The Economic Downturn and God

As all of you should know by now, the global financial market is on the brink of a recession, with the dollar going down, billions being wiped off the stockmarket every day, and the insecurity and volatility of the financial market in general. People are whinging, stealing, killing, committing suicide, and all sorts of other crazy things, because of its effect on people and their families.

Although money is an important asset and we would probably not be able to survive in the modern world without it... and that the downturn is quite severe and is hurting a lot of people, I don't really know why people are insanely paniccing about this.

First of all, I would like to say that a lot of us are in an infatuation of low prices, that we have forgotten about the bigger picture. People complain about the fuel price, and yes it has gone up a lot, but from day to day... the price probably fluctutates about 20 cents max per litre, and you get a 4 cent discount if you have a voucher. We spend so much time whinging about these prices, when in reality, its only like $2-5 difference per fortnight. We spend lots of time and energy looking for that special deal, more often than not more that we should, with the motivation of what some would label 'greed' or love of money. Sometimes I think that by the time we find that special deal, we have probably paid for the difference in price by the time and effort we have put in. This is not to say that finding something decent priced isn't good. Either way, most of the time, we could have spent our time wiser instead of dwelling on these things.

Secondly, for us christians, I think some of us really need to practice what we preach. God is in control of the world, everything that happens, and yes, that includes this economic downturn. We are not God, and we cannot see what is in store for us in the future, and how its all going to pan out, but we can put our trust in God, our financial security in God, and let Him take care of all that's going on. God doesn't care if your USD went down from 98c to 60c, or if your superannuation investments went up or down. But one thing He does care about is your investment in Him and His Kingdom. During this doom and gloom, can we come to God and tell him that we've added one, two, three or more to His Kingdom? Can we tell Him that we've shared His message and planted the seeds in hundreds of people? Lets invest not on USD, or Rio Tinto, or Barrack Obama.... lets invest in God - He is the sure winner, He will pay you dividends, He will not collapse or go bankrupt... He is our firm foundation, so lets stand up and keep investing in His awesome Kingdom.