Today on MoneyLife with Chuck Bentley
Tuesday, February 9, 2010
How to Make a Difference in America’s Economy
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I want to talk about how you can make a difference in the current economic mess and change the direction America is going. Many of us are frustrated about what’s happening. We’re wondering what we can do to make a difference. I'm going to talk from my heart about the things that are necessary to change the course of our nation. Throughout Biblical history, God has used individuals to change nations. The first chapter of the Bible is dedicated to God’s creation of the world. The second chapter is about Adam and Eve. God’s heart is with people, with individuals. The rest of the Bible is about people like you and me. There’s hope that if we return to God’s way, we can make a difference. We need to stand for what is true. God’s plan is God’s economy. You and I are called to model it. We’re going to talk about how to do that today. So many of us are frustrated about the direction of our country. There’s more that we can do. I'm not talking about becoming a protestor. What would be more effective is to become a model for God’s way. You and I reflect our government and our culture. As we are, so is the country. You can complain about the state of our country or you can do your part. Live counterculture and use your sphere of influence, your home, neighborhood, church, work, and small group. You have to start following God’s plan. Out of the original 22 industrialized nations, 21 of them had a Christian heritage. Japan was the lone exception but you could argue that it achieved its success by copying the others. Data shows the industrial revolution was lead by people who loved the Lord. They believed God’s ways were better than man’s ways. They had common moral values that allowed commerce to thrive. Today, all of those nations are in trouble because of too much debt. It comes from a failure to live out God’s principles. God told us debt wasn’t good for us. When we disbelieve and do the things that aren’t good for us, we suffer the consequences. Some people think change can come through voting. I agree it would be great to have leaders who believed God’s ways were better than man’s ways and would make decisions based on Biblical truth. But that won’t happen until we show others that God’s ways are best. God put mankind here on earth to reflect His truth, to demonstrate His faithfulness. We are to show the world His ways are the best ways. When we get caught up in the world, we reflect things that aren’t good. We become financially trapped like everyone else. We have to begin to say no and live differently according to God’s ways. Show the way instead of complaining. Everyone is looking for a magical plan that will deliver them, some new federal policy or leader. True change won’t come that way. True change is only going to come when God’s people have a change of heart, when we repent of living in man’s economy and begin following God's way. Until then, we are part of the problem. We haven’t lived contrary to the world. We need to ask God to forgive us for believing the lie, and compromising our values. It's time to return to what God says is good. God has a glorious economic plan. It's totally inverted from man’s economy. God has the only way out. He shows us that way through individuals, and as individuals live His plan, it changes the nation. We need to be a people that model God’s way and by doing that, we demonstrate credibility. This works for individuals and entire nations. If you will adopt God’s glorious plan and live it out, you can be the change agent. If you’re frustrated about what’s going on in America’s economy, you can make a difference. If you’ll adopt God’s ways in your own heart, God can use you. Man is always going to offer alternatives to God’s ways, but none of them will work. The only thing we know works is to trust God and follow His ways. As the people go, so goes the nation. Begin to put confidence in God’s plan for your life. Live it out and become a living example. The beginning of God’s glorious plan for man is found in Genesis. Man's purposes were to work, to care for creation, and to live in obedience to God to bring Him glory. Adam was the first steward. He was to be a worker and producer, a wise caretaker, and brought glory to God through faithfulness, until the fall. We’ve strayed far from that plan. We can’t have a system that rewards people who don’t work. It leads to misery and suffering. A minority working to support the majority is unsustainable. God made us to work and reflect His glory. All of us want to work, to do something meaningful. We need to exalt the blessings of working. We need to teach that it is good to work. God ordained man to work; it gives us something to do. We’re here to be producers, not people of leisure.
So the first way to make a difference in America’s economy is to work. We must be wise and reflect God’s glory. The traits of a good manager are preparedness, strength, and compassion. We must do that as individuals. The third way to make a difference is to walk in humble obedience. Acknowledge God as Creator and seek to bring glory to Him. Fulfill His purposes for your life. These ways are God’s simple plan for us. Until we get back to believing and doing these things, we’re going to be upside down and moving in a direction that will bring more misery and suffering. Man doesn’t have a solution, but keeps trying to convince us he does. The real solution is for individuals to return to their original purposes, to be workers unto the Lord, wise and faithful stewards, and to bring glory to God by serving others. When we do those things, it will be radically noticeable. That’s the salt and light we’re called to be during this season of economic uncertainty. The greatest way to make a difference is to model in our lives His ways. We live in this world but we’re not of this world. We have a different way of operating called God’s economy. We have been redeemed from the fall of man and restored to our original purposes to work, faithfully manage what we have, and bring God glory. When that begins to happen in your heart and you convince others to live in God’s economy, that will be the evangelism that reaches the world because it will show the world that God’s ways are better than man’s ways. We must have confidence in God’s economic plan and follow it personally. We can complain, protest, and vote but real change will come when we live it. Practicing what we preach will make the most difference. Your anxiety and frustration will go away as you live it. Join me in living in God’s Economy and demonstrating it to the rest of the world. *** Please register for the God Provides™ film tour coming to Atlanta this Thursday, February 11 and Chattanooga, nextt Thursday, February 18. I'll be teaching, so if you come, we'll get a chance to meet. These events are family friendly and free, so bring your children. We'll be showing Abraham and Isaac and the Widow and Oil films. You can register here. This is not a fundraising event and there's no charge to attend. I encourage you to see God as your provider during these difficult economic times. I hope you’ll make plans to be there if you live in those areas. If you do, please say hello and let me know you're a MoneyLife listener. |
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I've been talking since 2008 about how to avoid or deal with America’s economic problems, but today I want to take a different angle.