I am very disquieted in my soul about the Economic Stimulus rebate the US government is poised to disseminate beginning this week. Most of us (Christians included) are not thinking much beyond "What can I get for myself with this free money," and that troubles me.
I recognize that the purpose of the rebate is to give a boost to the economy by encouraging spending. Perhaps this will work, but perhaps not. If I decide to put the money in a savings account, am I giving to Caesar what he requires?
Yet, if I give to Caesar, and I put the money into the economy by spending on, say, a flat screen tv, am I giving to God what is God's?
Perhaps, the most Gospel oriented thing we can do is to buy something for another's sake and not be selfish and greedy, like we are most of the rest of the time. Or is there enough Gospel pictured by making an offering with the money and spending a portion giving thanks to God for the bountiful provision?
Thoughts?
11 comments:
First of all, I enjoy your blog and read it frequently.I would not typically comment but since you asked for comments here you go.
Although I have a political disagreement with this economic stimuls plan, how I will spend the money is quite simple. My husband is a full time student so the money will be used on bills. We will tithe on this money, but will otherwise spend it on necessities. If my husband were not in school, we would probably give more than our tithe to someone who needed it, and invest the rest.
I believe that Ecclesiastes gives support the idea of enjoying God's provision. So if that's someone's choice I believe they are not wrong in making it.
The Bible also tells us that it is better to give than to receive. The return on our investment in people will reap rich rewards. I think the investment in people is a better choice.
i already gave to Caesar, and now he is giving it back. I am fine with that. the seed of economic stimulus- my guess is that the majority of this money will go to bills, food and debt. in my case it will go to credit card debt, the little brother of Caesar.
I will do my best to restore to the debtor my pledge, and with the naked and hungry, I will give food and clothing (hopefully I wont run into many naked).
I have to admit, the first thing I thought of was that if I couple the economic stimulus rebate with our normal refund, it could get be used to get a sweet motorcycle for myself.
My wife's first thought was to save it...haha. So we're saving most of it and giving some of it away. That's what makes sense for the financial situation we are in.
I definitely have mixed feelings about the whole thing: its pretty sweet to get extra money, but seems pretty irresponsible on the part of our government with how much debt they have racked up.
Unfortunately, many of those under a mountain of credit card debt will follow the government's example and use it to buy that home entertainment system or swimming pool instead of using it to help them get out of debt. I hope I'm wrong.
So now I realized I haven't really answered your question...just thrown out all my thoughts on it. I think the most Gospel oriented thing to do with it may vary based on a person's financial situation; i.e. be responsible with it. For those under all kinds of credit card debt, it would definitely be most Gospel oriented to tithe a portion and throw the rest at the debt. For us, it makes sense to give a portion and save the rest.
As with all financial decisions, Christians should make this one in prayer and with a realistic examination of their hearts' motives.
i think i'll fill up my car once or twice, then buy a candy bar with what's left over. :) just kidding.
it is important for me to pay down my debt, which will allow me to spend freely in the future. so i will give to Caesar eventually. and of course, like any other amount of money i receive, i will pay tithe as well.
I think I'll send mine to the DNC...
ahhhh. ironically i rendered my entire savings plus a loan to Ceasar in April. so i will be paying the loan back with the money. this makes me think much more about what the right course of action is if ceasar cannot be trusted or supported with good conscious? maybe we should start not filing our taxes and pooling the money to help people instead. start a revolution. etc.
FYI, the rebate is actually an advance on next year's taxes, so think of it in terms of what you would do with the same money next year instead of now. A lot of people are seeing it as "free money", but it's their own pocket, twelve months hence, that it comes from.
Yeah, it's not really free money, and we all already paid tons of taxes, but whatever. We'll use it to pay bills for sure. My first thought honstly was for an HD projector to play halo on...but lets get real huh? If I slanted that to 'try and build community', would that still be just as wrong? ....joke.
Well, I am certainly not a history buff, but I am pretty sure that Caesar died a long time ago. Ergo giving money to him may not be the wisest thing.
I do not feel that how you spend THIS money is any more or less affected by our faith in Christ than how we should spend ANY money. When Jesus said "give to Caesar, what is Caesars..." he told us to fulfill our requirements a citizens to an earthly ruler/government. (More importantly, he adds "give to God what is God's." What is not God's except the things I pretend are mine because of pride.)
In this case, Caesar is "giving" (thanks for the clarification Annonymous and Steve) us back some money. Lets USE it wisely.
Great comment by ryan about debt being Caesar's little brother.
Maybe I'm just uneducated about the idea of our economy, but maybe if our economy wasn't stilted up into a pseudostate of being a super, functioning economy by the outrageous amount of debt (due to spending more than we have) by both government and consumers, then there wouldn't be a need to pay people money to spend to keep up the farce. It kinda reminds me of the old western buildings with their false fronts that made the one story buildings look like a two or three story building from the front...Look behind the building, though, and you see the simple frame and stilts or props that are holding up a thin board.
After those soapbox comments, I'd like to say that I agree with Robbie's comment that we should handle this money the same as we would any other income/funds...with responsibility.
Brian...funny about the DNC. Cracked me up.
I guess I'll close up my comments with these thoughts:
Because we love God for all He has done for us and is to us, then we should view everything that we have in light of being good stewards of those things He has allowed us to have and in order to show our love to Him and thus others. Keeping in mind that love is a verb that often includes the idea of sacrifice of our own desires for the joy of/service to another, I think that God would have us use this money, for example, to not spend on our selfish desires for things, but instead to save for things that are necessary in life so we don't incur debt, pay bills that are owed, pay down debt that we have incurred through selfish desires for things or due to lack of education about how to handle money and expenses, and to support the service of Godly members in your community (i.e. pay tithe always, then give an offering to support an effective program/church that is truly ministering the love of Christ to you and those in your community, and/or give to a friend who is struggling and working hard to change but is having a hard time getting there.)
We plan to use the money for savings and/or to pay down debt, depending on how much the rebate actually is. But it is one of those two options or both, but no spending. And we're NOT sorry, Uncle Sam, that we're not doing what you told us to with the money.
Since this is getting too long, I'll just stop there.
Good thoughts.
I hadn't even factored debt into the equation. After paying off school loans four years ago, we've had the privilege of having only a mortgage and one car payment and we factor those into regular living expenses. We've no other debt to pay off.
Maybe this is a wake-up call for all of us to be more fiscally responsible and show with our spending that we do, in fact, believe the Gospel.
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