INTRODUCTION
We began this journalistic adventure by articulating some of the intriguing aspects of the phenomenon called “Goodness.” As I was finishing writing my thoughts and observations regarding “goodness,” our faithful readers of my weekly blog, began responding online. They began asking that I further explain the precepts behind the idea of goodness, e.g., where does goodness originate? How can I pursue and obtain goodness? How can I help my friends better understand the idea of goodness?
So, I agreed to try to put into our common vernacular, some of the basic concepts of our religious beliefs. For the next 25 or 30 weeks I endeavored to distill into simple language, some of the basic biblical teachings that I have personally embraced over the years.
Needless to say, that became a far more involved task than I had anticipated. The more I got into trying to simply state my beliefs, the more I began to realize the absolute need for all of us to put down in our own vernacular what it is that we believe. There just aren’t very many people in our present culture who can simply and consistently articulate what it is that they believe. In fact, most folks don’t even have a clue as to where to go to find out where truth is even available.
Many of you are aware that I am an economist and a businessman. As I was trying to finish stating what I personally believe, I knew I needed to include what I personally believe regarding biblical truths and the subject of personal stewardship of life. God has freely shared his economic truths with us and his corresponding expectations for us.
God is the Author of Light -- the God of order, -- and not the author of confusion. He is eager to help us understand the biblical principles of stewardship and economics if we will make ourselves available to learn.
So, in this final section, I will try to simply articulate what “I Believe . . .” about Stewardship of Life, and God’s Economy:
PERSONAL STEWARDSHIP AND GOD’S ECONOMY
In my very first prize-winning economics book: “What’cha Gonna Do With What’cha Got,” published in 1982, I was unsophisticated and impulsive enough to simply ask the question, “Does God have an economy?” I came to the conclusion that, “Yes, indeed, God has an economy.”
The subject of economics is a study in making good decisions. That’s why the economics practitioners rely so heavily on charts and graphs and production functions. We need all the help we can get in order to make good choices! I had a feeling that God’s prescribed principles of economics were certainly not new, but, for the most part, they had been neglected and needed to be rediscovered. Should they be rediscovered, implemented, and adhered to, they could very well help us live with increased economic freedom and fulfillment.
Allow me to share here with you my short summary of the “Six Principles of God’s Economy” that I included as part of the book, back in 1982, “What’cha Gonna Do With What’cha Got?”
Principle #1: God Has Given:
God has already given – He gave first! Upon that truth rests the balance of the entire economic system. Everything that you have and enjoy has been given by God. He requires nothing from you that He has not already given to you:
The earth belongs to God! Everything in all the world is his! (Psalm 24:1, TLB)
O Lord, what a variety you have made! And in wisdom you have made them all! The earth is full of your riches. (Psalm 104:24, TLB)
Provisionally, you have everything you will ever need to fulfill God’s plan in your life.
My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus. (Phil. 4:19, KJV)
God is not just the historical Giver, But He is actively involved in presently giving everything to you that you will ever need to become all that He ever had in mind for you to do and be. God is the source – everything else is a resource.
Principle #2: God Is Looking for a People:
God’s economy is not a “closed economy” – but the good news is that it’s an “open economy” and God has always had a people who were convinced enough of his integrity that they were willing to risk their lives and possessions on his economic principles. He is eager to locate those people today, so that he can live out his life and ministry through them. In fact, the relentless search is going on even today:
For the eyes of the Lord search back and forth across the whole earth, looking for a people whose hearts are perfect toward him, so that he can show his great power in helping them. (2 Chron. 16:9, TLB)
Principle #3: God’s Economy is Not Based on Greed:
“Greed” is the spirit of “me first – regardless of the cost or consequences.” That spirit is in direct opposition to the spirit set forth in God’s economy. However, even though it is in direct opposition, greed is not always clearly identifiable to the observer. Sometimes you can see it – sometimes you cannot. But you can be assured, that harbored selfishness will sooner or later surface into observable behavior:
The kingdom of Christ and of God will never belong to anyone who is impure or greedy, for a greedy person is really an idol worshipper – he loves and worships the good things of this life more than God. (Ephes. 5:5, TLB)
When you go after something with the motive of greed, that which you receive is different from that which you thought you were going to receive. It’s always twisted on you – thus, the life of disillusionment. The Bible is absolutely full of examples of this principle. But you can rest in the fact that:
Purity is best demonstrated by generosity. (Luke 11:41, TLB)
God has already generously given, and he is eagerly looking for a people characterized by their giving not their grabbing.
Principle #4: God Always Repays When You Give . . .but You Don’t “Give to Get”:
I have to admit, that as an economist, I have to chuckle to myself when I hear a TV or Internet fundraiser suggest that if you will send a substantial donation to him or her, that God is under obligation to give you back a “hundred-fold” in return . . . “you plant one seed of corn with me and my program today, and God will grow you a whole ear of corn-seeds for yourself tomorrow.” It is so true – yet so false!
There is no little booklet on “Ten Easy Lessons How to Bring God to the Bargaining Table, whereby, You Can Give Him a Little Bit and Force Him to Give You a Bunch, so that You Can Live Selfishly Ever After” – no such book! But the Scripture says:
And who could ever offer to the Lord enough to induce him to act?” (Romans 11:35, TLB)
Obviously, the answer is “no one.” God owns it all anyway and cannot be bribed, manipulated, of blackmailed. It is certain that God always repays when you give – but you don’t “Give to Get” in God’s economy.
Oswald Chambers, in his book: “My Utmost for His Highest” states:
Our Lord replies in effect, that abandonment is for Himself and not for what the disciples themselves will get from it. Beware of an abandonment which has a commercial spirit in it . . . If we only give up something to God because we want more back, there is nothing of the Holy Spirit in our abandonment; it is miserable commercial self-interest. 1
The principles of God’s economy are much deeper than the surface, selfish syndrome of “getting.” But there is a possibility of entering into a relationship with God where you give to him, and you don’t care if he ever gives it back to you in like-kind or even in this life-time. It is a relationship that the old prophet Habakkuk was trying to explain to the people of his day . . . a relationship that is based on the integrity of God and a confidence that God is who he says he is and that he presently has everything under control:
Even though the fig trees are all destroyed, and there is neither blossom left nor fruit, and though the olive crops all fail, and the fields lie barren; even if the flocks die in the fields and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will be happy in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:17-18, TLB)Principle #5: God’s Multiplication Begins with Your Subtraction:
What a revolutionary concept! As you subtract your rights of ownership to what you possess, God has the opportunity to bless and multiply it for His purposes.
That principle sounds strange when first presented. If you want to find something, you must lose it. If you want to hold onto something, you must first surrender it. If you want to keep something you must relinquish it. That sounds strange.
King Solomon, however, found that principle very valid:
It is possible to give away and become richer! It is also possible to hold on too tightly and lose everything. (Proverbs 11:24, TLB)
He was not just talking in riddles. He was trying to communicate an extremely important principle. The things that you hold on to so tightly in life are the things that usually have a way of being squeezed right out from between your fingers. The tighter you squeeze . . . the more they slip through. But the things that you are willing to release are the things that multiply.
I have often used the example of Johnny Appleseed walking through the countryside of the New Frontier. Imagine, if he would have just walked around with a pocket full of apple seeds – “I’m the great Johnny Appleseed . . . I have a pocket full of apple seeds . . . as long as I have this pocket full of apple seeds, I’ll always be the great Johnny Appleseed.” The pioneers would have looked at him and adjudged him as being an “airhead.” But Johnny Appleseed knew that if the frontier countryside was to be covered with apple trees, he would have to take those seeds out of his grubby pocket, let go of them, bury them in the ground, and walk away. He couldn’t even go back 90 days later, dig them up, and see how they were doing. But, as he released his rights to them, the miracle took place.
I also think many times of the young lad who was willing to let go of his lunch that consisted of five little barley loaves and two small fish. He gladly gave them over to Jesus and then had the incredible opportunity to see his little lunch miraculously turn into enough food to feed 5,000-plus people on that Galilean hillside. Amazing!
As you gratefully release your possessions to God, he is able to bless and multiply them to the benefit of His Kingdom. If you are obedient to God and faithful with what he has entrusted to you – then God enjoys multiplying what he already owns for the sake of advancing his Kingdom business.
Principle #6: Success in God’s Economy Will Cost You Everything You Value More Than Him:
In God’s economy you are always admonished to sit down and count the cost. There is a cost that must be considered when dealing with God’s principles. As William Buckley once wisely observed:
“Idealism is fine, but as idealism approaches realism . . . the cost may become prohibitive.”
There are some folks who become aware of the cost and back away. The cost seems too prohibitive. There are others, however, who simply need someone to help them turn over the price tag so that they can more clearly understand the value and the true price.
Every situation of your life includes alternatives. You were faced with many alternatives even today. Alternatives demand choices. You must continually choose the alternative you most highly desire. The cost of the alternative you choose is the value of the next highest alternative that was foregone in selecting it. In other words, the cost is the value of the alternative you could have had but decided to do without. Those are opportunity costs.
Success in God’s economy will cost you the foregoing of those alternatives that are not consistent with His principles. And therein lies the beauty and excitement of the principles of God’s economic system – those COST choices actually become the entry ways into new opportunities and adventures of a life of true wealth and stewardship.
God has allowed us an opportunity to become partners and co-inheritors with Jesus Christ while we are still on this earth. We are given the distinct and unimaginable privilege of being Trustees and Stewards of heavenly wealth while we are still alive on this earth. What are some of the Components of such a privileged life of Stewardship?
Next Week: Part 2: Components of my Stewardship Privilege