No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.-Jesus, in Matthew 6:24
With Americans facing their greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression, it just seems less-than-responsible to write about anything else but money.
Notice the pronouns in the previous sentence? I didn't say
The villains in the crisis aren't institutions, either; they're also people.
Oh sure, there's low-hanging fruit here in the villain-search. That list of low-hanging fruit is easily identified and could go on and on, but that's part of the reason we can't find solutions to the present economic crisis. We're content to stop at the low-hanging fruit in the villain-search; probably because we know we're somewhere in the tree of blame ourselves.
Jesus says we are; those of us who claim to be followers of His teaching.
Jesus isn't looking to non-Christians to fix the world; He's looking to us, His followers, to do that. We need to fix this economic crisis.
Okay, so most of us aren't smart enough to engineer a bailout plan to get past the current lending crisis that's fueling the crushing pressure; and most of us aren't in positions of influence or power. But some of us are: and we need them to exercise Estherian courage against greed's personal and institutional influences.
But what can the rest of us do?
First, we can look around to see who is frightened or damaged by this present crisis. Every crisis is made worse by fear; both real and imagined, and fear is made worse by loneliness and isolation. It's our families, friends and neighbors who are losing their homes and jobs, who are losing their self-respect and their dignity, and now's the time for us to be at their side, even in those rare instances when their crisis is completely their fault. When Jesus tells us to "make friends with the poor", He's talking about people engaged in an economic struggle that feels life-or-death to them, and He's telling Christians our eternal evaluation will be written, in large part, by the poor and struggling we encounter, and what we do to help.
Second, we must look to re-shape our own focus. Is our pursuit of plenty or enough errantly re-shaping our lives? Are we sacrificing our children's well-being on the altar of that pursuit? Are we too busy for "loving God and loving others" activities because of our jobs? Are our waking hours consumed by plotting how we please the boss or ourselves rather than knowing and pleasing God? Are we hoarding resources someone else needs; or taking opportunities someone else deserves? Is our happiness measured by or dependent on our financial security?
In the second strongest and second most frightening comment ever made in Scripture, Jesus says we have to choose between God and mammon (money). There is no middle ground. In fact, Jesus says He will "spit out" the lukewarm; declaring even the ones who are cold to Him are more acceptable than the lukewarm or wishy-washy.
Scary words, indeed, but words that offer a chance to rock this Kingdom and this economy in dramatic fashion. If every working man and woman who says they follow Jesus really lives those words today, the world would witness a miracle no human could produce.
Change doesn't start in
It starts when God's people make their choice; when you make your choice.
Choose today who you're chasing.
--Randy Kilgore
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