Stewardship

A Failed Strategy

As you might expect, during the final days leading up to the presidential election, I am getting bombarded with last minute appeals and attempts to sway my vote. The preponderance of these messages point to what is being called the most important election of our lifetime because we will select a President that will probably appoint several new Supreme Court Judges. The obvious implication is that the new President will have the opportunity to help overturn the decisions allowing abortions.

Before I go any further, let me get something straight. I am pro-life, anti-abortion, or however else you want to describe it. I am of the opinion that abortion is wrong, and do not waste my time with any argument that speaks of a woman’s right to kill an unborn child. I wanted to make that clear so you will not misunderstand what I am about to say as being in favor of abortion.

I got fired up about this the other day when my wife shared an email with me that she had received. The email said that our next President will not be known for the way he handles the war or the economy, but for the judges he appoints.

I make no pretense of being an historian, but I do not know of any President who is remembered because of his appointment of Supreme Court Judges. This would be a first. We remember Presidents for the way they handle wars, the strength of the economy, or any scandal that might occur in their administration. Most Presidents we don’t remember at all.

Since Roe v. Wade, Christians have sought to overturn this distasteful ruling by seizing control of the high court. We have been told, election after election, that we must vote a certain way because the direction of the Supreme Court hangs in the balance. We have been led to believe that electing one more President will insure success.

Blind Leading the Blind

Born as the son of a French harness maker, Louis was an unlikely candidate for the notoriety that awaited him. His hometown was the village of Coupvray, not far from the outskirts of Paris. In 1812, at the age of three, Louis was playing in his father's leather shop. As often happens with any three-year-old, Louis disappeared from his father's attention for a few moments. The curious child picked up a sharp knife that had been used to skillfully cut hundreds of leather straps. However, on this particular afternoon, the knife would make one careless cut that would be devastating.

Grasping the shiny blade in his clumsy little hands, the young Louis accidentally slit one of his eyes with the sharp blade. It was immediately apparent that that eye would never see again. In a time before modern antibiotics, the resulting infection took the vision from Louis' other eye. A bright little boy with a hopeful future was suddenly thrust into a world of darkness.

For several years, Louis attended the village school with his brothers and sisters. By the time he reached his tenth birthday, his father realized that Louis needed a special education. He was taken to the nearby city of Paris and enrolled in the National Institution for the Blind. Louis excelled as a student and upon graduation he was asked to remain on campus as an instructor.

Louis always struggled with frail health. A bout with tuberculosis caused him to develop an incessant cough that made it virtually impossible to lecture in a classroom. Finally, he had to give up his position and return home where he died at the relatively young age of 42.

Although he lived with blindness for all but the first three years of his life, Louis is best remembered for his vision. As an 11 year-old student at the Institution for the Blind, Louis was introduced to an invention of an officer in Napoleon's army. It was a system of raised dots called "night writing" that was used to send coded messages.

Two Important Questions

It is probably impossible to determine the significance of events until a good amount of time has passed. Like you, I recall very clearly the entire day of September 11, 2001. I can remember the speculation that we constantly heard from reporters and commentators. Reports were filed that later proved to be totally untrue. In fact, it might be accurate to say that ninety percent of what we heard on television that day was incorrect. It has taken years to unravel the events of that one day.

The biggest news in recent weeks has been the staggering economy. Few people knew anything about terrorists before 9-11, and even fewer people understand economic principles and processes. Even after listening to descriptions and analysis, we often shake our heads in confusion. It is difficult to comprehend the depth of the situation until folks look at their retirement account, try to obtain a car loan, or refinance their house.

Whenever a major event occurs, I think Christians have an opportunity to examine it from a better perspective. This is especially true of Christian leaders who have a responsibility to help all of us view life differently than the rest of the world. Sadly, I have not heard this during this latest financial crisis.

The primary comment I hear from Christians is moaning about the losses sustained by their retirement account. I confess, I went online and looked at my account, but only once. I’m not sure I could have handled another peek.

The second most frequent comment I have heard is how this situation will impact church building plans. It is natural that I would hear such comments since much of my work is spent helping churches raise money for construction costs.

Financial Success In Spite of a Failing Economy

Success can be an elusive goal, especially if we do not really have an adequate definition. If we were to ask people to list those who have been financially successful, names such as Trump, Gates, Perot, Walton, and Turner would appear most often. The one common denominator among these financial leaders is that they are all wealthy. Therefore, the logical conclusion is that wealth is a prerequisite for financial success.

However, we must not forget that God’s standards are seldom the same as ours. Our definition of financial success may not come close to His perspective. For example, the only person commended by Jesus for giving an offering was the poor widow.

And He looked up and saw the rich putting their gifts into the treasury. And He saw a poor widow putting in two small copper coins. And He said, "Truly I say to you, this poor widow put in more than all of them; for they all out of their surplus put into the offering; but she out of her poverty put in all that she had to live on" (Luke 21:1-4).

This woman had very little, in fact, after the offering, she had nothing. Yet, it is safe to say that she was a financial success in God’s estimation.

We can also assert that the Apostle Paul did not have many worldly possessions. He spent most of his adult life sleeping in prison cells and fleeing hostile crowds. He was certainly not a wealthy man. Even Jesus had no money. He offers the following as a personal financial statement:

And Jesus said to him, "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head" (Luke 9:58).

When He was crucified He did not even own a change of clothing. It would be a fair assessment to say that both Paul and Jesus were financially successful, in spite of their apparent poverty.

Economic Crisis or Spiritual Failure

In 1991, the leading Christian financial advisor of the day wrote a book about an impending economic earthquake. When the earth-shattering event did not occur as predicted, most people wrote him off as a Christian alarmist, out of touch with the real world. Perhaps we need to take another look at what Larry Burkett said nearly twenty years ago. It might be that the only mistake he made was with his timing.

Since I write and teach about stewardship, some folks have asked for my opinion about the current economic situation. I will be honest and admit that the one economics course I took as a college sophomore did not prepare me to understand much of what is happening today. However, like any good politician or preacher, just because I don’t understand something does not keep me from having an opinion.

Many things about our current economic mess do not require any expertise to recognize. I live in a rapidly growing neighborhood, characterized by an abundance of new houses. As the number of new houses increased, I began to notice a change in advertising. Phrases like, "One hundred per cent financing," "Any credit ok," and "Interest only loans," became popular.

Housing costs on the east coast and the west coast are ridiculously high. People are paying more than a million dollars for what amounts to a small apartment. I realize the word in real estate is "location, location, location." Perhaps it should be "stupid, stupid, stupid."

This same approach has become common in automobile financing as well. The stress on leasing in order to drive a nicer vehicle is very prevalent in advertising. Car dealers have become blatant in telling customers it does not matter how much they owe on their current vehicle, they can get financing. Of course, there is no need to make a down payment and you can even extend the payments to as much as seven years if necessary.

I am the first to admit that I do not comprehend how all of this has come together to create the current economic situation that some are claiming has the potential of being worse than the Great Depression. (Be careful around alarmists – this is an election year.) Even though I am not a regular reader of The Wall Street Journal or Money magazine, I do know something about the heart of mankind that has certainly contributed to our condition.