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.