Recession

Outside of the blogging world, there is a single topic dominating the world headlines. The impact is global.. from the US to Europe, to China, and even Africa. People are losing jobs, losing homes, and losing (gasp) their retirement portfolios. The efficient world that we've built is being flipped and cleaned. Luckily, this isnt the first time we've been through a global recession and it wont be the last... there is for us fortunately, a light at the end of the tunnel so to speak. A hope that once the crisis is over, new dreams will be built, new fortunes made, and order once again restored (well for the US at least). Most are saying that this recession, bordering on a depression, rivals the one in the 1930's... and after alls said and done, may even be worse. That may be a bit extreme, but still, the recession is felt by a large amount of people.

John Piper recently did a sermon on the recession and its purposes from God's standpoint and I thought I'd outline some of his points. As most of us are busy reorganizing our financial portfolios, or worried about our employment situation... we forget that there are grander and bigger lessons to be learned from a biblical standpoint. He had 5 points, I'll outline 3 then include some of my thoughts.

1) The recession reveals and sheds light on hidden sins.
-This one is pretty simple. Recessions are good at exposing our greed, our fear, and a multitude of other sins. Quite literally sometimes. For example, the wall street ponzi schemes. Lets put a check mark next to greed. But seriously, even more universally, those of us here in the States know how to get comfortable. Our society has been set up in such a way that there is structure, a rhyme and a reason. And we learn, that within that structure if we work hard and get a little lucky, we can live about as comfortably as possible. Within this world at least. So when a recession hits, a small bit of that structure, calm, and sense of reason gets thrown off. It breaks our self sufficiency and our ability to solve problems, albeit at a small scale. Furthermore, for Christians, it may reveal our lack of dependency on God.

2) The recession sheds light (especially for the western world) on parts of the world that are ALWAYS in mega recession, namely the 3rd world countries.
-Piper uses the phrase, "empathy quotient". A doctor or pastor who have been through and experienced disease are more likely to empathize with another who is also stricken. A loan officer who has been through a bankruptcy is more likely to empathize with the small business owner who needs the loan to survive. Our empathy quotient goes up. Then it is no wonder that as Americans we are for the most part, utterly unable to empathize with 2/3rds of the world that knows no Air Condition, no clean water, and no shower. That reality is so far from us, our supposition of life standards so different. A recession should waken us to the poverty of others around the world.

3) The recession helps relocate the roots of our Joy in HIS grace and not our goods, money, possessions, etc...
-We've heard the story of the frog that jumps out of the boiling hot water instantly... But then when he is put into lukewarm water and gradually boiled alive, he will remain in the water till his death. Sometimes, without an extreme change we forget. Gradually throughout life, we start to depend more on our selves... put our hopes into this worlds, and treasure that which is fleeting. Its usually so subtle that it can go unnoticed for long periods of time. But during a recession, we are reminded of our root of Joy. Those times we've declared, "no matter where you put me, and what circumstance I am in, I will always love you Lord!" Though we are supposed brilliant beings, we forget so easily, and the hearts condition changes so numerously. We are reminded when we have not, that we find all we need in Him.