Recession Changes Life In America

It has become a fact of life, that life in America is different than life from even a year ago. The simple fact is that, as one article in USA TODAY put it, “The dismal economy is having a profound effect on the American way of life.” Other areas affected include some 200,000 fewer births to women ages 20 to 34 in 2010 and greater numbers of younger adults moving back home to lessen personal financial burdens or because of unemployment issues.

It is hard indeed to see or predict where the bleak financial trend is heading or for how long it may last. And its effects are certainly not confined to just America. But perhaps the results are more apparent in the U.S. because the lifestyle there has been so amazingly comfortable overall for so long a time. So it should shock very few that this unusual economic pressure would bring with it numerous negative and unwanted changes to families, businesses and individuals.

But there is another area of life where a very special and unique change should come when the proper positive conditions are miraculously met. This area lies in the spiritual realm and the noted change is to occur when a man or women’s inner core changes in the prescribed supernatural biblical mode. When one trusts in Christ, and is saved, they are immediately indwelled by God’s Holy Spirit. His predetermined ministry of inner and outer change to all believers is seen in passages like John 14:26, Romans 5:5, 13, 1 Thessalonians 1:5, and 1 Corinthians 2:13.

The third person of the triune god-head is the greatest, most positive, and only true lasting agent of change in any human heart. Perhaps the clearest New Testament passage confirming this truth is found in 2 Corinthians 5:17: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” Then also in 1 Corinthians 6:11 Paul, after recording partial list of sin-related actions, speaks to the reality of the drastic changes that should always come about in every new believer. After the review of many typical human flaws he writes, “And such were some of you. But you were washed, but you were sanctified, but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.”

Few would any longer argue that America today is different than life from just a year ago. And again, few really know where this downward change will lead and for how long. They can only agree that it is painful, stressful, and abnormal in a nation that has been the envy of the world many long decades.

But the major inner change that accompanies true salvation in Christ is to be expected. It is normal and natural according to Scripture. It is the exact opposite of the agony and uncertainty surrounding America’s current internal troubles. The Spirit is to bring great and lasting alteration – one that occurs in the heart and soul of any follower of Jesus Christ.

Many Christians may face the same exact problems as all other Americans in these difficult economic times. But at the same time, they have an asset to assist, comfort and guide them in this and any other life struggle. But for that to be true, and remain fully effective, will require an awareness concerning the serious warnings given in 1 Thessalonians 5:19 and Ephesians 4:30. These will have primary impact and change, one way or another, in the life of every single child of God. His word declares in no uncertain terms, “Do not quench the Spirit.” “And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.”

For the Christian, the best and spiritually normal way to approach life, even one that may include declining material changes, is to do all they can to inwardly and outwardly reflect the words of Galatians 5:25. “If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit.”

Bill Breckenridge