--by Livvy McDonald
"Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He chose for His inheritance. From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind; from His dwelling place He watches all who live on earth--He who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do. No king is saved by the size of his army; no warrior escapes by his great strength. A horse is a vain hope for deliverance, despite all its great strength it cannot save. But the eyes of the LORD are on those who fear Him, on those whose hope is in His unfailing love, to deliver them from death and keep them alive in famine. We wait in hope for the LORD; He is our help and our shield. In Him our hearts rejoice, for we trust in His holy name. May Your unfailing love rest upon us, O LORD, even as we put our hope in You."
Psalm 33:12-22,
The Holy Bible
Most budget problems at all levels of governance [national, state, municipal, local, and household] are directly attributable to attempting to buy that which only God can give.
What is that commodity?
Answer: "Contentment"
Contentment is a term completely ignored by economists and fiscal advisors.
When I speak of "contentment" I am not speaking of some nefarious experience in "La-La land”.
God-given ”Contentment” that the founders were well aware of provides a quietness of spirit that allows for improved thought processes that in the past have yielded invention. Invention fuels production. And, production improves individual and collective economies.
It is discontentment that drives deficit spending in the individual. And when individuals in the aggregate, a nation of discontented people choose discontented people to represent them in determining expenditures, we generate increased deficit spending. Folks spend out of control (ask me how I know) when they fail to be self-governing. And, self-government does not happen without self-control.
The Founders of our nation knew the necessity of self-control as foundational to self-governance. They knew the Holy Bible. See Galatians 5 of the Holy Bible to see the full list of gifts and the characteristics associated with the absence of those gifts. Absence of those God-given gifts renders fertile ground for social problems used to justify overspending. Every breakdown in moral character costs money individually and collectively.
John Wycliffe once made a statement which Abraham Lincoln modified unfortunately obscuring the message a bit. Wycliffe said, “This Bible is for the government of the people, by the people and for the people”.
Indeed, self-control has as its bedrock individual "contentment." That contentment is a gift from God and grows from being in right relationship with Him through Christ Jesus, Our Lord. Self-control is the last gift listed as a fruit of the Holy Spirit. I believe self control is the culmination of the presence of all the fruits of the Holy Spirit that are listed before it. And, in the individual, self control is the first to go when our walk detours from God's precepts. Contentment becomes unobtainium when we individually and collectively fail to acknowledge God.
So, what am I really saying here?
What does this mean for our nation?
Folks, my message is this:
God-given 'contentment' which epitomizes 'self-control' yields 'self-governance' which in turn yields both invention and industry--all of which constitute gifts from our God of the Holy Bible.
Our history as a nation points to that very fact. "Self-controlled" people are "self-governing" people.
ONE NATION UNDER GOD!
AMEN!
---Livvy McDonald
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