Governor Jerry Brown told Californians they are going to have to make a hard choice about how much government they are willing to pay for, and then explained: “There is a lot of magical thinking in Washington and Sacramento, and maybe, I might even say, in Western civilization. We’ve had it easy until now and the moment of truth is upon us. We’ve got to pay for what we want.”
I couldn’t help seeing a spiritual parallel. What disciple of Christ does not want the abundant life Jesus promised: the blessings of peace, joy, and to know one’s purpose? Is it blasphemous to suggest it will cost you something? Jesus says, “You cannot be my disciple without giving up everything you own, but don't begin until you count the cost. For who would begin construction of a building without first calculating the cost to see if there is enough money to finish it? Otherwise, you might complete only the foundation and run out of money, and then everyone would laugh at you” (Luke 14:33, 28-30).
Let me clarify that it is not as if God won’t give us His abundance unless we pay for it (Jesus already did that). No, the problem is we can’t receive His fullness until we stop being full of ourselves. Jesus paid the price to give us all the fullness of God. Are we willing to give up everything in order to receive it? I think Jerry Brown was kind of saying: “It's time to count the cost.”
Hi Dr. Greg,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the timely post!
The household budget phrase:
"When outgo exceeds income,
upkeep becomes downfall," is all too applicable to government budgets. Starting ongoing programs with one time "found money" (google millionaires), or even planning on found money that never arrives (Facebook millionaires) are indications that not only is the state government's outgo exceeding income, but there is no plan for changing that. Resorting to accounting tricks (changing a payday so that it falls into the next year's budget is but one example) is an indicator that they do not want to face the truth. Because the truth has the consequence that with limited resources, the politicians need to prioritize.
I can remember when there were overpasses over the freeways 101 and 280 that lay unfinished for years due to previous budget crisis.
And this seems to be the politicians' phrase:
"Spending money that is not ours,
to buy things and services, we do not need, in order to influence people we do not respect."
For the politician, the consequences of today's decisions affecting tomorrow's options is somebody else' problem.
But one who does not consider the horizon is always surprised by the cliff.
Godspeed! Larry Q
Those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it.
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