When you’re deep in debt and struggling to pay the bills, it’s easy to feel like everyone else is doing better than you.

Just flip through the channels on any given night, and a sense of pride or self-pity will seem completely justified. The cunning marketing campaigns seek to drown out reality: “You’re worth it. It’s your turn. You deserve this.” Even if you can’t afford it.

During the last few years, in the wake of the 2008 recession, the slogan, “We are the 99 percent” has practically become a household phrase. Members of the Occupy movement adopted it as a rallying cry to draw attention to the large concentration of wealth among the top 1 percent of income earners in the United States.

They’re correct in saying that the wealthiest Americans control a huge piece of the pie, but they’re missing the bigger picture— the global picture.

Here’s the Truth

If you’re living in the United States with a roof over your head, food on the table, and you can read this sentence, you are not the 99 percent.

In fact, there’s a good chance you are actually the 1 percent.

A London-based digital marketing company created an eye-opening project called the Global Rich List. It allows you to see where your wealth ranks you among the world population. According to the Global Rich List, if you make at least $33,000 a year, you’re in the top 1 percent. You are one of the richest people on earth.

Maybe you don’t make that much money. In fact, maybe you make less than half that amount. Guess what? With a $15,000 salary and no benefits, you still make the top 8 percent.

If it’s still not sinking in, here are some quick facts via Compassion:

When envy creeps into your mind as your neighbor shows off his new car, or your friend shows up in yet another new outfit, it’s easy to forget that 1.4 billion people live on $1.25 a day or less (visualize that number through the World Bank’s interactive map).

Of course, just knowing how fortunate you are on a global scale isn’t enough. Thankfulness is a decision, and it’s one we must make on a daily basis.

King Solomon knew what he was talking about when he wrote, “Whoever loves money never has enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with their income. This too is meaningless.” (Ecclesiastes 5:10, NIV).

If we aren’t careful, we’ll go through life constantly wanting and never satisfied. But for those who follow Christ, there is always a reason to be thankful. And there is always a way out when envy, pride or greed starts to creep in.

Hebrews 13:5 says, “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for he has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (ESV).

The Message puts it this way: “Don’t be obsessed with getting more material things.”

It can be an uphill battle living in America and pushing back against the consumerism that lurks around every corner, but God calls His people to a higher standard.

Remember, “religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world” (James 1:27, NIV).

We are not the 99 percent. God has trusted us with a lot. Let’s strive to be faithful with every dollar.