How we spend our money is as important an ethical, if not a moral, question as how we make our money. Consumer spending accounts to about two-thirds of the American economy, and a good part of it is on what can be called non-essential items, those things we really don’t need but are driven to buy as a result of advertising.
What we don’t often realize is that we do not spend money spent on the long-term investments we need to make as a society. Although the cost of maintaining and updating the power grid is one aspect of the spending we have not made, schools and educational costs constitute another, investments in and for our posterity.
The question is why have we not made investments that will shape our future? The answers are complicated, including our concern with the here and now rather than the future, which is deeply concerning. We reflect this mindset in the drive to devastate the environment as we cater to so-called “convenience” over long-term effects. We cannot long survive like this. Changing our priorities is essential if we are to have a future.
Prayer for the Day
Focused only on our immediate desires,
We turn aside from concern for the future;
Knowing the secrets of our hearts, O God,
We confess that we try to hide even from ourselves.
But they emerge, visible, like the weeds in our gardens,
Even almost impossible to pull out by their roots.
Heal us in the name of the One who gives new life,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
If we are to have any hope for the future, those who have lanterns must pass them onto others.
Plato, Greek philosopher (429?-347 BCE)
My hope for the future is that we learn wisdom again.
Jane Goodall, British primatologist, environmentalist
And Jesus said to them, “Take care! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; for one’s life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” Then he told them a parable: “The land of a rich man produced abundantly. And he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do for I have no place to store my crops?’ Then he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and here I will store all my grain and good. And I will say to myself, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, and be merry.” But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life is being demanded of you. And the things you have prepared, whose will they be?
Luke 1215-20