Faith and the Future

  At present our world is experiencing  a massive economic contraction. The word recession is the most spoken word in everyday conversations worldwide. Recession simply put is a shrinking of economic demand based upon uncertainty and fear. Recessions are spiritual. When confidence in the future is limited or declining, the ordinary human response is to step backward in terms of investment and preparation for perceived demand. Fear breeds paralysis. Paralysis if prolonged leads to death. Nothing can survive inactivity, least of all the world of commerce.

  In 2008, the world lost trust in unmitigated greed. There was a sense that no one could be trusted anymore. Even the 'deal makers' on Wall Street lost their way. Century old investment banks and even sovereign nations have seen their economies on the brink of collapse. Internationally, leaders are wondering just what to do. The reality is that no one is effectively addressing the underlying issues of spiritual truth and faith.

  Governments have little or no ability to create jobs or wealth. Economies rise and fall on essentials of spiritual truth. It takes faith, hope and love to create wealth and stability in societies. When people believe in something outside themselves..... when they have hope for the future and are invested in relationships based on love, then prosperity has a chance to develop and grow.

  Faith gives substance and reality to what people hope and long for in life. It enables them to take risks and make commitments beyond the immediate circumstances. A world without faith, hope and love is in fact..... HELL. Not a permanent Hell, but a foretaste of a place that no one wants to live.... isolated, selfish and devoid of caring relationships. When societies lose the desire to live for something beyond immediate consumption and selfish pleasure, we ensure the beginning of a hellish existence that invites anarchy and uncertainty. Fear is the mother of recession. Faith is the mother of blessing and growth in every dimension of communal life. When we believe, hope and love we bring heaven's reality to earth.

  For the last few generations modern society pundits have told us either 'God is dead' or at least he is irrelevant. Living in a modern society where wealth is 'god' ironically results in the collapse of its own temples of false worship. People were not made to worship idols of buying and selling. Consumption never satisfies as an act of worship. We were never meant to measure our sense of worth by what we own or consume. We are spiritual beings born for relationship with God and one another. While the world's leaders fret and worry over the way out of economic malaise they might want to reflect on the power of faith, hope and love in life. 

  Perhaps our future is not really for sale. The things that last forever and ultimately bring satisfaction cannot be controlled by either governments or political parties... No, they reside in the hearts of the most simple men or women who choose to live lives based upon three eternal realities: faith, hope and love.... and the greatest of these is love.

Jim