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Spiritual bankruptcy
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(AP Photo/Aijaz Rahi)
We all know times are tough right now. You can’t escape the news. We are in a recession. It is perhaps the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. Some are even labeling our crisis the Great Recession.
With all the media attention on our troubled time it is easy to get caught up in the gloom and doom. Focusing on negativity will not make things better, however, so I try to take a different tact. I believe that when you stop living in the problem and start living in the solution the problem goes away. Or at least you find a way to face the problem.
The big problem I see today is not so much that unemployment is on the rise and banks are foreclosing on homes (but please don’t think I’m minimizing the plight of anyone dealing with those challenges). The problem I perceive is that too many people are going bankrupt spiritually. A very large part of the population seems lost in a culture that emphasizes materialism, consumerism and egoism. These things never satisfy. Not ultimately.
The good news that sometimes comes out of the bad news of a great recession is that more of us get a wakeup call to what life is really all about. Life is more than getting our comfort. Money cannot solve all our problems. Yes, it is nice to not have to worry and fret over where the money is to pay the bills or where your next meal might come from. Still, the true hunger and thirst we have can only be satisfied from finding real purpose and meaning in life. Hitting bottom means there is only one way to go - up! To rise from the despair of our emotional and spiritual bottoms we must find an answer to our purpose and meaning.
The great message of Christianity is that God cares, is present and does not require we be at a certain level of goodness or be worthy of assistance. God already knows we need help and that we aren’t perfect. That is why God came to us as a human – Jesus Christ – to save us and show us the way. God does for us what we can’t do for ourselves. And God does through us – with our cooperation and participation – great and wonderful things.
Don’t let any misconceptions about religion or Christianity or what you think you know about Jesus keep you from discovering for yourself the grace available to you. That grace is free. You only have to accept it gratefully and be willing to pay it forward. Doing for others is the model Jesus gave us. We can’t fix things on our own power. God can reveal solutions that we haven’t discovered without his help.
There is a way to deal with our very real problems during this recession. It is a spiritual solution. Love is the ultimate currency.
More Great Recession themed articles by Tom Gilbert:
Lose your job, find your purpose
Joy Junction helping homeless without government aid
Lose your job, find your purpose
Joy Junction helping homeless without government aid
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