How the Christian faith is relevant to financial fears
There were some massive news stories over the weekend:
- Debby strengthened into a hurricane overnight and may bring “catastrophic flooding” to Florida.
- Kamala Harris earned enough votes to become the Democratic Party’s presidential nominee.
- The US sent jets and warships to the Middle East as Israel prepares for severe and perhaps imminent Iranian retaliation.
- US Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin revoked a plea deal for the accused September 11 plotters.
But I would guess that none of these feel as personally relevant to you (unless you live in Florida) as the financial news of recent days that is causing many to wonder if a recession is imminent:
- The Dow closed down more than 600 points on Friday.
- The Nasdaq fell 10 percent below its record high on disappointing earnings from Amazon and Intel.
- US hiring unexpectedly declined sharply in July.
- Unemployment rose in the month as well.
- Investors fear that the Federal Reserve made a mistake by keeping interest rates at current levels.
The cacophony of bad news is sparking a global sell-off. Earlier today, Japanese stocks suffered their biggest one-day drop in history. European stocks have fallen more than 2 percent in early trading this morning.
Many have been struggling financially for some time. In a new CNN poll, 39 percent of US adults said they worry they won’t be able to make ends meet. The percentage of past due credit cards is at its highest level since 2012. Young adults are discouraged, and sixty-year-olds are “staring at financial peril.”
How is the Christian faith relevant to times like these?
Humans have four fundamental needs
New York Times opinion columnist Nicholas Kristof writes that the Chinese term for “crisis” (weiji) is composed of the characters for “danger” (wei) and for “opportunity” (ji). Accordingly, he notes, “We’re in a period of great danger but also one pregnant with opportunity for a new path—if we can seize it.”
The path we have been on for generations isn’t working. Secularism by definition values only this world and thus measures success by materialistic means. But this is what philosophers call a “category mistake,” akin to asking how much the number 7 weighs or the color of a C scale. In this case, we are using creation as if it were the Creator, valuing the means as the ends.
And this does not work because it cannot work.
Humans have four fundamental needs: belonging, self-esteem, control, and meaningful existence. None can be met fully by material possessions. No matter what we have, it isn’t enough. There’s always more to own, more people to impress, more races to win.
In a consumption-based economy, we are conditioned to be consumers who choose what we want now over what we want most. In a post-Christian culture, we are conditioned to be existentialists who choose what we want in this world over what we will want in the next.
However, the financial anxiety of these days offers us, in Kristof’s terms, an “opportunity for a new path.”
“He bestowed on us at once every good grace”
St. Alphonsus Liguori (1696–1797) described God’s love for man:
He gave him a soul, made in his likeness, and endowed with memory, intellect, and will; he gave him a body equipped with the senses; it was for him that he created heaven and earth and such an abundance of things. He made all these things out of love for man, so that all creation might serve man, and man in turn might love God out of gratitude for so many gifts.
But he did not wish to give us only beautiful creatures; the truth is that to win for himself our love, he went so far as to bestow upon us the fullness of himself. The eternal Father went so far as to give us his only Son. When he saw that we were all dead through sin and deprived of his grace, what did he do? Compelled . . . by the superabundance of his love for us, he sent his beloved Son to make reparation for us and to call us back to a sinless life.
By giving us his Son, whom he did not spare precisely so that he might spare us, he bestowed on us at once every good: grace, love, and heaven; for all these goods are certainly inferior to the Son (my emphasis).
The God who “is” love (1 John 4:8) loves us more than any human can. He loved us before he made us. He created our race knowing that we would cost him the life of his Son. He loves us despite sins we do not know we have committed and those we do not yet know we will.
To prove this love, “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Billy Graham commented: “We cannot save ourselves; even one sin, the Bible teaches, would be enough to keep us out of heaven. Nor can a Savior who is less than God save us, for only God can forgive sin and make us part of his family forever.”
And this is just what Jesus has done. He would do it all over again, just for you.
“We are of such value to God”
We’ll say more across the week about the transforming relevance of God’s love for us. For today, let’s close with this reflection by St. Catherine of Siena (1347–1380):
“We are of such value to God that he came to live among us and to guide us home. He will go to any length to seek us, even to being lifted high upon the cross to draw us back to himself.”
In her view, “We can only respond by loving God for his love.”
Do you agree?
NOTE: You have a choice every night before you turn off the lights: Will you replay the day’s stress or embrace the peace that comes from God’s wisdom? We imagine you’d like to choose the second option more often! This is why we want to send you a unique and powerful new 365-evening devotional book by Janet Denison called Wisdom Matters. Get your copy today.
Monday news to know:
*Denison Forum does not necessarily endorse the views expressed in these stories.
Quote for the day:
“God’s love is like an ocean. You can see its beginning, but not its end.” —Rick Warren
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