which we were born was hand-crafted by God Himself. While you and I are distracted by the haves and the have nots of the world, God is carefully placing each person in each home in each country and each circumstance for one reason only: that each person might reach out and find Him.
The very idea of invoking privilege as a reason that would make us more or less ready to accept the gift of Christ in our lives flies in the face of a God who has placed you (and me and everyone) in the most likely situation where we might actually reach out to encounter His grace through Christ to begin with. By even acknowledging privilege as a commendable value, it reveals in us as a people that the greatest treasure that we consider having in this world is actual treasure (or position) and not Christ. It also puts us in a position of an unrighteous judge toward God basically saying that, "God doesn't know what He is doing." I'm not sure I can go there.
Our true treasure is that Christ has died for us and counted us, unworthy as we are, as one of His own. We have reached out to Him and found that He was not far from us, as He has promised. He has given us new life and the promise of the Holy Spirit. He has satisfied all of our longings and we have found Him to be enough. He has given us the mission of spreading this message of truth, grace, love and forgiveness to a hurting world seeking all the wrong type of privileges that never satisfy and only leave people longing for more.
As such, this worldly privilege is the enemy of the gospel of Christ. We would do well not to see through its corrupted lens.
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