Privilege is real. It does not take the forms that we are asked to check, and it is often situational. Nevertheless, privilege exists, and the Christian needs to understand what this means for his or her individual situation.
For the purposes of this post, privilege can be defined as an advantage which the individual happens to have at the outset. Examples include height in men, visual beauty in women, as well as wealth and high intelligence for both. It should also be noted that privilege is never good or evil: that would be a category error. The whole point of privilege is that one does not choose it, so there is no moral element. Yet.
Similarly, most privileges are situational. Being a giant among men is all fun and games in most sports, but not in most buildings, cars, or shower stalls. High intelligence is a pain when interacting with the cognitively normal. Nevertheless, privileges exist. So what is the privileged Christian to do?
More.
That's the short answer. Luke 12:48 elaborates: " And unto whomsoever much is given, of him much shall be required: and to whom they have committed much, of him they will demand the more". Christians who have received more than average, have to do more than average. This provides two valuable insights.
First, there is no need to feel guilty about being born rich, handsome, intelligent, tall, or anything else. It's part of the plan, and not in the Qtarded sense of the term. Life is not unfair, at least not in the sense that matters.
Second, there is no need to be envious of anyone who has it better than you do. Sure, they got a nicer house or car or whatever, but they also have more asked of them. Every time you get done in by circumstance, you know that God is giving you an easier time of it. If you'd gotten that promotion, pay raise, gold medal, or whatever, then more would be required of you. So thank God, and move on with life.
This begs one final question: do more of what? Love more, that's what. Love God more, and love thy neighbour more. It's the greatest commandment, so it's as good of a general direction as you're going to get. Got funds to spare? Support your church and community! People listen to you because you're good at rhetoric or just an Alpha? Tell them the truth, and the Truth! People trust you with their problems for no reason at all? Listen to them, it literally helps them! Humans are weird like that.
Whatever you got, love God and neighbor with it. It's both simple to understand and hard to do, but you got the Almighty on your side, so you should be fine.
Much Love!
PS as PhilosophicalBear on SG put it, the biblical term for "privilege" is blessing.
