February 28, 2014
Economics 101
An upcoming ballot issue will ask voters for a
sales tax increase to build a recreation center. The proposed cost is over $25
million, but it is being pointed out that with interest, the total cost will
come to over $45 million. Yesterday I was dumbfounded when I overheard a tax-supporter
say, “What difference does it make if it is $45 million? No one cares about the
interest. When you’re buying a house you don’t think about the interest, you
just think about the price of the house.” Unfortunately many who come into
fellowship with the Lord are of a similar mindset. They think that the only cost
to becoming a believer is to accept Jesus, repeat the Good Confession and get
baptized. However, there is a continued interest believers pay and it comes in
the form of then doing what the Lord asks of us - obedience, turning away from
evil, loving our neighbor, etc. Using an analogy for discipleship Jesus said,
“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and
estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it,
everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This
fellow began to build and was not able to finish.” (Luke 14:28-30 NIV)
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Gail;
-----What a great illustration! Not only of the uncounted cost of interest, but also of the foolishness which discounts its importance. It’s like thinking the more you ignore some reality the more its effect will be feckless. This is like the chassis of stupidity - everything errant attaches to it.
-----Then offering interest payments as a metaphor of obedience is simply brilliant. A person receives the banker’s money upon only a promise to repay. Interest is testimonial to certain economic realities of both the borrower and the banker. It is the cost of the borrower’s keeping the money until the promise is satisfied. A person receives new life upon confessing his sinful condition and calling upon Christ. Obedience is a payment of the reality that you then are no longer your own.
-----In last week’s Sunday school discussion, I offered that love for God was to do right. The reaction it drew made me feel struck with leprosy like Uzziah before the priests. Maybe I had entered the Temple and burned incense before the Lord by daring to supply content to the idea of loving the Lord. Some things are easier when left hollow. Many people don’t want trailed by the thought of owing anything to God except, “I’m sorry; forgive me; Oh goody! Goody! Aren‘t You happy with me now!?!”
Love you all,
Steve Corey
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