Every taxi driver is supposed to have certain documents in his possession whenever he is working: a driver's license, a permit to taxi, a vehicle registration, and vehicle insurance. He (there are no "she" taxi drivers) may be stopped at anytime at will by traffic custodians for any reason and demanded to show his papers. The cost of those combined documents is hefty, though not insurmountable, maybe around $120 for the first year and $80 per year after that. There is away around having to acquire those documents. Virtually every taxi in the land does it. They daily give a bribe to the custodians who will gladly wave them by. Reward is immediate and short lived, but it's "cheaper" than the alternative. Or is it? Consider the accumulated amount of bribes given in a typically year. I estimate that every taxi driver pays about $250-$500 year in these daily "installments." Why? Because it's easier to pay $1 365 times per year than it is to pay $120 one time per year.
A typical poor family has some leftover rice and meat sauce. after a meal They "store" it somewhere in the house (Few people have the means to buy and maintain a refrigerator.). After a few days it spoils, but even though the total cost of the remain food is about $1's worth, far be it from the family to "waste" food by throwing it out. They feed it too their children. Then the children get sick and have to go to the doctor and pay $7 for the antibiotics. Say what?
Again, a security guard may have a "good-paying" job, making an annual salary of $1500 (the average making $1000). However, his wife had a baby and he needs to host a baby-naming ceremony for 150 of their closest relatives. In honor of his new child, he must provide an animal sacrifice like a sheep or an ox. Despite the nine-month warming he had to prepare for this ceremony, he was "unable" to save the money. So, he decides to steal some of the possessions he is guarding and sell them in the local market... making $90. He takes the money and buys the animal, hosts the feast, and earns great respect among his clan for his "sacrifice." When the boss learns of his thievery, he loses his job and annual income in exchange for... immediate gratification.
Scenarios like this happen every day here. It blows my mind and even cultivates in me a lowly view of the culture as a whole. I think, "They're so dumb. Why do they do that?"
But wait a second. When US American kids grow up and give their families an 18-year warning, do parents typically save for thier entire college education or do they apply for student loans during their senior year of high school (which, by the way, will cost them more money with the incurred interest)? Do typical Americans ride the public transportation system (or when there isn't one lobby for one) or do they hop in the SUV and pay $10 for a trip to Walmart that could have cost them $1 if they had taken the bus? Do most Americans spend an extra $20,000 when building or renovating a house so that their energy bill will be $150,000 less over the next 20 years?
Granted, those things may seem trivial and 95% of your reading this have a "but" statement already on the tip of your tongue in objection to what i just said. "But" what if we took it too the next level?
Most Susu who have an opportunity to hear the Gospel reject it, not in essence, but in practice. Some even say, "I believe everything you're saying, but what would my family say if i became a Christian?" They forfeit the eternal reward of eternal life in exchange the temporary respect of their elders. It's the here and now that we humans desire. Though we probably don't word it like this, we are willing to be shamed before our Heavenly Father so we won't be shamed before our temporary earthly fathers. We humans have this uncanny ability to disregard the infinite and dwell in the finite. No one smokes pot because of the awesome affects it will have on their brain 10 years from now. No one looks at porn because they think it will be awesome for their marriage 20 years from now. No one develops an eating disorder because of how healthy it will make them 5 years from now. No one rejects Christ because they think it will be awesome in hell for eternity. Immediate gratification. Here. Now. Me. Mine.
What will last?
"For we know that if the tent that is our earthly home is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this tent we groan, longing to put on our heavenly dwelling, if indeed by putting it on we may not be found naked. For while we are still in this tent, we groan, being burdened—not that we would be unclothed, but that we would be further clothed, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. He who has prepared us for this very thing is God, who has given us the Spirit as a guarantee. So we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord, for we walk by faith, not by sight. Yes, we are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord. So whether we are at home or away, we make it our aim to please him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil." (2 Corinthians 5:1-10)
"According to the grace of God given to me, like a skilled master builder I laid a foundation, and someone else is building upon it. Let each one take care how he builds upon it. For no one can lay a foundation other than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if anyone builds on the foundation with gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, straw—each one's work will become manifest, for the Day will disclose it, because it will be revealed by fire, and the fire will test what sort of work each one has done. If the work that anyone has built on the foundation survives, he will receive a reward. If anyone's work is burned up, he will suffer loss, though he himself will be saved, but only as through fire.
Do you not know that you
are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? If anyone
destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy,
and you are that temple.
Let no one deceive himself. If anyone among you thinks that he is wise
in this age, let him become a fool that he may become wise. For the
wisdom of this world is folly with God. For it is written, “He catches
the wise in their craftiness,” and again, “The Lord knows the thoughts
of the wise, that they are futile.” So let no one boast in men. For all
things are yours, whether Paul or Apollos or Cephas or the world or life
or death or the present or the future—all are yours, and you are
Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Corinthians 3:10-23)
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