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In my imagination, I found myself trying to explain to Mary why I wasn't really rich. Somehow I'd have to help her understand the costs of daycare (although she has two children), the paradoxical costs borne by a two-income home (her husband works in a city five hours away), the price of college (in Kenya, school fees begin in first grade), the price of housing (outside the slums, Nairobi real estate is not much less expensive than that of many American cities). Somehow I'd have to explain that an American passport and fluent English aren't all they're cracked up to be.

Then again, I could just admit what God and the whole world already know is true. We are—I am—wealthy. Simply rich. Why is that so hard for us to say? Such an admission would, of course, make us responsible for the stewardship of our riches. It would put an end to both complaining and complacency. And since the Christian life starts where self-pity and self-justification end, to admit we are rich might also lead us closer to the life that is really life.

Copyright © 2003 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

See our Money & Business area for Christianity Today coverage of ethical investing, stewardship, and financial ethics.

In 2000, CT looked at how evangelicals got so wealthy and what it has done to them.

Crouch is editor-in-chief of re:generation quarterly.

Many of Crouch's other writings are available at his and his wife's website.

Earlier Andy Crouch columns for Christianity Today include:

Blinded by Pop Praise | To see God "high and lifted up," just open your eyes. (Dec. 17, 2002)

The Future Is P.O.D. | Multicultural voices have an edge in reaching a rapidly changing America. (October 12, 2002)

Rekindling Old Fires | We can resist technology's chilling effects on how we spend time together. (August 2, 2002)

Interstate Nation | The national highway system is a lesson in how to transform a nation. (June 21, 2002)

Amplified Versions | Worship wars come down to music and a power plug. (April 17, 2002)

Thou Shalt Be Cool | This enduring American slang leaves plenty out in the cold. (March 18, 2002)

Borrowing Against Time | We live in a fallen world. We will die. We need to face that. (Jan. 17, 2002)

Grounded | Our technologies give us an illusion of omnipresence—most of the time. (Nov. 15, 2001)

Zarathustra Shrugged | What apologetics should look like in a skeptical age. (Sept. 5, 2001)

Consuming Passions | One man's "testimony" from the First Great Mammon Awakening. (July 10, 2001)

Generation Misinformation | Forget the latest PowerPoint seminars on Generations X-Z. (May 16, 01)

Dead Authors Society | We're no longer interested in tasting death but only little morsels of cheer. (Mar. 28, 2001)

Promises, Promises | Our technology works. But all idols do at first. (Feb. 21, 2001)

A Testimony in Reverse | I have discovered how inconvenient it can be when God actually does speak. (Feb. 5, 2001)

Crunching the Numbers | A modest proposal for measuring what really matters in church life. (Dec. 20, 2000)

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February 2003, Vol. 47, No. 2