Lose That You May Find (Part 1)

Wednesday, Mar. 4, 2009 Posted: 5:08:46PM HKT

For this reason, a Christian response and approach to globalisation must reflect Keynesian ideology towards global and local financial systems. Given the reality of human greed, free markets cannot therefore operate independently and wholly apart from governmental intervention. For Christians, we ought to recognise that enforced restraint with reference to the creation and use of wealth, falls upon the divinely mandated role of human government within the fallen world order (Romans 13:1-4). Believers themselves are responsible to both embrace and model restraint in both acquisitions and consumption. More about this later.

Correspondingly, Christians must find themselves at the forefront of conceptualising and modeling within the affluent first-world, an eco-friendly existence and lifestyle. In our present day, a current reading of the Bible’s creation narrative, coupled with all Scripture has to say about stewardship, the role of humanity upon the earth, and recognising creation as a trust given to us by God, should enjoins us Christians to identify ourselves as “Green.” For too long, Christians have wrongly postured themselves towards the Genesis 1:28 creation-cultural mandate (e.g., “Subdue the earth and take dominion over it . . . “) through the wrong paradigms of unrestrained acquisition, accumulation, and environmental exploitation. We should rather appreciate our mandate as shepherds of the good earth, wherein we voluntarily subordinate our desires and freedom to the rhythms of creation (e.g., Ecclesiastes 3:1-11, 15; 6:10). This is what the Bible calls, wisdom.

The Christian ethic towards wealth in our present day must also involve not only an affirmed “yes” towards redistributing material wealth, but also a redistribution of the power to create wealth. We must work towards redistributing the power to create wealth into the hands of the "have-nots," thus empowering them also with the capacity to generate wealth. We today have one well-known Muslim who has modeled the way, particularly for us Christians. He is none other than the Nobel Peace Prize winner and one time modest economics professor, Muhammad Yunus. In Bangladesh Yunus founded the now famous Grameen Bank in 1976 and thus the micro-credit movement. The genus of Yunus’ paradigm began with the simple task of loaning $30 out of his own wallet to a group of poverty-stricken women, who were looking for a way to start a small business. Grameen Bank works today in more than 46,000 Bangladeshi villages through 1,267 branches involving more than 12,000 staff members. It has lent more than $4.5 billion in loans of $12 to $15!

As Steven Covey says, Yunus has profoundly modeled to all of us, what it means to help the “voiceless,” “find their voices!” Even as a Muslim, Yunus’ life example is in fact wholly descriptive and indicative of true and authentic Christian ministry and service, which Jesus mandated through His inaugural sermon at Nazareth (Luke 4:16-19):
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to let the oppressed go free, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”

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Rev Monte Lee-Rice
The Christian Post (Singapore) Guest Contributor