A Faith-Filled Assessment on the Economy

My office is a coffee shop. Actually, in the last 4 years, my office has been a variety of  coffee shops in town. The reason is simple.  My wife baby-sits and it gets LOUD. So I head out the door every morning to “my coffee shop office.”

As I peck away in some corner, writing or working on my laptop, I’ve realized I’m almost invisible after awhile. No one pays any attention to me. As a result, I’ve unintentionally witnessed things that no one should hear. One day as I worked, there was what appeared to be a couple at lunch.  However, as the meal went on tensions elevated between the two of them and I tried so hard not to listen as I realized she was his boss and the poor sap was being fired.

I’ve also heard stories about a daughter’s unwanted pregnancy and a mom’s concerns about the girls their son is bringing home. I’ve come to several interesting conclusions while working away. One is, “People talk more about what concerns them over coffee than anything else.”  But most recently it’s what I’ve NOT been hearing. Guess what: They are NOT talking about the economy! 

Now to be fair I must add that my favorite shops to work in are usually the ones in true middle class or “artsy” areas of town.  I never hear anything about the economy from the men and women in those shops; they simply talk about the things that are most important to them. 

Please don’t misunderstand me, I’m not going “blab it-grab it” here, I’m simply saying that we tend to gravitate toward the things we care most about, and therefore we talk more about those things too. 

So if the people I’m hearing in the coffee shops are not talking about the economy, why are believers whining and complaining so much about it.  We sound just like the “world” when we do that.  We are supposed to be people of faith!

Remember the Word says that we are captured by the words of our mouth. Don’t forget life and death are in the power of the tongue. Oh, and here’s the clincher for me, “the tongue is a fire…” 

Is it possible that the perspective we as believers need to take is not to focus and talk about the economy like we are members of the socialist press core-I mean White House Press Core.  I am not saying “deny” anything I am just saying SHUT UP!  There are too many Christians regurgitating everything they hear in the mainstream media. We really don’t have to talk about it-we just don’t.  And here’s why…

As believers we are called to pray!  PWOC (Pray without ceasing) not CNN (Constant Negative News)!  “If my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray…” Actually my heart in writing this piece is to get us to shift our focus to the one who has met ALL our needs according to His riches in glory-The one who deserves ALL our praise and quite frankly our attention. 

Much of the world sees the church as close-minded pin heads that can’t think for themselves.  Ironically, what they don’t realize is that’s exactly what they have become by reciting everything they hear the press and the President say about the economy.  But what’s sad is: so is The Church. Not being close minded in this case is being focused on what GOD say! In fact that is so far outside the box these days that you may get laughed at.  To which I say, “What a tragedy, you get laughed at for standing on the word of God!”

In conclusion, I came across this quote from Ben Stein, New York Times, that I think is a good reminder to all of us. “We are more than our investments. We are more than the year-to-year or day-by-day changes in our net worth. We are what we do for charity. We are how we treat our family and friends. We are how we treat our dogs and cats. We are what we do for our community and our nation. If you had $100 million or $100,000 a year ago and now you have a lot less, you are still the same person. You are not a balance sheet, at least not one denominated in money.”