Stewardship of Resources

I wrote a paper for Intermediate macroeconomics this last week on "God's purpose for economic activity" and I wanted to share a few of my thoughts from that paper.  I am addressing this to those in America’s economy who view consumption as a lifestyle and worldview, but who also realize that God is the sole redeemer of their lives.  One cannot serve both God and money, so I am pressing for transformation in the way that we live our lives.  I have and am personally struggling with these issues, so I don’t want any of you to think that I am saying this as if I have already figured everything out.  These are my thoughts and please treat them as such- a man trying to cope with the world around him and make sense of life.

God redeems us through the power of Jesus and the work of the Holy Spirit.  So, how is it that economic activity can play a role in God’s purpose? 

God created humans with all of our needs for order, economically and otherwise.  So part of His redemption is through the processes that He created in us to use.

God at one and the same time upholds a given political or economic system, since some such system is required to support human life; condemns that system insofar as it is destructive to full human actualization; and presses for its transformation into a more human order.         (Wink 1992, 67)

  God is a holistic redeemer, He doesn’t just redeem our souls, but He also redeems our bodies and our minds.  So it is with these facts in mind that one can think on the purpose that God has set forth for economic activity.  I posit that God uses economic activity to shape how we view His Kingdom and the work that He has set for us to do.  It is our job to use economic activity to shape the world around us for the furtherance of the Kingdom, and to push for transformation and redemption individually, as a community, as a society, and globally.  We must be using the resources that God gave to us for His furtherance to help the broken, the suffering, the poor, the widows, and the orphans.  We should not gain capital for more capital and the sole purpose of more wealth and more comfortable lives, but we also should not shun money and the gaining of capital across the board, because it can help the broken if used correctly.

We must use the systems that are in place so as to help others and maintain ourselves, while at the same time be consistently and continually calling out for change in the ways that the system is incorrect.   Personal maintenance of funds and capital can cover savings, needs, and some comforts, but this category should not encompass one’s whole cash flow.  We don’t need another flat-screen to distract us from ourselves; we need to help build community and push for relationships amongst our circle of friends, family, peers, and loved ones.  This is not to say that we should throw away all of our material possessions, but it is to say that we should consume more wisely and view our budgets as a stewardship of resources given to us by a caring and loving God.

And so I say to you, try to transform one part of your consumption today to help the lives of others tomorrow, and I challenge you to sustain that transformation throughout your life.

Chase