July 2009 Newsletter

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“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Matthew 6:19-21 (NIV)

For quite some time, many studies have indicated that financial crisis of a global scale has struck us. And the crisis is far from over. It has affected our State and cities in a big way with huge budget deficits. The latest unemployment figure in California has reached above eleven percent—the figure unheard of in 60 years. Personally, I feel saddened to hear about some who have been laid off. Perhaps you’ve seen unfortunate house foreclosures in your neighborhood.

Some of the questions raised in the current financial mess are: How did we get in this mess, and how do we get out of it? I don’t have all the answers but the Bible gives sound principles on money matters. For example: We should avoid debt when possible; pay off our debts; defer our gratification; save for a rainy day; and give tithe back to God. The Bible also teaches work ethics—that we should give an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. In my opinion, it is in the work area, which our nation has led much of the world in the past, that has been gradually and significantly eroding.

I’ve seen gradual disregard for a sound budget principle to satisfy the out of control spending habit for the past decades. I feel alarmed when I read about the rapid rise in average credit card debts in thousands of dollars per person in the United States. I can’t believe my eye when I see a national department store continue to advertise “one-day” sales week after week in hope that we will take advantage of this repeated great bargain price sale today…as though we must own the products we don’t need with the money we don’t have to impr ess the people you don’t even know.

Our national debt is also rising at an alarming rate of more than a trillion of dollars; and yet, the government is willing to spend some more with money we don’t have. We’ve been strong armed to buy into a national health program with money we don’t have. In addition, the government has promoted welfare project to bail out the private business sectors from bankruptcy by printing more money. If we stay true to the course of “we need change now to satisfy our appetite,” we will be headed for a national and global disaster unheard of in the past history.

We’ve got to bring back the boldness of the Old Testament prophets, who cried out to the national leaders in their days that enough is enough! Jesus said, “No one puts new wine into old wineskins. The old skins would burst from the pressure, spilling the wine and ruining the skins. New wine must be stored in new wineskins. That way both the wine and the wineskins are preserved.” (Matt 9:17, NLT) Well, our once great nation of old wine skins is about to burst with the current run away spending. Friends, let us turn to God and pray for sanity in our nation.

- Pastor Sakurai

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