Economics x Spirituality

In this post:  economics, leisure time, spirituality, "Come follow me"

If the government “creates” jobs by subsidizing one sector of the economy aren’t they taking tax dollars away from another sector?  Tax dollars are allocated to support building roads or paying farmers to grow corn.  If support is added to the Pre-K education movement, then less tax dollars will be available for roads or farmers.  The Pre-K movement is seen and the fewer jobs in road construction is that which is not seen.

If the average American spends 2.8 hours per day watching television (source: Bureau of Labor Statistics), then that is what is seen (no pun intended).  What is unseen is the place where the time was not allocated such as reading to a child, meditating, exercise, or prayer.  When I emphasize leisure time, I take away emphasis from spirituality or service or whatever.  I don’t know anyone who gets to the end of the day and has accomplished everything on their list.  I have to prioritize spirituality above other good things in order to have it in my life.

This scripture clearly states the principle of seen and unseen costs.

“No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon.”  Matt 6:24

Spirituality is allocating resources to the strengthening of faith, hope and love.  It is placing a high priority on communicating with God and implementing into my life his teachings.  Spirituality is intentional.  Spirituality brings peace into my highly chaotic life.

“As I [have] turned to the scriptures for inspiration, a particular word [has] stood out time and time again. The word [is] ‘come.’ The Lord said, ‘Come unto me.’ He said, ‘Come learn of me.’ He also said, ‘Come, follow me.’ I like that word, come.” - Thomas S Monson

Come is an invitation.  I choose where I will allocate my time and spare brain cycles.  I choose to come to Christ every time that I pray, read the Bible or other scriptures, or spend time meditating on God’s purpose for my life.

Challenge:  Consider where you allocate your extra time and adjust it, if necessary, to bring more peace into your life.

This essay is based on the ideas of seen and unseen costs explained by Frederic Bastiat in his essay entitled That Which is Seen and That Which is Not Seen.

Faith Workout

In this post:  working body, mind and soul and faith, hope, love and gratitude

We all know we should exercise our bodies.  Some of us have accounts on Lumosity to exercise our minds.  But what about our souls?  Shouldn’t we be doing some kind of faith workout to keep our souls vibrant and alive?  Just like a muscle, the soul will atrophy if ignored.  I have seen significant spiritual degeneration in people who neglect their soul’s health.

Female sailors workout aboard the USS Green Bay - Image Courtesy US Navy

So here’s a workout of sorts that takes less than 30 minutes.  

• 3 minutes - Start the flow of spiritual thoughts and questions by praying
• 2 minutes - Focus on the path of life by reading a Psalm like 16:11 or 17:5 or 18:32
• 5 minutes - Imagine the faith needed to move forward
• 10 minutes - Read and study Jesus’ teachings
• 5 minutes - Put hope in a better tomorrow and thank God for all that you have right now
• 2 minutes - Imagine love for family, friends, neighbors and then enemies
• 1 minute - Pray for guidance to make it through today

To read more on imagining love for others check out the book Love 2.0 which talks about that type of meditation in detail.

I think a serious study of the Bible is the task of a lifetime.  I like to spend my study time taking notes, underlining themes that seem to run throughout a chapter or book, and connecting ideas in one part of the Bible with similar ideas elsewhere.  After all these years, I am still discovering new meaning and depth in that beautiful book.

Faith, hope, love, gratitude and prayer are all aspects of spirituality that can be strengthened daily.  So set aside some time, banish distractions, and burn off some of those extra calories in a new kind of workout!

Grace or Welfare

In this post Grace for mortals, Grace for the dead, and how Grace is applied to believers

Three examples of how God dished out His grace…

Moses can’t speak so God provides a mouthpiece for him, Aaron, so that he can still do his job.
- Grace didn’t give Aaron the job of prophet
- Grace gave Moses, whose speaking problems were legitimate, a workaround 
- Grace is not an exemption from duty

John the Baptist’s mother Elisabeth can’t have children so God overrides her infertility but he makes Zacharias dumb for needing a sign to believe. 
- Grace can override laws of nature 
- And Zacharias, a believer, didn’t get grace for temporary unbelief

The people of Ninevah, gentiles, are about to be destroyed but God’s grace provides a warning in Jonah and a stay when they repent.
- Grace can work for unbelievers too, if they repent

Grace dished in the next life
Most people think of grace as a gift for the next life.  I agree that it is grace that makes imperfection tolerable in God’s eyes because His Son makes up the difference.  My question to you is will grace be dished out differently at the judgement bar than it was dished out here on Earth?

At the judgement bar, if I say, I didn’t do my duty because of my problems, will grace give us an exemption?  Or will God say, what did you do with the workarounds I provided you?

At the judgement bar, if I am a believer but there were times when I didn’t believe, do I get grace for those times?  I would think so, if, like Ninevah, I repented.

What about the example of Paul.  He was a believer, fighting against Jesus’ kingdom.  He was stopped by an angel, he repented and he was given a second chance in life.  He spent the rest of his life fighting for Jesus’ kingdom.  So my question is, at the judgement bar, will grace give sincere, but misdirected people a second chance?

Will grace give the Pharisees who knew about Jesus and chose to fight him a second chance at the judgement day?  There’s a fine line between a Pharisee and a misdirected believer.  How does grace get dished out at the judgement in these scenarios?  I don’t know but it’s worth thinking about.

And what will grace do for the rich young man in Mark 10:17-22 who was a believer but chose not to repent?

Now lets talk about welfare...
It’s free, it’s need-based, it is available to all who qualify. It also stops most recipients from working to support themselves.

Grace is free, it’s need-based, it’s available to all who believe.  Some people assume that because of grace they can now stop working in a spiritual sense.  And that is what Romans 6 seems to speak to from the outset, “Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?” (v.1)

How can a believer do whatever they please and still qualify for grace?  Zacharias couldn’t temporarily stop believing without a consequence.  It’s the grace for the believers that I’m thinking about.  What kind of believer do I have to be to qualify for grace?  I think not a sinful one (Romans 6:15-16).

Challenge:  Choose one thing in your life to repent of and show God that you are a real believer.

All images used with permission