Priorities!!

I was both shocked and angered when I read a comment by someone who is not one of my own list of Facebook friends (but is on the list of a mutual friend) that she had been to the petshop to buy puppy shampoo, puppy deoderant and, wait for it, puppy toothpaste and a puppy toothbrush!!!  This pampered puppy pooch was then, apparently, taken into the shower!

Now I am as big an animal lover as anyone, and would never knowingly cause harm or distress to any domestic animal.  But toothbrush and toothpaste; deoderant; shower!!!!   Do these people, who consider themselves to be Christians, live with their heads in the clouds - "too heavenly-minded to be of any earthly use"??

Last week, as it happens, was World Water Week, when world leaders gathered together in Stockholm to wrestle with the problems arising from the shortage of water in some of the world's poorest nations.  But let's give the puppy a shower!   Across the world, almost 900 million people live without clean water.  But let's give the puppy a shower!  More than 2.5 billion people have no access to safe sanitation.  But let's give the puppy a shower!  Unclean water is the second biggest cause of children's deaths.  But let's give the puppy a shower - and don't forget to spray on the deoderant, and brush its teeth!!

I find myself asking if the owners of this cosseted canine are aware of the floods in Pakistan - and the serious concerns about outbreaks of watery diarrhoea and dysentery, and even cholera and similar water-borne diseases ; famine in Niger; persecution of Christians - often to the point of death - in more countries than some would like to believe; a despearate need for Bibles in many countries; an appeal for wind-up radios to enable isolated believers to receive sound teaching, and others to be able to hear the Gospel message; and those who seek to work in such areas always short of funds.

Now I know that I am answerable for only my own actions - and that includes my giving.  And I realise that my using less water in the UK (or here in France) doesn't provide an extra drop in Pakistan, or drought-stricken areas of Ethiopia.  But, surely, it's a matter of attitude and priorities.  I don't know the cost of puppy toothbrushes and the rest.  I do know that that money would be far better spent on providing such a basic necessity for a child in Liberia or some other such poverty-stricken country.

Jesus said: "... just as you can identify a tree by its fruit, so you can identify people by their actions." (Matt 7:20; NLT).   It is not my place to judge anyone else - but I do find myself wondering what the actions of this family, with regard to a dog, says about their priorities!  They probably don't even know that this blog exists!  But if this post speaks to just one person, that in itself might save the life of just one child.  That would make it very worthwhile.