After two years in Pakistan, Western life feels like a sterile cocoon, says David Curran
In Pakistan we are faced with the most hopelessly crushing poverty everyday and I am ashamed to say that sometimes it is just too much for us and we need to escape to a city for a weekend for a break.
I could tell you countless heart breaking stories of life we have witnessed in Pakistan. We could have a whip-around and collect some money to help. At least if we could get them some education or some health care things might be better for them?
It would certainly do some good, a pound goes a long way in Pakistan, but given the mindboggling scale of the poverty there, would it just be a drop in the ocean? Life for them seems hopeless whilst we feel helpless.
Since arriving back in the UK, these scriptures that have been playing at the forefront of my mind.
"Looking at his disciples, he said:
'Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God.
'Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied.
'Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.
'Blessed are you when men hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil because of the Son of Man
'Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their fathers treated the prophets.
'But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort.
'Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry.
'Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep.
'Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.'"
What is Jesus talking about here? Is he crazy? He is saying to the poor, hungry, weeping and downtrodden in society they are blessed! Not only that, he says woe to us who are rich, well fed and happy!
When saying these things the Bible tells us he is addressing a large group of his followers. Today that would be people like you and me.
For us in British culture these statements are totally bamboozling. In a consumerist society like our own, every message and opinion, every advert, tells us the more money you have, the more things you have, the happier you will be. How can Jesus say those who are hungry and poor are blessed and woe to us?
Blessed are you who are poor?
Where we live in Pakistan is currently underwater, flooded due to the record monsoon rains. Many argue such events are the result of climate change and global warming, directly linked to our opulent life styles of excess.
Our neighbour has seen his whole crop of cotton destroyed, just as it was due to be harvested. This is a massive loss to him and his family, the equivalent of losing four months' wages.
Yet can you imagine losing four months' wages when you already live in real poverty? We may see the loss of Pakistan's cotton crop as a 25p increase in the cost of a t-shirt.
When I asked him how he felt his reply was simple, "It is God's will."
This is a common belief in Pakistan, that whatever happens to you, whether good or bad, is God or Allah's will. They accept their poverty and difficulties with stoicism and great resolve.
To them, they know they are blessed because theirs is the kingdom of God, their hope is true.
Despite this, I often wonder, if they could really see how the wealthy in their country live, or us in the developed world, whether they would accept their lot so meekly.
Ultimately, I will never know what our neighbours really think or the feelings they experience because I have a British passport. If things ever become really bad I could hop on a plane and in only a day reappear in our consumerist utopia.
Meanwhile, they will face great hardship with only their hope in Jesus to rely on. They have a true faith.
Balancing act
The balancing of global poverty with our five-star dreams is difficult. I don't know the answers, I don't think anybody does.
As Christians in the west we are stumbling along a treacherous path lined with riches in spiritual poverty.
Yet there is hope for us too. In Philippians 4 the apostle Paul talks about how he has lived with plenty and in want, but how he can "do everything through him who gives us strength".
We need God's strength to live a holy life despite our wealth.
To me life in Pakistan is 'real': insecurity, poverty and the threat of violence is the reality of life for billions of people around the world.
Being back in the UK is like crawling back into a sterilised, cotton wool lined, titanium cocoon with an airtight seal, keeping me safe from the real world. Despite being almost smothered by the cotton wool it is so wonderful and comfortable and it feels so safe.
But in sealing the 'real' world outside, are we sealing God outside too?
Although the 'real' world lives in material poverty, woe to us in spiritual poverty living in our comfortable, perfectly proportioned, titanium cocoons.