Sticking in my oar

Like the irony of the increase of Black Entrepreneurship under the Bush administration although the left accused him of giving tax breaks to the rich. Clinton on the other hand raised taxes to have plenty of hand-out money to give to the poor which kept them poor while it crippled the over-all economy . Who did the better work?

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In Tolstoy's classic novel, War and Peace, Count Pierre is filled with compassion for his serfs and desperately wants to help them. He talks about it frequently and sincerely wants to do it. His friend, Prince Andrey, is not motivated by compassion as much as he is in sound business principles and good management, but because he runs his estates so efficiently his serfs are several times as well off as Pierre's. Pierre certainly talked about helping the serfs more, and really wanted to, but who did the most good?

In my opinion this is pretty typical of the difference between liberal and conservative politics in our country. I think, in many areas, liberals have a right heart toward people and issues, but their remedy often leaves conditions actually worse and inevitably become a huge waste of resources. Conservatives, and those who are motivated more out of sound business and management principles, often are simply wanting to develop more markets rather than actually having compassion, but they still often do far more good for people. This is why Winston Churchill once said, "If you are not a liberal when you are twenty you have no heart, but if you are not a conservative when you are forty you have no mind."

Government is prone toward bureaucratic remedies that will inevitably become so inefficient that only a fraction of the resources will actually get to the needs. The same has happened to many large charities and has also happened to many church programs and ministries. Can this be why the Lord, who certainly emphasized the condition of the heart, also taught a lot about pragmatic economics, such as with The Parable of the Talents?

There are far more references in Scripture about financial planning and management than any other subject, including love and compassion. This does not mean that financial planning and good management are more important than love or compassion, but it does mean that it takes more of our attention and focus to do things efficiently, and that is how God wants them done.

Would it be better to have the money to feed five thousand people every day or the spiritual authority to multiply a couple of hamburgers into enough food to feed that many? I think we would all choose the latter, but the Lord said that He would not trust us with "true riches," which are access to the resources of heaven, unless we are faithful with our "unrighteous mammon" (Luke 16:11). This is why we have a responsibility to be givers, and share the material resources we have been blessed with. But let us also have responsibility to see that it is done in a way that actually helps people and really does some good. True goodness is much more than just having good intentions—it is actually healing people, setting them free, and leading them to the Source who is alone the answer to all human needs.