At the time of this writing I have done something today that I have not done since the 70’s – waited in line to buy gas. However, I think the price then was under a buck a gallon even in short supply and great demand. Today I had the privilege of paying $4.19 per gallon. Also the news that dominates the TV networks, newspapers and talk radio programs is the failure of some of our Nations largest financial institutions and the $700 billion dollar bail out our Government is proposing. The blame game has begun and no matter where you try to put it there is plenty left over to go around; everything from corporate greed, fraudulent lending practices, lack of personal fiscal responsibility on the behalf of the borrowers, to blaming the free market itself and deregulation. The politicians are on every news outlet pointing fingers at each other crying foul. Yet I have not heard one person describe what is at the root of all these things. We as a nation are in an economic crisis because we are in a spiritual crisis. The root of all of this is simply stated – sin.
Two thousand years ago John The Baptist came on a similar scene. The politicians of his day were Caesar, Herod and Herod’s sons, and Pontius Pilate all of whom were wicked and cruel and corrupt men. The religious leaders of his day were for the most part corrupted too as our Lord Jesus would later reveal. No wonder John The Baptist came preaching “Repent for the kingdom of God is at hand…” and don’t miss this part – “the ax is laid at the root of the trees…” John was not wasting his breath dealing with the rotten fruit of his time. The rotten fruit is evidence of a deeper (root) problem. He simply pointed out that the tree needed to change (repent means to have a change of mind and direction) and he was bringing the ax to lay it at the root of the problem. We as Christians need to pray more and complain less about the economy. We need to get involved in the process of bringing about a real change; one that comes from Heaven, not the empty political promises of our day. Our hope should never be found in a political party nor should it be found in the economy but rather we should look unto the Mountain from which our help comes. Our hope should be in Christ who is our strength, our supply, our provider, our salvation, He is our everything and when a person has Him they have all they need.
To borrow from the overused political line of our day – The Wall Street crisis affects Main Street America. We understand that one crisis creates another. The rising cost of gas means rising food costs, higher airline tickets, higher costs beget higher costs. Natural disasters beget higher insurance premiums, higher taxes could be coming, etc. There is another spill- over I want to mention here - the effect on the church. Too many Christians allow economic crisis to change our giving patterns. The reason is simply put we have been giving to God out of our abundance or what we could call leftovers. Now many people do not have the leftovers anymore and they have never learned to give to the Lord from the “First fruits of all their increase as planned giving.” Many people in our society have gotten too much, too fast, too easy and have acted very irresponsibly with their gains. Now that they need to make adjustments to cut their losses, sadly, the first thing to go is their giving to the work of the Lord. The extra money (leftovers) they once had laying around in their checking accounts is now being used to pay for the rising costs of living. God’s work has never been put into their lives as a priority in their financial planning.
Things are not bad in and of themselves but when the purchase of things is a replacement of our investments in God’s work we have misplaced priorities. And, misplaced priorities lead to greed and pride, and is that not what we pointed out is the root of our Nation’s problems? Allow the Spirit of God to lay the ax at the root of this problem in your heart and change your mind about your investments to the Lord. Christian families who say they have nothing to give to the Lord’s work still have cable or satellite TV’s, cell phones for every member of the family, the latest gadgets and latest fashions, they dine out more than they dine in and still go on several vacations a year. But if there is something that must be cut it will most often be their giving to the Lord’s work.
Then there are those who really have been hit hard. They are behind in their bills, and they are struggling to make ends meet. They have more month than money for the month. My heart goes out to many of the people in our church family right now. I know personally what it is like to have to make adjustments in lifestyle to survive and make ends meet. But let me encourage both groups I have just mentioned. Keep the Lord and His work at the top of the priority list. He does not need our money but we surely need His blessing that comes from giving. And more than the blessing that is promised there is still a world that is lost without Him. I am reminded that is real poverty, no matter how much they have or do not have materially. And real wealth is only found in knowing Him no matter how much or how little we have materially. So do not let the economic crisis put you in a spiritual crisis. Keep looking to the One who is our everything!
