The Spirit-and-Flesh.com Blog

This article was written by a 26 yr old college student by the name of Alyssa Ahlgren, who’s in grad school for her MBA. What a GREAT perspecitve…

My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!

I’m sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis (Florida) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of presidential candidates calling for policies to “fix” the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around.

I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook’s, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we’ve become completely blind to it.

Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose.These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don’t give them a second thought.

We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty-One Times!!!

Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful.

Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, “An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity.”

Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in.

When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I’ve ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided.

My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let’s just say I didn’t have the popular opinion, but I digress.

Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country.

People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they’ve never seen prosperity, and as a result, we elect some politicians who are dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.

Why? The answer is this,?? my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn’t live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or we didn’t see the rise and fall of socialism and communism.

We don’t know what it’s like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don’t have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it’s spreading like a plague.”

God’s Word cuts right through all profession of faith, stripping away that which is merely natural from that which is truly spiritual.

A person may weep at the Lord’s Table or shout his hallelujahs at the testimony meeting; however, his emotions may be carnal just as easily as spiritual. God’s Word divides between the soul and the spirit. A man may have a thorough grasp of Bible truth and be a walking encyclopedia of scriptural knowledge and yet not be spiritual. A person may have a strong will and determine that he is never going to indulge again in a questionable habit and carry out his resolve, but that does not prove him spiritual.

It is only the Word of God, brought to bear upon the issues of life, which can reveal what is carnal and what is spiritual. It is a “discerner” (4:12), a critic of the thoughts and intents of the heart. As we read the Word of God, it probes into the inner recesses of our beings and explores all our motives.

It also exposes all mankind. “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight: but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (4:13). The word opened literally means “to have the throat exposed” as when, for example, an athlete would seize his opponent and bend back his neck. It pictures a throat exposed to the slash of a sword. What an illustration of man’s total exposure and vulnerability to God and His Word!

So, then, the writer of Hebrews again confronts his readers with Christ. He is preeminent, able to do what neither Moses nor Joshua could do: bring His people into genuine rest because He is a superior Savior and because the provisions of salvation available through Calvary are superior to anything found in the Old Testament.

In view of this, it is imperative that we make sure of our salvation, lest we be found to be mere professors of Christianity. We must take to heart the example of the Israelites who, although saved and separated from Egypt and all that this meant typically, never entered into Canaan and thus missed God’s rest. God expects His people to avail themselves of all He has for them in Christ. And how can a person be sure of his salvation? By exposing his heart to the piercing sword of God’s Word, for sooner or later, that sword will find him out if he is a mere pretender.

Dr. John Phillips

An old boy was fumblin’ around one day
In a women’s clothing store
He’d found his wife a Christmas coat
And was headed for the door

When he bumped into a little boy
That looked like he was lost
And he said “Mister can you help me
Find out how much something costs?

Here it is almost Christmas
And the nights are gettin cold
Winter time is on us
And my mom don’t have a coat

I’ve been workin for the neighbors
And saving for a time”
And in his tiny outstretched hand
Was a dollar and a dime

His gaze went from that big eyed boy
To that pretty Christmas coat
And he finally cleared away the lump
That had gathered in his throat

He said “Son that’s just what this coat costs
We’re lucky that we found ‘er”
And he turned around and gave a wink
To the lady at the counter

She put it in a pretty box
And wrapped it up just so
And went off in the back
And found a big red Christmas bow

He said “I thank you for your help sir
And I kindly thank you ma’am
I hope y’all are gonna have a big Christmas
Cause now I know I am”

Well the old boy walked home busted
Except for the dollar and the dime
Thinkin he’d just have to buy
The coat another time

He told his wife that Christmas this year
Wouldn’t be much fun
And he gently took her in his arms
And told her what he’d done

She said “ why you old softie
I wouldn’t trade you for a farm
I’ve got two or three old coats
And your love to keep me warm “

She put that money in a matchbox
And placed it beneath their tree
And said “that is the grandest gift
You’ve ever given me”

The years went by like years will do
When people are in love
Their marriage was a golden bond
That was forged by God above

Then one day came some bitter news
That filled his heart with fright
The doctor told the old man’s wife
That she was going to lose her sight

He said “there’s an operation we can do
But it puts me on the spot
Cause it’s a quite complex procedure
And it’s going to cost a lot”

The old man said “doctor I’m a failure
I’ve made no preparation
We don’t have the money
For that kind of an operation “

The doctor got the strangest look
And he sat there for a while
And then he slowly nodded
And he broke out in a smile

He said “ why sir you can’t fool me
You’re a very wealthy man
You long ago invested
In the world’s best savings plan

I’ll see she gets the best of care
She’s going to be just fine
And the total cost to you old friend
Is a dollar and a dime”

The old man stared in disbelief
Then he recognized that smile
The one he’d seen those years ago
On a loving thoughtful child

He said “what you gave to me that day
Was more than just a coat
You gave me the gift of giving
And you gave my mother hope

My mother’d been mistreated
Neglected and abused
But she gave life just one more chance
And it was all because of you

Now every year she takes that coat
And lays it beneath our tree
It represents to us the things
That Christmas ought to be

She says that when we leave this world
For a better home someday
The only things that we’ll take with us
Are the things we gave away.

Under a spreading chestnut-tree
⁠The village smithy stands;
The smith, a mighty man is he,
With large and sinewy hands,
And the muscles of his brawny arms
Are strong as iron bands.

His hair is crisp, and black, and long;
His face is like the tan;
His brow is wet with honest sweat,
He earns whate’er he can,
And looks the whole world in the face,
For he owes not any man.

Week in, week out, from morn till night,
You can hear his bellows blow;
You can hear him swing his heavy sledge,
With measured beat and slow,
Like a sexton ringing the village bell,
When the evening sun is low.

And children coming home from school
Look in at the open door;
They love to see the flaming forge,
And hear the bellows roar,
And catch the burning sparks that fly
Like chaff from a threshing-floor.

He goes on Sunday to the church,
And sits among his boys;
He hears the parson pray and preach,
He hears his daughter’s voice
Singing in the village choir,
And it makes his heart rejoice.

It sounds to him like her mother’s voice
Singing in Paradise!
He needs must think of her once more,
How in the grave she lies;
And with his hard, rough hand he wipes
A tear out of his eyes.

Toiling,—rejoicing,—sorrowing,
Onward through life he goes;
Each morning sees some task begin,
Each evening sees it close;
Something attempted, something done,
Has earned a night’s repose.

Thanks, thanks to thee, my worthy friend,
For the lesson thou hast taught!
Thus at the flaming forge of life
Our fortunes must be wrought;
Thus on its sounding anvil shaped
Each burning deed and thought.

This poem is in the public domain. Get your poem-a-day in your inbox at poets.org.