I have enjoyed listening to the pundits and wags go on and on about the current global economic meltdown. As everyone who hasn’t been hiding under a rock for the past couple of years knows, we are in the middle of possibly the worst recession since the Great Depression. Regardless of whether you are a Democrat, Republican, Libertarian or something else, the main reasons for the recession are pretty clear: people refused to live within their means; banks got greedy and found themselves with boatloads of bad loans; the housing bubble burst; the stock market crashed; and unemployment rose. Throw in a dash of corporate corruption, a spike in oil prices, and an unpopular war and you have a sure-fire recipe for disaster.
The interesting thing I have noticed while reading about the economic mess is everyone saying, “Had the financial community, the politicians, and even ordinary consumers only realized something was wrong this would never have happened.” Had we known that something was amiss and that we were headed for a fall we would have saved more; we would have been more careful in our decision-making; we would not have bought houses we could not afford or vehicles to impress or taken extravagant vacations. We would have never invested in complex financial instruments we did not understand or “get-rich-quick” schemes. “If only we had known,” the critics claim, “then we could have avoided the pain of this economic downturn.”
I disagree. I am no financial genius, but it seems to me the handwriting was on the wall for years before the actual meltdown occurred. In fact, I vividly remember warnings that the housing bubble could burst at any time as far back as 1999 – that’s ten years ago! I have known since I was a child how important it is to save on a regular basis. Who knew that if you spend more than you make, pretty soon you are going to be in trouble? Did you? Honestly, was this really a surprise?
No, I think we are where we are today because there was a “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality when it came to the economy. Housing prices continued to rise, gas prices were fairly cheap, jobs were plentiful, corporate profits were bordering on the obscene, and the stock market was at an all-time high. Why worry? With things going that well, nobody wanted to hear someone say, “Hey...something is not right here.” But someone should have said that, right in the midst of the 'good times,' and we should have listened. Fact is, someone probably did say that, but they got drowned out because nobody wanted to hear them.
We sometimes face the same predicament in the local church. There are times when things appear to be going swimmingly in the church - they are going great; everybody is happy. But then someone does some in-depth analysis of what is really going on in the congregation, or God gives an insight, and suddenly the realization dawns, “Something is not right here.” But no one wants to hear that, so no one wants to believe it is true. The cry goes out, "Don’t rock the boat! We like it like this – we like the status quo!" "Why change anything?"
The interesting thing I have noticed while reading about the economic mess is everyone saying, “Had the financial community, the politicians, and even ordinary consumers only realized something was wrong this would never have happened.” Had we known that something was amiss and that we were headed for a fall we would have saved more; we would have been more careful in our decision-making; we would not have bought houses we could not afford or vehicles to impress or taken extravagant vacations. We would have never invested in complex financial instruments we did not understand or “get-rich-quick” schemes. “If only we had known,” the critics claim, “then we could have avoided the pain of this economic downturn.”
I disagree. I am no financial genius, but it seems to me the handwriting was on the wall for years before the actual meltdown occurred. In fact, I vividly remember warnings that the housing bubble could burst at any time as far back as 1999 – that’s ten years ago! I have known since I was a child how important it is to save on a regular basis. Who knew that if you spend more than you make, pretty soon you are going to be in trouble? Did you? Honestly, was this really a surprise?
No, I think we are where we are today because there was a “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality when it came to the economy. Housing prices continued to rise, gas prices were fairly cheap, jobs were plentiful, corporate profits were bordering on the obscene, and the stock market was at an all-time high. Why worry? With things going that well, nobody wanted to hear someone say, “Hey...something is not right here.” But someone should have said that, right in the midst of the 'good times,' and we should have listened. Fact is, someone probably did say that, but they got drowned out because nobody wanted to hear them.
We sometimes face the same predicament in the local church. There are times when things appear to be going swimmingly in the church - they are going great; everybody is happy. But then someone does some in-depth analysis of what is really going on in the congregation, or God gives an insight, and suddenly the realization dawns, “Something is not right here.” But no one wants to hear that, so no one wants to believe it is true. The cry goes out, "Don’t rock the boat! We like it like this – we like the status quo!" "Why change anything?"
In the final analysis this ends up being simply a different verse of that same old song, “It ain’t broke, don't fix it - just leave it alone.” And so pain is sure to follow – or worse, God’s hand of blessing is removed because of that church's failure to obey His leading.
Trust me, someone out there is looking at the bigger picture and they know… they know something is broken. The question is; will we listen?
Trust me, someone out there is looking at the bigger picture and they know… they know something is broken. The question is; will we listen?
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