The Christian Economy

However, note that although much of the terminology of secular economics can be applied to the various facets of the Christian economy, the details of each category are quite different from secular economics, mainly in that very few components of God's economy relates directly with money.  If you keep in mind the two main objectives of the Christian economy, stated above, then it will become much easier for you to understand everything else in this book,  as ingredients to a recipe which God is blending in you to achieve a deeper and more intimate relationship with the Lord and a heartfelt ministry to the people within your sphere of influence.

Also, as secular economics must take into consideration the manner in which its citizens view and value its resources, at the foundation of God's economy is the way the children of God view their most valuable resource -- The Word of God.  The scripture is the most precious and effective resource in the Christian economy because it accomplishes both of the main objectives of the spiritual economy.  It is the power by which fallen and corrupt humanity obtains new, eternal, and incorruptible life.  It not only initiates the process of regeneration, the Word also maintains the work of transforming our lives into images that reflect the character of God.  It is, therefore, essential that the Christian pursues a sound and balanced understanding of the Holy Scriptures. 

The Word of God is the only resource by which everything else in the believer's life materializes.  The Bible itself identifies the Messiah as the Word of God in human form.  Therefore, it is because of the life, death, and resurrection of the Word of God (Jesus, the Christ) that we have life in the first place.  It is the Spirit of the Messiah that is given to the Christian to teach and comfort him and, ultimately, to transport him into heaven, when his life's mission on earth is completed.  Because the Word of God is our primary resource, we must be careful as to the way we understand its meaning, so that we may live within God's desire and design for our lives, as opposed to imposing our devices upon His Word in attempts of twisting its meaning to fit our desires.

In addition, the spiritual economy also consists of cause and effect relationships, The Lord God being the most important cause of the universe, organic and inorganic life, & redemption.  God's economy is a system that provides eternal salvation for a self destructive race called human beings, which became an inherent effect caused by our earthly parents' (Adam & Eve) disobedience.  This death doomed condition has many stages and symptoms that ultimately leads to the demise of everyone, but they also express themselves throughout the course of our existence, in every aspect of our activity and relationships, weakening us physically, distorting our perception of a wonderful creator, and creating competition, animosity and power struggles amongst our fellow humans.

Beyond these common features of affecting the viewpoint a culture has of its resources, the cause and effect relationships within an economy, and the possible use of a few interchangeable categorical descriptions, the two economies (Secular and Christian) begin to diverge.  In addition to what has been mentioned above, spiritual economics is also the contextual application of the Word of God in the maintenance and/or productivity of the individual life and the development of his relationships.  Basically five elements form the structure of everyone=s life.  These elements are the Spirit, the Soul, the Body, Relationships, and Economic stewardship.  Spiritual economics seeks to balance one's life by maximizing all five components, qualitatively first then quantitatively, within the framework of the Holy Scriptures--.

--.In order to assume God's viewpoint of marriage relationships, we must look at the first human union mentioned in scripture, Adam and The Woman.  It is at this point that I would like to refer back to the scenario we began constructing during the earlier part of chapter one.  We left off with God bringing this four footed creature to Adam as he observes it for a while and then the light goes on and he calls out HORSE!  We read that this process continued for some time because the scripture indicates that Adam, eventually, named all the animals. 

Next, the Bible describes how Adam noticed that each animal had a companion but he didn't find one for himself.  The Divine production line continued, for a while, as God created an animal, brought it to Adam, and Adam named it.  Then, suddenly, we read that God put the man to sleep and while he was asleep, God took a rib out of the man's side and with that rib He made a woman.  He never replaced the man's rib, instead He just closed his flesh.  Adam awakens!

We must remember what Adam was doing before he was put to sleep.  Naming animals!  The last thing on his mind was his previous task of assigning labels to these creatures which God brought to him.  That puts him in perfect position for his next challenge.  Perhaps Adam is ready to resume his work when the Lord brings to him this astoundingly radiant creature that is unlike any of the animals that he'd previously named.  This radiant being surely didn't resemble the horse that he'd just named or the elephant or the cow or the eagle.  This, gorgeous beyond belief, creature did not reflect any thing else in that garden except one. 

Adam had to turn his attention from the animals he'd just named, in order to accurately identify this new creation.  Imagine -- He looks at her; he looks at himself.  He looks at her, and looks at himself again.  Once more the lights go on, and he calls her WOMAN!  He realizes that she's a part of him, she's a resemblance of him, and he identifies her as such.   "...She will be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.