These are strange economic times, and nothing is stranger than the fact that many appear to think it is normal. So, what are Christians to do? How we arrange our affairs? What do we invest in? There are two principal points to make here.
The first concerns what we are not to invest in. Do not invest anything in the promises of politicians. And by “anything” I mean money, emotional security, political comfort . . . I mean do not invest anything. The cold comfort in all that is unfolding around us is this: in the long run, stupidity never works. In the long run, a man reaps what he sows — and bankers, and executives, and senators, and voting publics are but men. This means that they reap what they sow. If they sow thistles, they do not harvest wheat. God is just that way. If they sow as economic morons, then they will fill their barns with what morons can carry in from the field. Put another way, that which cannot be sustained will not be sustained. That which cannot be kept up will not be kept up.
And here is the difference between our situation and economic arguments in times past — in the past, arguments were between those who could see the consequences coming and those who could not. They had their argument, went home, and the next morning the sun came up as usual, with both of them fully convinced in their own mind. But the argument now is not between those who see future consequences and those who do not. It is between those who did not, and the consequences themselves. For just one example
(out of thousands), our state legislature just cut over 30 million clams from the state’s higher ed budget, a move that the voice of reason would never have prevailed upon them to make a few years ago. They did it because they had to. The consequences are here now, and the consequences don’t care if somebody doesn’t see it their way. The mills of the gods grind slowly, but exceedingly fine.
This is not happening because of certain inexorable but impersonal laws. This is all happened because God the Father rules from Heaven, and the world runs as He decrees. His sovereignty is not a whit diminished when the matter in His hand is the way of the wicked.
“The LORD preserveth the strangers; he relieveth the fatherless and widow: but the way of the wicked he turneth upside down” (Ps. 146:9).
“The way of the wicked is as darkness: they know not at what they stumble” (Prov. 4:19).
The second principle is this. In the midst of all this, Christians should take care to invest in things that will last forever, and not to have their investments be vulnerable — where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. What things are eternal, things that will repay wise investment? First, the grass withers, the flower fades, but the Word of God endures forever (1 Pet. 1:24-25). So invest in the Scriptures. Give yourself to them, and they will teach you more about all of God’s eternal things — about the Church, about love, and about justice. Second, your neighbor is created in the image of God, and he or she will live forever. This, despite the fact that Peter has just said that all flesh is grass. Your neighbor therefore is not forever in his own name and strength and power, but he will still be raised (John 5:29). So to the extent that you have a job, or savings, or investments, or whatever, they are all to be employed as a temporal means toward eternal ends. Whatever you do with (what’s left of) your 401K, don’t wrap it up in a napkin and bury it.
If your heart will be where your treasure is, then place your treasure in God and in your neighbor. God gave you a bunch of stuff to use toward these ends, so use it. If any of your stuff is consumed in the process, that’s all right. It’s just stuff.