Economic Troubles Continue

News on the economic front remains anything but positive as evidenced on several fronts.

First, the Standard & Poor's/Case-Shiller 20-city index reported that home sales in May dropped off by some 15.8 percent, the steepest rate ever. Topping the list was Las Vegas and Miami, losing 28.4 and 28.3 percent respectively. Along with this telling sign, record fuel prices continue to plague many Americans, forcing them to reevaluate their lifestyles and make hard choices in prioritizing their spending habits.

The White House also projected a $482 billion budget deficit for the coming year ending in September 2009. This, too, would be the highest number ever recorded in this vital area. Then to add to the numerous negative trends, banks have tightened up on loans, further hurting a recovery from the economic bind.

Without question the next President and Congress will have a huge and serious task to address if Americans are going to live the life they have become accustomed to. In many ways, life is all about money. And now many who assumed they would always have a fair degree of comfort and security are beginning to think otherwise in a world where nothing seems to be all that certain.

Most everything in life has its price. But there is something that can never be bought because it is something that comes paid in full, despite being beyond any monetary value or cost. While writing about forgiveness of sin in Jesus Christ, the Apostle Peter wrote, “Knowing that you were not redeemed with corruptible things, like silver or gold, from your aimless conduct received by tradition from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot.” (1 Peter 1:18-19)

Paul also referred to the cost of redemption through Christ with the price mentioned in 1 Corinthians 6:19-20. “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own? For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.”

But perhaps the clearest and most sobering statement about how trivial are economic factors when applied to spiritual matters is seen in Matthew 16:26-27. There, the one who bought what is priceless uttered the one question which all must ultimately consider. “For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?”

Many Americans are strained and stressed by the continual negative news on the nation’s economic front. But their greatest need is not financial. It is simply an affirmative response to the positive news of God’s free gift of salvation. Saving faith in Christ procures assets that never ever lose their value. They provide eternal security, daily peace, and the very best way to deal with the truth seen in Proverbs 23:5. “Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; They fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”

Bill Breckenridge