An Economic Recovery Plan

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September 29, 4:44 PM

by Dr. Bob Beltz, Faith and Culture Examiner

 

 

                     Record loss on Wall Street

As I write this article, the future of the government’s plan to rescue the US economy hangs in the balance.  The Dow Jones Industrial index had its worst single day drop in history, plummeting 777 points.  I try not to get too worried, but I have to admit I find the events of the last few weeks and months troubling.  Like many of you, I have seen my meager savings decimated.  I’m not quite at the age where I am considering retirement – might never get there – but I’m sure for those who are at that point in life and have watched a lifetime of saving and planning get pummeled, these are extremely difficult days.  I manage my mother’s lifetime savings and I am actually grateful that her memory problems (she is in an Alzheimer’s facility) protect her from understanding what is happening in the market. She was a young girl during the Great Depression and for years she kept a notebook where at the end of every day she wrote down the closing figure for the Dow.  I can’t imagine what this afternoon would have been like for her if she was still lucid.

 My wife and I, like many of you, have now gone through what Investopedia.com identifies as three of the ten greatest financial crashes in history: the Crash of 1987, the Dotcom crash of the late 90’s, and the current economic crisis.  In the mid 90s, the manager of my retirement fund was convinced dotcoms were the place to put your savings.  Ours were decimated. 

As disturbing as the loss of financial worth has been, I can honestly say that I have not panicked – at least not yet.  The only window I have considered jumping out of is in my basement:)  I’d like to think that as a follower of Christ I exhibit complete confidence in his promise that “My God will meet all your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus,” (Philippians 4:19.)  But, this promise was not made in a vacuum.   It was made to a group of men and women who had consistently exhibited faithfulness in at least one dynamic of God’s economic plan.  I’ll come back to this specific situation later.  For now, I’d like to suggest that if we are going to have peace about our own financial situation in times like these we need to be sure we have the building blocks of economic security from a spiritual perspective in place.  Let me suggest four such blocks:

1.     Work hard.  Are you familiar with the term “the Protestant work-ethic?”   It is derived from a period in American history where hard work was viewed as a spiritual value.  I’m sure there is an equal “Catholic work-ethic” or “Jewish work-ethic.”  But this term was unique in the sense that it had theological roots in the Protestant Reformation.  One of the lynchpins in the Reformation was a belief in what was called “the priesthood of all believers.”  In theory, this was the belief that the ground is level at the foot of the cross, and a call to vocational ministry did not elevate a person’s status above a call to be a working man or woman.  All work was viewed as a calling.  As such it was to be done with great diligence, and effort that was motivated as service “unto the Lord.”  Even in Paul’s day, there were people who were so convinced that Jesus was returning in such a short timeframe that they quit working.  Paul confronted them and said, “If a man won’t work, don’t let him eat,” (II Thessalonians 3:10.)

2.     Spend less.  The more spiritual term for this building block is “simplicity.”  The idea is that in a consumer driven world, we might need to rethink our consumption habits.  What has caused the current crisis?  Some would say greed.  Others would blame bad judgment or stupidity.  Many might say some combination of the two.  Most of us are bombarded with images and messages that tell us we must have more.  Many of us are oblivious to how much our spending habits are shaped and influenced by media and marketing.  Billions and billions of dollars are spent every year attempting to convince you that you cannot live without something that you probably don’t need at all.  Jesus taught that a man’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions,” (Luke 12:15.)   I like to paraphrase: “Life does not equal stuff.”  Americans spend more than they make.  (Unfortunately, so does our government.)   We run up credit card debt and no longer save like our parents and grandparents did.  You can only live like this for so long before it catches up with you.  For many, it just did.  Do you realize that if you spent half of what you now spend every month it would be like earning twice what you currently earn?  That might be unrealistic, but certainly it would be healthy for all us to do some soul searching in this area.

3.     Save more.  Jesus didn’t spend a great deal of time addressing the issue of saving money.  He did spend a great deal of time speaking about faith and trust and the danger of serving money rather than God.  You might wonder if talking about saving and trusting in the same breath is contradictory.  The wisdom literature of the Old Testament instructs us to be wise like those creatures that store up in the good times in order to have provision in times of scarcity.  I would suggest that the primary issue here is whether we trust in our savings, or trust in God.  In order to save, we need to plan and discipline our spending.   I’ve been told that John Wesley counseled those to whom he ministered that they were to “make all you can – save all you can – give all you can.”  This brings us to the fourth building block of spiritual economic health.

4.     Giving.  Sitting in the middle of an economic meltdown, your first thoughts might not be of how to get rid of more of your money.  Ironically, faithful giving is probably the most important part of the picture for creating financial stability.  God makes quite a commitment to meeting the needs of those who make a commitment to be faithful with the resources he has entrusted to them.  It was in the context of giving that Paul was able to make his statement about God meeting all the needs of the believers in Philippi.  They gave faithfully and God met their needs.  In a time of economic unrest in Israel, the prophet Haggai challenged the people about the use of their resources.  They had been sent back to Jerusalem with the specific task of rebuilding the Temple.  They had the resources to accomplish the task.  But instead of building the Temple, they built their own houses.  The fact that they built houses was not the problem.  But Haggai comments that they built “paneled houses” (an extravagence of the times) while the Lord’s house remained a “ruin.”  They were misusing what God provided. The result was that they “earned wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it,” (Haggai 1:6.)  They had not yet connected the dots, so God twice told them to “consider their ways,” (Haggai 1:5, 1:7.)  When they began to get their priorities in order, and to use the resources God provided in an appropriate way, God began to bless them.  In this time of financial crisis, it is critical that we are faithful in our giving.  The biblical minimum is the “tithe” or one-tenth of our income.  When we withhold that minimum, God says we rob him, (Malachi 3:8.)  When we faithfully and obediently give at least the minimum, God promises to “throw open the floodgates of heaven.”  I have to wonder if America has exercised corporate financial faithfulness in recent years when we have been so blessed economically.  I doubt it.  I also have to wonder if the current mess might not be a gracious shake-up to get our attention.

So what do you do if you don't want to work hard, spend less, save more, and give?  I'd suggest learning Chinese!

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