Disparity
Disparity means by definition the condition or fact of being unequal. While Judy and I were travelling in a particular country in North Africa recently, we discovered what that word really means. We saw just how unequal this world can be. We live in Canada, the best country in the world in our opinion and rather than gloat about it as some nations do, we are grateful to be Canadians.....we were born and raised here. Canada is the second largest country in size in the world, second only to Russia. With only 33.5 million people or so, we have a lot of space left. The particular country that we were travelling in has approximately the same population figures as does Canada in fact we are 36 and they are 37th in the world as far as population goes, but in land massCanada is #2 and the country we visited is #57 in size. We have almost 10 million square kilometres; the country in question has only 446,550 square km's which makes our country over 22 times larger. Now that is disparity. Canada is rich in natural resources as well and compared to other countries we are rich beyond measure. But the real disparity between our two countries is not so much a physical thing but it is rather a spiritual situation...you cannot preach the gospel of Jesus Christ in that land. Christians, you had better be thankful and diligent concerning our freedom and we had best take advantage of every opportunity that we have to proclaim the good news...it might not always be this way. In contrast to the laws of that totally Islamic nation however, they are free to practice their religion in my country. They can pray anywhere they want to without fear of arrest or harassment of any kind. Again an example of disparity. An example from the Bible comes to mind and while I will not take time to quote the scripture verses, it is the story or parable if you will concerning the ten virgins...five of them were wise and five were foolish. The five wise had kept themselves prepared for the coming arrival of their heavenly bridegroom but the foolish ones had not. Take notice that they were all virgins which speaks of purity, however the foolish ones were not prepared...they had let their lamps run out of oil. Are we in tune with our heavenly bridegroom? Are we in a constant attitude of prayer? Jesus said "men ought always to pray and noy faint. Perhaps we too need someone to talk to about spiritual things, perhaps we need to increase our time spent with our bridegroom so that when the cry comes "go ye out to meet Him...there will not be any disparity.