Today's Devotional
September 22, 2008
Subject: The Principle Behind A Bailout
Galatians 6:7 - "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap."
I'm really not very wise on the current economic turmoil happening in our country, but I do know that principles from God's word work everywhere they are implemented. The current situation proposes that the American taxpayers relieve banks, mortgage companies and even fellow taxpayers who let their desire for a bigger house drive them into taking loans they couldn't afford. The result, 700 billion dollars of bad debt that we will all have to shoulder. They call it a bailout.
A bailout happens when someone decides that we have to "rescue" someone (person or business) from the consequences of their actions. Of course the biggest bailout was Christ dying on the cross. That meant that we wouldn't have to die the second death if we accept His death for our sins. Notwithstanding that principle of grace, God teaches that we will suffer the consequences of our actions. When we bail someone out or allow them to think that their actions don't matter and they will not have to face the consequences of their bad decisions, just like grace, we take it for granted and that is not wise.
Whether it is a mortgage company or a teenage daughter that you are teaching abstinence, the principle is clear; there are consequences for bad decisions. Take bad loans, your company should have to pay for that. If your teenage son or daughter fornicates (strange word we haven't heard in a while), the consequence could be pregnancy. As a matter of fact, in both of those situations rather than teach the principle of sowing and reaping, we teach gambling with a bailout by loaning institutions and contraception by teenagers to prevent pregnancy. Neither of these principles lets the subjects face the consequences of their actions.
Across the board, we need to teach "action --- consequences." From the highest levels of government to the smallest household in our country, sowing and reaping happens. If we try to prevent it, we simply bring more pain upon ourselves. The best lesson we can learn today is that there has only been one bailout and that one involved a cross. We must pay for the rest.
Carlen
