Houses, Cars, and Faith

I was having coffee with a friend yesterday, and about half-way through, our conversation turned to politics and the current financial crisis. It’s not our usual subject matter. We usually talk about what we are hearing and learning from the Lord. Please don’t get me wrong, I read three newspapers a day and am quite a news junky, but I couldn’t help thinking that our conversation was no different than similar discussions going on at other tables in the restaurant. Instead of having what I would call a “higher” conversation, we were speaking of “houses and cars.” Now the reason I am characterizing it as a conversation about “houses and cars” is this. It seems to me that the base of our economy is the housing market and the auto industry. Why? Because everyone in America needs houses and cars. And aren’t those the two industries the economists keep talking about. Get the banks to loan more money to people so they can borrow more money and buy houses and cars.

In talking about people’s anxiety over the material concerns of this world, Jesus said, “Take no thought, saying, what shall you eat or drink or with what shall you be clothed? For all these things the Gentiles eagerly seek.” Bringing it into our modern vernacular, the Gentiles (unbelievers) spend their energy (and their money) on houses and cars. But Jesus says don’t have anxious thoughts about houses and cars. In fact, He says we shouldn’t speak with anxiety about them either. If we, like the unbelievers, speak out of fear that we won’t have houses and cars, are we not just like them? Houses and cars are what they “eagerly seek.” But Jesus says we ought to “seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness.” Today’s perilous economy is an opportunity for us to show that we belong to a higher realm, the realm of faith where we see everything in the context of God and eternity. Let us not betray our faith in our conversations of houses and cars; let us walk by faith, not by sight.