Monday, December 15, 2008

Spending Money We Don't Have

Well, the news is full of it. Yesterday I spoke on debt. I mentioned the 34 year old temporary maintenance worker in the US who got trampled to death last month by rampaging shoppers rushing to get bargains on DVDs and big-screen TVs. I mentioned the fact, that in the US, advertisers spend almost $300,000,000,000 a year on advertising. I also mentioned the fact that Statistics Canada says that both Canadians and Americans have been spending more than we earn consistently for the past six years now. Credit card debt has tripled over the past 20 years simply because of ‘easy credit’. Our governments are in debt, our corporations are in debt and our households are in debt. It seems we are consistently spending money we don’t have.

Contrast this to the words of Jesus. Even though these words are lifted from a parable intended to teach about the cost of following Jesus, they are significant even in and of themselves apart from the context.

“Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Will he not first sit down and estimate the cost to see if he has enough money to complete it? For if he lays the foundation and is not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule him, saying, ‘This fellow began to build and was not able to finish.’” Luke 14:28-30

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