The world has experienced the greatest revolution in economics during the past two months than it has ever experienced in our history. No one would ever have believed that the stock market could fluctuate 800 points in a day! Who could believe that the great companies like AIG, Lehman Brothers, Merrill-Lynch, and Wachovia would ever be in trouble? Who could believe that what happens here in the US could have an impact globally, and vice versa?
It is obvious that human theories of economics have been faulty. Maybe it is time that we look at God’s economics. Let’s look at God’s economics concerning
PROFIT—COLLATERAL—INVESTMENTS—YIELDS—FINANCIAL STATEMENTS.
PROFIT
Every company is interested in the bottom line. If a company doesn’t show a profit, it doesn’t stay around very long. The real focus of man’s economics is on profit.
Luke 12 shows how God’s economics looks at profit. Jesus told about a man who was a very successful farmer. When he gathered his crop, his barns were not sufficient enough to hold all of the crops. His reasoning was “This is what I will do. I will tear down my barns and build larger ones and there I will store all my grain and my goods. I will say to my soul, ‘Soul you have many goods laid up for many years to come. Take your ease, eat, drink and be merry.’” Notice how many times the pronoun “my” is used.
The man felt like his success in view of the profit was the process of building bigger barns. God’s economics had a different view. God came to him and said, “You fool! This night your soul is required of you and now who will own what you have prepared?” Jesus drives home the message by saying, “So is a man who lays up treasures for himself and is not rich towards God.”
Jesus echoes this same thought in Matthew 16: 26, when he says, “What profit does a man have if he gains the whole world but forfeits his own soul?”
Profit in God’s economics is not the accumulation of things—it is the quality of life that results from a relationship to God through Jesus Christ.
Continuing in Luke 12, Jesus goes on to talk about how we don’t have to worry about things to eat, drink, wear, etc. He simply says that if we seek first His Kingdom anything we need will be given. That is God’s economics. That is different.
The world’s view of a profit is summed up in the popular statement, “He who dies with the most toys wins.” While it is a popular and practiced mindset, it is opposite of what God’s economics teach us.
While man’s economics are under great scrutiny at this time, and nobody knows where our current economic system will carry us, God’s economics have been around for thousands of years and will be here till the end of time!!
Our choice is whether to follow God’s economics or man’s. Profit is not bottom line numbers but a top priority commitment to God’s Kingdom.
