We are not judged according to our advantages, but by what we make of these advantages. Indeed the more light we have the greater is our responsibility and the more will be required of us. If we sit apart, in the comfort of our superior privileges, and judge those who have not our privileges and live unworthily, we must beware, for in condemning others we condemn ourselves. It is a good thing to be born in a Christian land and to be brought up in a Christian home, but if we do not live according to our advantages, it would have been better for us if we had been born in a heathen land. That was what Jesus said about the people in Capernaum and the other cities where He had lived and preached and wrought, doing his works of love and grace. He said it would be more tolerable for Sodom than for those cities, because having the privileges, they had rejected them. We need to lay the lesson to heart, for we have Christ ever on our streets.
Today in Christian History: Daily Devotionals. Christian History Institute, 2025. Taken from J. R. Miller. Morning Thoughts for Every Day in the Year. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell and Co., 1907.
I don’t recall having heard of J.R. Miller before this quote from him. This quote, though, hits hard.
There is a lot of conversation about advantage. White over everyone else, male over female, rich over poor, and so on. There is no question that each of us has an advantage, and, yes, I know I’m saying that from a white male perspective, let alone middle-class birth, etcetera.
I cannot imagine some of the things my non-white and non-male friends have gone through. I’ve been told and, I have say, I was often appalled.
While many might oppose the concept of systematic racism or sexism, I can’t say I haven’t seen it. Age is another one. It used to be too young. Now we’re too old, or too experienced.
Miller’s point, though, was about recognizing our advantages and using them for the Kingdom of God. I’ve probably done a pretty poor job. I’d say many have, regardless of skin color, gender, nationality, birth socio-economic class, and so on.
There is also this weird thing that many who want to tear down all the advantages don’t recognize. Many of those advantages are fetters for the advantage. That doesn’t excuse them, but it is the other side of Miller’s coin.
And the king will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did it for one of the least of these brothers or sisters of mine, you did it for me.’
“Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you accursed, into the eternal fire that has been prepared for the devil and his angels! For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not receive me as a guest, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me.’ Then they too will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not give you whatever you needed?’ Then he will answer them, ‘I tell you the truth, just as you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me.’
Matthew 25:40–45 NET
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