Economic Identity

A few days ago I was meeting with an account manager from another firm and she said, "My husband does so and so, he doesn't make a lot of money at it but he enjoys it."

I thought, "You don't need to apologize or justify what your husband does. What your husband does should not be measured in terms of money."

But isn't this the way we think and the way our society tends to evaluate people? And how sad that a wife feels societal pressure to justify what her husband does. Economic identity has become a primary identity, not only in society but in the professing church. 

Churches are measured by their wealth and endowment funds, people are measured by their income and possessions, current events are measured not by the church's witness to the world but by the world's economic condition. What happens to us economically is more important than our transformation into the image of Christ, more important than bringing others to know Jesus.

We may talk about suffering for Christ "if the time should ever come", whatever that "time" is, but in the meantime we'll focus our energy on economics and we'll let economics be a primary force in our lives - to the point that it consumes more attention and energy and resources than sharing the Gospel with others and serving others in need. We act as if should the markets collapse that God will be helpless to care for us. Do we consider that for much of the world finding enough food for today is a constant immediate concern?

Measuring our well-being in economic terms is living in a sand castle, it is subject to the ebb and flow of economic forces outside our control; it also substitutes the image of money as our identity for the image of God - in whose image we were created. And if we call ourselves followers of Christ then whatever we have, whether money or possessions or talents or knowledge are not our own but belong to Christ. We are but stewards of God's gifts, if we try to take title to what God has given us, given us to use for His glory and the blessing of others - then we are no longer stewards, we are thieves.

We have been created in the image of God and not in the image of the dollar. Better to have a wife or husband with character and integrity than one with all the money in the world.