Am I A "Have" Or A "Have Not?"

Please consider the following global financial statistics from the website of the Financial Times. Although the material is somewhat dated (three years ago), my guess is that the gap separating the “haves” and the “have nots” has probably widened instead of narrowed.

“Personal wealth is distributed so unevenly across the world that the richest two percent of adults own more than fifty percent of the world’s assets while the poorest half hold only one percent of wealth...Adults with more than $2,200 of assets were in the top half of the global wealth league table, while those with more than $61,000 were in the top 10 percent...To belong to the top 1 percent of the world’s wealthiest adults you would need more than $500,000, something that 37 million adults have achieved...Almost 90 percent of the world’s wealth is held in North American, Europe and high-income Asian and Pacific countries, such as Japan and Australia. While North America has 6 percent of the world’s adult population it accounts for 34 percent of household wealth” (“Richest 2% Hold Half The World’s Assets”; ft.com; 12-5-2006).

Let’s put these figures in terms that we can wrap our minds around. If the entire world population was represented by a group of 100 people, only 2 of those people would own or control over half of the world’s assets. I would suggest that by any standard of equity, fairness or compassion you choose to use -- something is amiss. Am I advocating taking from the “haves” and giving to the “have nots” as a way of redistributing wealth? No. Do I realize that some are “have nots” because they refuse to be productive? Yes. But even when we add in those factors, the gap is still startling.

As I grapple with my own place in the allocation of God’s blessings, I need to recall that, according to Jesus, it is more blessed to give than to receive (Acts 20:32). I must remember that it is still possible to gain the whole world and lose my own soul (Mark 8:36).

God loves you!
Mike