MINISTERS MUSINGS

February 2009 MUSING

God and Finance

The financial world has suffered its biggest crash in decades, a tidal wave which engulfs us all. Banks and businesses crash, house prices fall, profit margins are slashed, jobs and livelihoods lost. Everywhere there is doubt and gloom and doom. Miraculously billions of pounds of tax payers money is found to shore up failing institutions and we are no longer exhorted to save but to spend to get the economy going. We are bewildered as we read of top executives earning millions in salaries, bonuses and ‘pension pots’. An oil company makes £22 million profit while the poor and elderly switch off heating because of concern about meeting fuel bills. What a topsy- turvy world we live in. Who is to blame? It is easy to point an accusing finger at top executives in finance and business, but are we not all to blame? After all many of us have been happy to ‘buy now, pay later’ and fill our wallets with credit cards. We have taken out mortgages beyond our true capacity to maintain repayments and it has been considered quite respectable to do so. We have concentrated on the cost of things and in so doing have lost our sense of values. Where lies the answer.

‘The world and all that is in it belongs to the Lord’ the psalmist tells us. We have been entrusted with the stewardship of God’s bounty. ‘You cannot serve God and money’ Jesus warns us and Paul tells us that the LOVE of money is the root of all evil. Note that little word love. It is not money which is the problem but where our heart and desires lie. If as Christians we really believe ourselves to be keepers of God’s bounty, then our actions should show this. We must live as if Jesus were Lord of all that we are and all that we own. So let us pray that we may be guided on how, where and when to spend His money bearing in mind that He has provided enough in the world for everyone’s need but not everyone’s greed.