To Better Our Nation, We Must First Better Ourselves
Word-Of-The-Day: ‘(23) Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for human masters, (24) since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving’ (Colossians 3:23-24); ‘Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the realm of the dead, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.’ (Ecclesiastes 9:10)
The current trend toward socialism/communism throughout the world, we find many who support the movement towards a more totalitarian form of government, with more regulations and greater control over healthcare and finances. It is through the indoctrination that many receive in their formal education, that people should be subjects, not citizens.
A subject is dependent on their government for their care and needs. The idea of being a subject is appealing at first to many who believe it is a means of ‘consuming’ without ‘producing’, or one will be given everything they want without needing to work or participate. While we understand that people often need a helping hand, and some are unable physically to work to the level of meeting their needs, it is detrimental to most societies to have a significant subset of it unable or unwilling to work.
Once communism is in effect, it quickly goes from a ‘people’s’ movement to an oligarchy; a small group of leaders who dictate policies to the people, and sets quotas for the people to meet in production in order to meet the minimum levels of consumption. There are no rewards for level of effort; in the words of the founder of communism, Karl Marx, “From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
In theory, the subject will want to perform to your highest capabilities while expecting only having the minimum levels of your needs met. However, human nature has a way of ‘balancing the spreadsheet’. The subject will only work as hard as necessary, doing the minimum amount of effort to meet the minimum requirement of needs in order to live. (This is especially true when those who did not expect to work at all are compelled to work, usually in a field not of their choosing.)
The other end of the spectrum is the citizen. The citizen is independent and self-sufficient in caring for themselves and their families, while being a participant in their community’s governance for common needs, such as roads and defense. The citizen desires capitalism, or the means to achieve prosperity through the rewarding of maximum effort in productivity, which in turn allows for the provisions of needs and with rewards (profit) being more than sufficient to cover the needs, provides the ability to obtain ‘wants’, through the excess of profit. Thus, doing a maximum amount of effort allows the maximum amount of consumption for the citizen.
Which does God favor? While God is apolitical, we know through His Word he wants what is best for us. He also in Scripture encourages us to always do our best, as we as Believers are to be reflections of Him. He is not a God that does things half-way, but is thorough in His Work. Thus, in being His reflection representing Him to the world, He wants us to use maximum effort in our productivity, and do our best in quality, in order to produce the best and the most out of our efforts.
Though He is apolitical, or devoid of any partisan preferences, it is in the Believer’s obedience to the Word to be more of the capitalist. If we are to follow Paul’s instruction to the church of Colossae, we are working with our maximum effort, not for our own sake, but for Him and His ways. In serving the Lord, we do so through our compassion in helping others in need and through our obedience in tithing, which allows the church (both local and the overall body of all Believers) to take care of the Spiritual needs of the community. We maximize our production to voluntarily satisfy the needs of ourselves, the church, and the community.
Human nature drives us to achieving higher goals when there is a purpose that is beyond our own needs. A selfish purpose is profiteering without sharing; a selfless purpose is profiteering to share and be charitable. Solomon points out the time to maximize your efforts is now; to capture all the knowledge and wisdom the Lord will provide, to be a productive citizen, and to, in the words of philanthropist Percy Ross, ‘give while you live so you know where it goes’.
Communism is atheistic and ungodly, placing dependency of the people onto its governance. A free capitalistic society, which we in the United States currently enjoys, places upon the people to depend on themselves. A Godly people place their dependency on God and attributes their abilities and their profits and achievements as a gift from Him. If you want to change the course of the United States from its current trajectory, we must change our own pathway first by being obedient to God and His Word, striving to be our best and to do our best.
