Wartime Living

Lifestyles in the first half of the 1940's in America were not something that we here in the 21st century would likely recognize. They were coming out of the Great Depression where unemployment was pushing 25%. Enter a world at war. According to encyclopedia.com, "In 1941 as many as 40 percent of all American families lived below poverty level. Nearly eight million workers earned less than the legal minimum wage. Another eight million Americans were unemployed, and the median income was only $2,000 per year." But there was a new outlook in America. While 10 million men went off to war, women went to work to support the family and the war effort. Goods necessary for living such as gasoline, rubber, and sugar were rationed so the boys overseas could get what they needed to fight. Price controls and taxes controlled much of life. I didn't know this before I started the research for this, but during the war there was a national speed limit imposed of 35 miles per hour. Standard drivers were limited to 3-4 gallons of gas a week. People were allowed to own up to 5 car tires; anything above that was confiscated for the war effort. According to wikipedia, by the end of 1943, "automobiles, typewriters, sugar, gasoline, bicycles, footwear, fuel oil, coffee, stoves, meat, lard, shortening and oils, cheese, butter, margarine, processed foods (canned, bottled, and frozen), dried fruits, canned milk, firewood and coal, jams, jellies, and fruit butter were rationed." All of this and more was considered reasonable and right because America was at war and everyone needed to do their part to defeat evil and defend the right.

Imagine that today. Imagine Americans today being asked to pay higher taxes to support war. Imagine the uproar that would occur if Americans were told that they would have to limit their gasoline usage, their sugar, their speed. Imagine the outrage that would explode from Americans if they were told they couldn't do whatever they pleased whenever they pleased with as much as they pleased. Americans today aren't quite as sacrificial as they were back then, are they?

My point, however, is not to demean American greed or self-centeredness today. My point is to lead your attention to something else. Americans are humans and humans are sinful. Don't expect anything different. But I'm writing here to Christians. According to the Bible, we are at war. "We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places. Therefore take up the whole armor of God, that you may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand firm" (Eph 6:12-13). So why are we American Christians tending to live like we're not? While the population of the '40's gladly sacrificed comfort and income and personal rights to defend what is good, we're barely willing to give the growing needs around us acknowledgment. We ought to be living life aware of the spiritual war around us. We ought to be laying up treasures in heaven rather than building earthly treasures. Don't we know there's a war on?

I'm not the guy to tell you what to sacrifice. That's between you and God. But if we are to be Christians -- followers of Christ -- and if we take the Word of God seriously, it would seem to me that we cannot continue at the materialistic pace we are at and still call ourselves disciples of Jesus. I am not one who believes that when Jesus said, "Sell all your possessions," He actually meant sell everything you own. Still, I have to ask (myself more than you) "If it doesn't mean sell everything, what does it mean?" and I can't bring myself to conclude that He actually meant, "Live it up! Gather all the worldly goods you can for your own personal pleasure!" We're at war. We ought to be living more like it.