I know I’ve written about this topic a few times before, but it’s something that I’m wrestling with at the moment.

Here’s the thing. On the one hand, there are huge amounts of people that die every day from poverty. The number is around 25,000 people or so, every day. And they die from preventable things like diseases, lack of food and water, and so on.

Now by Australian standards I’m not rich. My income is below the national average, and my house is at the cheapest end of the scale. But even so, I have enough money locked up in my lifestyle (in my home equity and my possesions) to save tens of thousands of people. If I unlocked some of that money, there is no denying that I have the ability to save so many people. I might be below average by Australian standards, but by world standards I’m in the top 1% of richest people (check where you are - visit www.globalrichlist.com and enter your annual income).

But on the other hand, God placed me in Australia. I was born here, this is my home, and the fact of life is that it’s expensive to live in Australia. The cost of living is high, and it takes a lot of money to live in an average home, put my kids through school, and live life. So I shouldn’t feel guilty about the cost of living a normal life in my home country.

But there’s a tension there. No matter how I look at it, every day that I continue to live this comfortable life, I am choosing to let people die. People that I can help. No matter how much I try to explain it away, if those people were standing in front of me today, my answer to them would effectively be: “I wish you well. But I’m choosing to have a nice dishwasher and surround sound entertainment system, rather than help you”. Surely I can do better than that?

So I’m wrestling with where the right position is for me. At the moment, rightly or wrongly, I feel like I have time to make the decision, because I currently still have kids living at home, and my role at the moment is to provide for them. But they are teenagers now, and in a few years when they’ve left home, all bets are off. I have no idea what I’ll end up doing then, but it will be interesting. And in the meantime, I’ll continue to wrestle with what’s the right thing to do.

Well, it’s official. Australian’s now live in the world’s largest homes, at a staggering average of 214.6 square meters (2,310 square feet).

And as if that statistic wasn’t bad enough on it’s own, here’s another one that comes with it. The average number of people living in these extraordinarily large homes? 2.56 people.

What I’m about to say, I also say to myself, so please don’t think I”m judging people, but:

PEOPLE ARE DYING

It’s really easy to just gloss over that statement, especially when it’s a thousand miles away, so I’ll say it again.

PEOPLE ARE DYING!

I know that we don’t have the resources to help them all, but we do have the ability to save many of the 26,000 people who died today from poverty related conditions (lack of food, lack of clean water, preventable diseases, etc).

And yet, because it’s not in our face, it’s so easy to ignore, and continue to fill our homes with plasma screens, dishwashers, dryers, air conditioning, blu-ray players, expresso machines, and the like. We’re becoming addicted to comfort, including bigger homes.

I think it’s healthy for us to have a think now and then about what we would say to some of those 26,000 people who will die tomorrow from poverty. What would we say? Because perhaps what we’re already saying now is, “it’s more important for me to have a 950 watt food processor so I can dice my carrots faster, than to help you”.

I’ve said it before, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with us enjoying the blessings we have, but sometimes I think we can become unbalanced in this area, and forget our responsibilities to those who are suffering.

Just before the last Olympic games, I bought myself a wide screen LCD TV. My previous TV, which was around 10 years old, was still doing it’s job OK, but I’d been thinking about a new TV for a while and my mum happened to give me some money as a gift to buy something I’d like. So I thought I’d like a new TV!

And it’s a great TV. I mean, I didn’t buy the bargain el-cheapo brand, I got the latest technology, high refresh rate, super viewing experience LCD TV. Just about anything you watch on it looks amazing.

I’ve noticed though that often when I look at my new TV, I think about the world’s desperately poor people. Not that I didn’t think about them before, but more and more these days I look at the wonderful lifestyle I have here in Australia, and it reminds me about the millions around the world who are struggling to survive.

It was Jesus who said “You’ll always have the poor with you…”. Now I know by that he didn’t mean “so don’t worry about it too much”. I think it’s a really important topic, and that we have a responsibility to help the poor. I’ve heard some people suggest that our rich Western lifestyle is in fact one of the major causes of global poverty (along with other factors). Apart from the disadvantages poor countries have against richer countries, we’re controlling a disproportionate share of the world’s resources. If all 7 billion of us each had a dishwasher, two cars, air-conditioning and a big home, the world probably couldn’t sustain that. In basic terms, some of us are living beyond what is reasonable and others are possibly suffering because of it.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying there is anything bad in itself with enjoying good things, but sometimes I wonder what I would say if I came face to face with some of the 26,000 people who die every day from poverty related problems. Could I really look into their eyes and say “Sorry, but I really like to watch my football in high definition…”? I can’t deny the fact that I have the ability to save thousands of people – I’ve got way more than I actually need to live on. And my income is below the national average.

I do often give to charity, particularly overseas, but I still struggle with where the right balance is. What’s an acceptable amount for me to keep and enjoy, considering my brothers and sisters are dying from going without?