In the 1939 classic movie, Mr. Smith, played by Jimmy Stewart, goes to Washington and soon encounters a corrupt political system run by the good ol' boys network of career politicians. The no-nonsense, common sense common man Mr. Smith refuses to be tainted by the system and shows how one man with backbone and conviction can effect real positive change.
In the day when talk of a $700 billion financial bail-out is being debated in our nation's capital, it would be a nice thing if some no-nonsense common sense about billions and billions dollars worth of taxpayers' cents would surface among our career politicians, who seem to know very little about basic economics, the U.S. Constitution, and more importantly, the relevancy of God's holy Word on some issues that effect us all.
I do not pretend to know a whole lot about all the fine details behind this bail-out bill that is being voted upon in the U.S. House as I type this, but I have a sneaky suspicion that most of our elected leaders do not have the foggiest idea either. The current bill passed by the Senate is 451 pages long. How many Senators have actually read all the way through that novel? It is a reassuring thought, is it not, that most of our elected leaders vote on things they have no idea what they are voting on. One of the required readings before anyone is sworn into office should be Adam Smith's The Wealth of the Nations, the grandest explanation and defense of free capitalism that has ever been written.
I had a few courses in economics in college, and I quickly learned that when you have two or three modern economists in a room, there you will have four different opinions. I heard today on the radio that someone, tongue in cheek, has labelled the current bail-out bill as the Armageddon Avoidance Act. A large proportion of the American populace, and sadly a large number within the Christian community, seem to swallow hook, line and sinker the latest doomsday scenario that comes along. Even when big government is the cause of a problem, if big government can come along and present itself as the savior of the problem it has created, then once again we will be tempted to fall prostrate before Washington and give more homage to the federal god that has come to rescue us all. It is far more likely that cancer will be stamped out before idolatry will or can ever be.
Things may get bad in our economy, at our job, regarding our health, and everywhere else in our lives, but for believers in Christ, of all people, the word panic should not describe us at any time. Fear and anxiety are totally incompatible with trusting in a good, sovereign God.The only reason I can think of why many Christians seem to fall prey continuously to knee-jerk panic-mode prognostications is because the prognosticators know that there is money to be made at people's expense when people are quaking in their boots. Bad news always outsell the good news (gospel), even at religious bookstores.
All this came to a moment of sanctified serendipity last night when I read parts of Genesis 41 in our evening devotional time with my family. There the dreamy-eyed man Joseph in bondage in Egypt told sleep-deprived Pharaoh about a coming economic disaster on the scale of the Great Depression. It was a sure word from the Lord, but no-nonsense common sense Mr. Joseph remained calm through it all with a solid trust in his God and was promoted to a very high-level cabinet position in the Egyptian government, where he served with honor and distinction.
Mr. Joseph proposed a 20% flat tax rate across the board. I could live with that, especially when all my taxes combined are over double that amount. Next he proposed that the government do not spend the taxpayers' money like drunken sailors, with apologies to drunken sailors, in the seven years of economic prosperity that was coming Egypt's way. Under Mr. Joseph's orders, the government set aside revenues to the government's treasury during the seven good years for the seven years of economic downturn that was coming around the bend. It was not really a Rainy Day Fund; it was more like a Famine Relief Fund.
As I told my daughters last night, this is basic Home Economics 101 or Government Economics 101. Don't spend more than you make, save a good amount of what you earn, don't live beyond your means, learn to practice contentment, expect financial emergencies or downturns and plan accordingly, don't try to rectify one financial headache with a bigger one, look to God and not your government to be your one and only Savior.
If our leaders in our nation's capital pictorially represent the vast conglomeration of American households, then that may explain largely why our nation's economic house is not in order. We are told that many Americans average $10,000 in credit card debt alone. Far too few homes know anything about the discipline of saving money. Their paycheck is spent before they cash it. In fact, it may be that to many S-A-V-E is a dirty four-letter word, when in truth, the dirty four-letter word should be D-E-B-T. How many Christian couples and families can't experience the joy of giving to the Lord and His work because they don't have much, if any, money left over after they pay all their indebtedness each month?
For those at Heartland, some of the above will be repeated in my upcoming sermon series on FAITH AND FINANCES, starting sometime in November. So I will stop now before I give it all away. I had to write something, though, on this subject since the events of the day and our family Bible reading all came together last night.
In the meantime, I can dream, like Joseph did on occasion, that someone like a Mr. Joseph could go to Washington and knock some sense in the heads of our elected leaders. But then again, maybe the best place to start is not in Washington, but in the homes of so many Americans in financial bondage all across our great land. If only Mr. Joseph could go there. We wouldn't have to make a movie about it. The Book would be enough.
Yours in Christ,
Chris
