So there is a lot going on in the world. You know, we have an election, we’ve got a war, we had recently the Japanese market and economy sort of crashing. Japan, who, by the way, has had 30 years of free money with interest rates at or below zero percent, has accumulated enormous amounts of debt. If you compare their debt to their GDP, this story is starting to sound familiar. So, they had a massive sell-off in their markets that was pretty well justified. I won’t go into a lot of what is happening over there, but we are a global economy at this point. You know, we’re very connected with all of the economies in the world. Just over the weekend since Friday, the Dow, the S&P, and the Nasdaq have posted their worst three-day performance in more than two years. In a nutshell, this market meltdown that started Friday was kicked off by Friday’s disappointing July jobs report that investors interpreted as the Fed missing its opportunity to cut rates ahead of a potential U.S. recession. You know, how do we look at what’s happening in the economy and the markets with a biblical worldview? Hebrews 13:5 says, ‘Keep your life free from the love of money and be content with what you have, for He has said, I will never leave you nor forsake you.’ That ‘He’ is Jesus. So, this scripture is right on point here for those who may be feeling a sense of panic as we’ve been watching the markets drop. Our level of fear right now is a good indicator of how much the value of our portfolios contributes to our feelings of safety and security. If you’re feeling really anxious right now, you may need to do some soul searching, some heart searching to see where your security lies. The scripture tells us that if we have Christ, we have everything that we need. People may leave us, money and wealth may leave us, but Christ is the one thing that we can count on to never leave us. Every time we are tempted to have anxiety over shrinkage in our portfolios, we have to encourage ourselves because the mainstream media is not very good at that. So, we have to encourage ourselves and remember that our Father in Heaven owns it all. He owns everything. He owns where the money left from, He owns where the money is going, and He is sovereign over it all. And we, you and I, if we have accepted Jesus Christ as our savior, we are sons and daughters of the King—the King of Kings, a loving and gracious and generous King that promises to provide for His children out of His glorious riches. Riches will not just disappear and no matter where riches are found, God still owns them all. Our job is just to obey Him, to trust Him, and to somehow learn to be content with His provision, whether we like it or not, whether we think it’s sufficient or not. We have to be like Paul. In times of little, in times of abundance, we have to find contentment in knowing that Christ is enough for us. God is just as good in times of perceived lack as He is in times of abundance.
Understanding Global Market Instability And What To Do About It