A Life of Privilege

He didn’t set out to be the focus of all this attention. Neither did his wife and children. He went to Iran to help launch an orphanage for young unwanted girls, to show them that they are valued, that they are loved. To comfort them.

But he believes God is more than a set of rules that no one can keep. He believes in a Creator God who loved us beyond our imagining, humbled himself, and with the gift of his life set us free from sin, and broken rules, and death. For that belief, Saeed Abedini was arrested, tortured, imprisoned and left to die.

His wife and children are not so much younger than me and mine. They live here, in my town, and they are friends of friends. It’s become personal. My prayers for them turn into tearful pleas. I talk about them, keep up to date, sign petitions. And last week, to raise awareness, like so many of us I changed my Facebook profile picture to his portrait.

It was the least I could do and I was happy to do it. I hope it made a difference. I hope one more person noticed and added their voice to the cry for his release. But the next day, I changed it back to a picture of myself. Not because I stopped caring, but because I couldn’t live with the disconnect between my life and his. His face—my silly posts about my dog, or my kids, or the new brand of coffee I was drinking. I’ve been thinking about that—that disconnect—ever since.

All that I have is a gift from God, and I am so grateful. Still, I have this in the back of my mind, always, like it is in yours: I have so much compared to most of the people in the world. We do what we can to help, and we struggle to make ends meet daily. But I know, we all know, we live a life of privilege. Why me? Why them? Why him?

And then I see this, the banner Saeed posted above his bed in his prison cell:

So which of us is living the life of privilege?  There is what God gives, there is what He withholds, and there is what He takes away. If it draws us closer in, to Him and to each other, it is a gift. We stand before His throne together. The questions die on our lips. Overcome by His lavish love for us, we praise Him.