When a Nation Worships Money

Looking at the state of the economy today, one can easily wonder: “what happened?” America was prosperous, the stock market was climbing, and people were filling their garages with new cars, their homes with new high definition televisions, and other new “toys” and luxuries. Then it seemed like overnight the bottom dropped out. How could this drastic change take place?

Most of life on this Earth follows simple laws of cause and effect – we reap what we sow. Did you ever wonder what happens when a nation worships money?

• People, seeking ways to accumulate large amounts of money quickly, start using the stock market like a slot machine, seeking to hit it big on the new hot stock. Instead of “investing” in the stock market, diversifying and seeking long term growth, they start buying and selling stocks based on every tip, whim, or news event that comes along.
• Companies, seeking to please the fickle “investors”, need to turn a quick profit and start buying from the lowest cost suppliers (i.e., from overseas) without concern for what the impact might be on their nation as a whole. As a result, their manufacturing jobs have been sent to fuel another nation’s economy, at the expense of their own.
• The short term profits please the “investors”, the stock prices begin to rise, and people are encouraged to borrow money at low interest rates because they are told that the stock market returns will more than make up for the rate of interest.
• Companies now need new ways to please the fickle “investors” and start sending their engineering and technology based jobs overseas, again fueling those nations’ economy instead of their own.
• More and more people start finding themselves either out of work or taking lower paying jobs than they had, and are forced to start spending less money, making the economy “nervous”.
• "Fortunately", the nation’s government can step in and “encourage” banks and other financial institutions to make it easier for people to borrow more money, through high interest credit cards and through borrowing more money on their homes than people can afford to pay back.
• Banks profit from this for a while, as people are paying them interest on the loans and credit cards. But eventually reality sets in, and people without enough income start reaching the point that they can’t pay off their debt. And then what happens?
• Lawyers start encouraging people that are buried in debt to declare bankruptcy – after all, they deserve a new start, they were only victims of the big bad credit card companies and banks. After all, bankruptcy laws have made it legal for people not to pay for the things that they have acquired (a.k.a. stealing).
• Debt relief companies start encouraging people that are buried in debt to hire them to re-negotiate a lower settlement for them, because they “know the rules that the credit card companies don’t want you to know”. After all, you can often negotiate a lower payment to a company if you threaten to declare bankruptcy (a.k.a. extortion).
• Banks are then left with either no money in return for their loan, less money in return for their loan, or having to foreclose on mortgages on homes that people are unable to pay for. The result is a banking industry in distress, and unable to extend more credit, the same credit that was artificially fueling this nation’s economy in the first place.
• With no new credit, people have no choice but to stop buying, so the housing market is flooded with mortgaged homes that people can’t or won’t buy. The automobile market has more inventory than buyers, so their suppliers suddenly have no demand for their supplies. And all other industries take a hit, as people are forced to stop spending money.
• Companies that were able to use the tool of short term cost cutting to produce the profit that the fickle “investors” were seeking are now hit with a double whammy – they hit the limit of what costs they can cut, AND they no longer have buyers for their goods and services.
• And the stock market that was riding high during the boom artificially and temporarily fueled by the exporting of jobs and the infusion of borrowed money is going to have to take a nose dive as borrowed money can no longer support it.

Have I over simplified all of this? Probably. Do I have the benefit of 20/20 hindsight on this? Definitely. But I believe that it is easy to see that as this nation worships money, this nation will continue reap economic troubles. When people worship money, they seek instant self gratification, no matter what the impact on their neighbors is. When a nation worships money, you have a nation out of control. Every man does what seems right in his own eyes.

What is the alternative?

Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD; and the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance. (Psalms 33:12)

When a nation worships God, the people are more concerned about pleasing God than pleasing themselves. When a nation obeys God, they esteem others better than themselves:

Let nothing be done through strife or vainglory; but in lowliness of mind let each esteem other better than themselves. Look not every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others. (Philippians 2:3-4)

When a nation worships God, they will not ONLY look to their own things, but ALSO on the things of others. Let me clarify that last verse, just in case someone is tempted to misinterpret it: It is saying that you look out for other people’s welfare, NOT look on their things in order to acquire them.

There was a reason that the United States had “In God We Trust” printed on the money. It was meant as a reminder that God was to be trusted as our provider, not our money. Obviously, this nation has lost sight of that and is now reaping the consequences.

There is an answer for this nation, and that answer isn’t going to come from Congress. That answer isn’t going to come from the Supreme Court. And that answer isn’t going to come from the White House. The answer to this and every other situation that human beings will ever find themselves in has to come from the original source: the God who created us humans and this world in the first place.

Step 1: We must think differently than the world thinks:

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)

Blessed is the man that walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the LORD; and in his law does he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he does shall prosper. (Psalms 1:1-3)

When the world has a plan that is separate from God, it is doomed to fail. We have to resist the temptation to go with the flow, no matter how good and logical it may sound. For example, we shouldn’t be striving to acquire things, since God has promised to supply our things, if we are seeking first His kingdom:

And seek not what you shall eat, or what you shall drink, neither be of doubtful mind. For all these things do the nations of the world seek after: and your Father knows that you have need of these things. But rather seek the kingdom of God; and all these things shall be added unto you. (Luke 12:29-31)

Step 2: We (i.e., Christians) must turn from OUR wicked ways:

If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. (2 Chronicles 7:14)

Christians: we need to set the example. We need to turn from our wicked ways. If we are truly living differently and living by God’s leading, then He will heal our land.

The LORD shall establish you a holy people unto himself, as he has sworn unto you, if you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, and walk in his ways. And all people of the earth shall see that you are called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of you. And the LORD shall make you plentiful in goods, in the fruit of your body, and in the fruit of your cattle, and in the fruit of your ground, in the land which the LORD swore unto your fathers to give you. The LORD shall open unto you his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto your land in his season, and to bless all the work of your hand: and you shall lend unto many nations, and you shall not borrow. And the LORD shall make you the head, and not the tail; and you shall be above only, and you shall not be beneath; if that you hearken unto the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day, to observe and to do them: (Deuteronomy 28:9-13)

Step 3: We need to be givers, not consumers:

Where does true prosperity come from? Why does God want us to prosper?

But this I say, He which sows sparingly shall reap also sparingly; and he which sows bountifully shall reap also bountifully. Every man according as he purposes in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things, may abound to every good work: (As it is written, He hath dispersed abroad; he has given to the poor: his righteousness remains for ever. Now he that ministers seed to the sower both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness;) (2 Corinthians 9:6-10)

God prospers us so that we can bless others – He wants us to be sowing seed (i.e., giving to grow the kingdom of God), not consuming seed. Why does God give us work to do?

Let him that stole steal no more: but rather let him labor, working with his hands the thing which is good, that he may have to give to him that needs. (Ephesians 4:28)

Prosperity isn’t about acquiring all of the latest gizmos and gadgets. It isn’t about having all of the luxuries that your heart desires. We need to recognize that the things of this world are temporary, and not worth losing our soul over – as Jesus asked:

For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? (Mark
8:36-37)

What did He tell us to do?

Lay not up for yourselves treasures upon earth, where moth and rust does corrupt, and where thieves break through and steal: But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust does corrupt, and where thieves do not break through nor steal: For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. (Matthew 6:19-21)

Jesus said it, and that settles it!

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