Privilege is both a gift and a responsibility

It is a great time to be alive! You have been born for this moment.

Did you ever look back in history and wish that you had been there? Some want to return to simpler times. They fantasize about living in the wild west, the Victorian era, or the days of Jesus. By such daydreams they long to enjoy the advantages of other times and places.

There are other reasons to wish that we had been there. When we contemplate pivotal events in world history—especially those that have brought great harm to the world—we could wish that we had been there to make a difference. We criticize the German people for allowing the Nazis to take power. Had we been there, we hope, we would have stood against Hitler and his henchmen.

We can also criticize America’s past and say, “Had I lived in the 1800s, I would have opposed America’s injustices toward native tribes, or risked my life to end slavery.” Perhaps we harshly judge the people of Jesus’ day and convince ourselves that, had we been there, we would have stood up and defended Him.

However we might fantasize, one thing remains true: We were not privileged to be there. Rather, it is our privilege to be here. We did not ask to be here. We had no say in the matter. But here we are.

One day, our progeny will look back on our times and think about us as we think about past generations. Will future people long to be here for the advantages that we have? Or will they wish they could come back and make better decisions and undo some great evil that we unleashed?

Whatever they may think about how this generation handled its privilege, they will not be able to take it from us. It is ours, and ours alone to administer and manage. The central fact about privilege is that you have it before you have made any choices or done anything to deserve it. It simply comes.

Others may envy you for your privileges or thank God that they were not born in your shoes. But nobody can change places with you. Your privileges are yours alone to use—either for good or for ill. That is why it's good to take stock of them. When you do, you find that you have more than you know.

Being born is the first and foremost privilege. Not everyone has it. Every day in America 2,362 children are aborted before they are born. You are alive today because you are privileged to have a mother who carried you to birth.

We have already noted that you live in the year 2020, but you are also living in America. Chances are, that is a privilege too. Millions of people around the globe want to be here. But, they cannot afford to come, are forbidden by their own governments from doing so or cannot get a visa. Living in America, and particularly in Wyoming, is an undeserved privilege.

Think also about your home life. Those who grew up in a household where their biological parents were married have another undeserved privilege. This gave them both emotional and material advantages that are hard to quantify. How can you thank God enough for a childhood of emotional stability? Your parents gave you an example that not everyone has. They introduced you to your faith and imparted to you a worldview.

The decisions of your parents also determined the sorts of neighbors you had and the relative safety of your streets. These contributed to the way you view authorities and influenced the quality of your education. They even determined your experiences of nature and your attitude toward the land and the things living on it.

As we look at our privileges, we notice two things: first, we did nothing to deserve them; second, they make us different from other people. Sometimes the differences are advantageous, sometimes disadvantageous. How shall we think about this? And what shall we do?

There are two ways of approaching privilege. One is to envy other people for the advantages they have, and that you don’t. We can dwell on disadvantages and stew about the fact that we did nothing to deserve them. In this way we can become bitter and envious. This approach does nothing to change our situation, but it does much to blind us to the advantages that we do have.

The other option is to focus on the advantages. Thank God for the privileges that you do have. The fact that you are alive, that you have people in your life who love you and that you have opportunities to work and love and care are all privileges that you do not deserve. They are pure gifts. They are not the same gifts that others have. Some have more, some have fewer. But they are valuable gifts, nonetheless.

Once we have thanked God for these undeserved gifts, what shall we do with them? One answer is immediately clear. Out of love for our neighbor, we should work to extend every advantageous privilege to an ever-widening circle. Likewise, we should do everything in our power to prevent other people from suffering under disadvantages.

That starts with life. We should be working together to give more and more people the gift of being born. If life is a privilege, being pro-life is a duty. Similarly, because we can clearly see the privilege of those from stable homes and married parents, we should all work together to support and strengthen every marriage and every home.

We can also see that a good relationship with teachers, neighbors, police and other authorities gives some people privileges over others. For this reason, we should be working together to improve every person’s relationship with these people. It is a duty of love.

Because it is simply impossible to live in this world without knowing the truth about how it works, we are duty bound to keep the disciplines of astronomy, biology, chemistry, physics and psychology free from crippling ideologies. Plain facts about the world should not be stifled or perverted for the sake of advancing ideologies. To live in a society with truthful education is a privilege that should be extended to all.

Most of all, we can clearly see the privilege of knowing the God who gives all these privileges before we even thought to ask for them. For that reason, we should all be in the business of teaching the truth about God. That means studying His Word and supporting our own church. It also means encouraging others to learn and making it easier—not harder—to live out this faith.

Privilege is a two-way street. None of us deserves to have any of it. All of us can help extend it to others. Future generations will look at us and see all the undeserved privileges that we had. They will also know how we used them.

Will they say that we used them to provide even more for their generation? Or will they say that we deprived them of similar privileges? Will they say that we extended stable homes and a true worldview to an ever-expanding circle of our neighbors? Or will they say that we selfishly allowed millions to die or to be raised in broken homes when we could have worked to prevent it?

You have been born for this moment. See it for the privilege that it is. Thank God that He has given you such a grand opportunity. Then use your privilege for your neighbor. That’s why God gave it.