How would Jesus spend?

I've seen a lot of home remodeling and add-on projects over the years, especially in established neighborhoods. I guess the thinking there is: better to add a room than start over again with even more expense in a whole new house. But our economy would be in even worse shape today if everybody did it that way. Most of our current crisis seems to be connected, at least in the beginning, to the housing market. People aren't buying new homes fast enough; people wanted more of a new house than they could afford, and have now defaulted on the loan. People's home values have slumped to the point that they owe more than they could sell it for and buy a new one.

But our economy is more than housing, and yet the same principle applies: if enough people keep what they have and don't keep buying new things, there's going to be a slowdown in businesses that survive on new products, not fixing old ones. Sure, there's a portion of the economy that survives on the fix-it projects, but in a slowing economy there's a lot less money to spend on fixing and enlarging and remodeling.

And all this is part of a larger principle of our economy: growth doesn't happen by keeping what we have. If we aren't spending, we're ultimately losing. The holiday season will be upon us again, and, as usual, many people's livlihood will depend on consumers doing what they do best: consuming! There just aren't enough companies that depend on people saving their money or living the "simple life" to keep the ship afloat. And if John Q. Public isn't borrowing money to keep up his lifestyle, many financial businesses that survive on a credit economy will close their doors.

If the question might be posed, "What is an ideal economic principle for living?", you'd have to include the words of the apostle Paul to Timothy. His general principle was, "If we have food and covering, with these we shall be content. (1 Timothy 6:8) He knew that some were better off than others, but he warned in the next verse about the hazards of an uncontrolled profit motive, with his famous words, "Those who want to get rich fall into temptation and a snare and many foolish and harmful desires which plunge men into ruin and destruction." (1 Timothy 6:9) Riches aren't the problem, but rather the "want to" motive that makes us discontent with staying the same.

A nation's economy must continually grow, if only because there must be new jobs to those new to the job market. New homes must be built to accomodate those new to adulthood and home ownership. But we didn't get into this current crisis by companies and people content to grow "a little at at time." Whole industries have come into existence that urge us to continually upgrade and expand and thrust the profit line quickly and continually upward. Contentment, whether with houses or general lifestyles, seems to be, in economic terms, "bad business." Maybe that's why we're seeing a lot of "ruin and destruction" that spreads even to those more content.

But HOW did it happen?

Atheistic evolutionists seem to me like someone who finds an old Model T buried in the ground, and then proclaims, "Aha, now we know that modern Fords have evolved from this ancient fossil!" Of course, that's not only ridiculous, it's something no evolutionist would say, because we have enough historical documentation, not to mention understanding of the science of automaking, to know that someone made that Model T and every other car since then.

Yet evolutionists point to all kinds of other fossils buried in rocks and other previously hidden places, and say "See, there's a primitive form of a whatchamacallit that proves life has evolved from simple life forms to the present world. And it just happened by chance and time!"

OK, so they found a buried fossil; but HOW did a fossil bacteria become a fossil dinosaur or a fossil fern? And how did the amino acids, famously touted by evolutionists as a building block of life, turn slowly but surely into complex cells, full of DNA and lots of other very complicated things that all must work perfectly for life to function?

So they found a fossil skull that looks sort of human and sort of not. But HOW did that ancient man-like creature become a rational, analytical and skeptical scientist, who thinks himself able to challenge centuries of faith in the revelation of our Creator God; while some other distant "cousin" became an exhibit in the zoo? Since they don't really know HOW it happened, no one should rule out the possibility that, like the Ford, Someone made it that way.

God will never make a good science experiment, because He won't submit to the scientists' words and methods. He won't prove Himself to the skeptic or leave detailed notes on His creative process. He did, however, leave sufficient notes by His revelation to certain men and women who were ready to submit to His Word and ways. And someday all men, even the skeptics, will stand and be questioned. And He even left the Textbook to study for the big test.

Some thoughts about changing for good

Change can mean a lot of different things to different people. For some, it’s resisted as an unwelcome threat to the status quo. To others, it’s a breath of fresh air in a boring, outdated world. For still others, it’s a new start, a break from the past and a promise of a better tomorrow.

The difference in perspective on change is largely a matter of attitude toward our present situation. If I’m comfortable, or at least content with my life as is, change is less desirable than if I’m miserable. If I agree that a certain change (like physical fitness) would be ideal, but requires more effort and revamping of my life than I really want to take on, then my motivation to change is diminished.

For people with troublesome habits, whether behavioral, mental or relational, change is something that first must be seen as not only necessary but urgent, because any habit has a built-in inertia factor that makes it much easier to stay the same than to become something new. And that’s all them more true if that habit is still believed to be personally advantageous or useful.

In fact, any behavior that becomes habitual, customary, traditional, standard operating procedure, modus operandi or whatever is something that once upon a time was new, and was practiced with regularity because it was an action that was believed to be in some way beneficial. People may stumble over a shoe in the dark, but they don’t normally arrange their shoes in such a way as to create a hazard zone in a dark room.

As bizarre as it may seem to the objective viewer (and we can all be more objective about other people’s behavior than about our own), even self-destructive habits like chemical addictions, rage-aholism, pornographic obsessions or chronic irresponsibility are actions that began as a choice to do something that seemed necessary, useful, positive or just plain “makes-me-feel-good”.

A person who finds himself time and again in the grip of a troublesome habit may feel frustrated, unable to explain why he can’t seem to break free and make the needed changes. He may beat himself up and try to “repent” of his foolishness, only to fail again. But he should assume one fact about himself: There is a motivation within to do this thing (and perhaps very deeply and unconsciously within), not because it’s truly useful (as good health practices or being kind to others) but because there is still a place in his beliefs, attitudes or feelings where this action is believed to be emotionally necessary; a refuge of sorts from a world that is unsafe, unwelcoming, unkind or unpleasant.

Finding that hidden place, stripping away its defenses and denial, and dealing with it by God’s Word of truth, grace, love and power, is the only way I know to “change for good.” We may be able to “rearrange” the Titanic’s deck chairs, as many addicts switch from one “behavior of choice” to another to satisfy the same inner longings, but troublesome habits are still going to take us down or keep us down. Change of anything troublesome is never easy, but, with God’s power and wisdom, it’s at least possible.