A Personal Stimulus Plan in a Troubled Economy

One of the best strategies we can follow in this troubled economy is to refuse to play the victim. The sooner each of us takes personal responsibility for our finances, the sooner we will collectively recover. But as long as you or I play the victim, we will not win. Victims see themselves as victims—the product of their circumstances and others’ cruelty. For victims, the blame always rests on someone or something else. Victims see themselves under the crushing weight of uncontrollable forces. And for that reason victims cannot win.

Don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying we never suffer under the hand of others and unfortunate circumstances. What I am saying is that we must refuse to live under the illusion that we are stuck in our “victim” state due to problems and forces beyond our control. Our daily choices matter—a lot! If you’re prone to playing the victim, stop blaming others and circumstances for the condition you find yourself in. Otherwise, you will live out a self-fulfilling prophecy, because victims never win.

As I’ve listened to economists and financial experts discuss our current economic situation and what got us here, I’ve noticed a consistent—though perhaps unpopular—message. These experts are telling us: “We’ve been living beyond our means.” “We have envied the wealthy and created a lifestyle of feigned wealth through heavy borrowing.” “Our debts have caught up with us.” “We’ve been greedy.” “We have loaned money foolishly.” “We deny ourselves nothing our hearts desire.” “As a nation, we do not save.” “We’ve ignored sound financial practices in our greed for more.”

So, what’s our first step? Take personal responsibility and reevaluate your values. We saw above the values (or vices) that led to our current situation. The Bible offers us some timeless values that can stimulate economic turnaround in our personal lives and collectively as a nation.

• Work hard and take care of what you have – Proverbs 6:6-8 NLT, “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise! Though they have no prince or governor or ruler to make them work, they labor hard all summer, gathering food for the winter.”
• Honor God with your wealth – Proverbs 3:9 NLT, “Honor the LORD with your wealth and with the best part of everything you produce.”
• Give generously to others – Proverbs 11:25 NLT, “The generous will prosper; those who refresh others will themselves be refreshed.”
• Keep a modest perspective on wealth and money – Proverbs 11:28, “Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf.”
• Don’t risk your integrity by taking responsibility for someone else’s debt – Proverbs 11:15 NLT, “There’s danger in putting up security for a stranger’s debt; it’s safer not to guarantee another person’s debt.”
• Abandon envy, greed and dishonesty and replace them with contentment, generosity and honesty – Hebrews 13:5, “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’”
• Live within your means and save for the future – Proverbs 22:7 MSG, “The poor are always ruled over by the rich, so don’t borrow and put yourself under their power.”
• Build your life around relationships (with God and others) not around money – 1 Timothy 6:17-18 NLT, “Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. 18 Tell them to use their money to do good. They should be rich in good works and generous to those in need, always being ready to share with others.”

© 2009 Rob Fischer