How Full Is Your Plate?

After returning from a mission trip to a developing nation, I went to the supermarket to pick up some groceries for my family. Recalling the hungry people I had witnessed overseas, I gazed in wonder at all the shelves filled with food. In the country I had visited, the residents trusted God that somehow they would find enough food to sustain their families another day. Here at home, my daily bread could be whole wheat, rye, French, or a dozen other varieties. There's an entire section just for breakfast cereals and another for salad dressings.

Should I feel guilty that this abundance exists in my neighborhood?

My wife Candy and I ate out the other evening. It wasn't a fancy restaurant, but the food was excellent and we enjoyed every bite, right down to the last crumb of our French fries. When the server brought the bill, she said, "You two must have really been hungry!"

Hungry? No, in my whole life I've never known the gnawing hunger some of my brothers and sisters in other nations suffer day after day. Should Candy and I have been embarrassed because we didn't leave some uneaten food on our plates? We both grew up in households where we were told to eat everything we were served. Our parents lived through the Depression. They knew the value of a dollar, and they taught us to clean our plates. If we wanted to enjoy our dessert, first we needed to eat our peas.

Things are different now. In the U.S., overindulgence has become the norm. The personal savings rate has slipped to a negative level (minus 0.5 percent) for the first time since 1933, which means that in 2005, on average Americans spent all of their after-tax income and dipped into savings or increased borrowing. One out of every three Americans is technically obese, and obesity among children has swollen to alarming levels. We're skipping the peas and going straight for the dessert. Few parents tell their children to clean their plates, because food is so abundant we have too much to eat, not too little.

Merely feeling guilty won't solve the problem, though, and it won't put food on a starving person's table. Here are four better ways to respond.

1. We must be thankful. God created food "to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth" (1 Timothy 4:3). Ingratitude spoils any meal.
2. We must be self-controlled. The Bible warns about gluttony and over-indulgence. Our bodies are the Holy Spirit's temple, and we need his help to keep from killing ourselves with excess calories and lack of exercise.
3. We must be responsible. Jesus said, "From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked" (Luke 12:48). We who live in North America have been blessed with incredible abundance. We have a solemn responsibility before God to use our resources wisely and unselfishly to assist the millions abroad and nearby who are spiritually and physically starving to death.
4. We must be generous. Paul told Timothy, "Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God, who richly provides us with everything for our enjoyment. Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds, and to be generous and willing to share" (1 Timothy 6:17-18).

I've heard busy people say "no" to a request for help by saying, "Sorry, my plate is already full." I've used those words myself. But a full plate isn't an excuse to avoid getting involved; it simply means we have enough to share.