The Lord has led me to study some of the financial issues that affect nations and ultimately the citizens of those nations. It has been a study that has revealed once again how important it is to understand the issue of wealth, both natural and spiritual wealth, and where our hope has been deposited.

The time-tested and historical measure of enduring wealth has always been precious metals like gold and silver. Paper money like the U.S. dollar and other fiat currencies is backed only by a promise from the government to repay. It is a weak promise when compared to a tangible substance like gold.

Up to 1971, our currency was linked to the gold standard. President Nixon took us off the gold standard and we were forced to accept the promise of our government, not gold, to back up the value of our currency. That decision opened the floodgates for rampant manipulation and fraud. A national currency devaluation has always led to social upheaval. 

Today, our government is acting like irresponsible kindergartners with a currency printing machine printing as much unbacked currency as they need to mask the tenuous condition of our national financial situation.  Currently, our national debt is over 30 trillion dollars and growing daily. That is an indebtedness of $91, 000.00 for each person in America. If you have a family of four do the math. Our national debt will never be repaid. We print more money and hope it will all work out, at least until the next election is over.

This week China had a run on some of its banks. The Chinese economy has been in decline for several years. Depositors were denied access to their funds.  It was reminiscent of 1929 during the Great Depression when similar runs on banks took place because of the collapse of Wall Street. The banks shut their doors and people were not able to withdraw their assets. In the Weimer Republic of pre-World War II Germany’s inflation ran so high due to a weakened currency it is said a wheelbarrow full of paper money was required to buy a loaf of bread. A growing fear is developing in our nation over concerns that the United States will not be able to fulfill its financial commitments. The potential of a collapse of our financial institutions is not imagined by those whose theology is linked to a “don’t worry be happy” version of reality not attached to the record of history. 

It is critical to determine where our physical and spiritual security has been deposited. A deposit in anything other than Jesus Christ is a bankrupt strategy. 

In God’s Kingdom, the currency of the realm is our faith in the One who never fails us and in the substance of spiritual realities not yet seen. If we discover where our faith has been deposited, we will determine the true measure of our wealth. The wealth of our relationship with Jesus Christ will always hold its value no matter what transpires on the stage of world affairs. 

Peter’s statement in Acts 3 where he healed the crippled man at the temple gate says it all, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk” (Acts 3:8). Peter’s statement is the measure of true wealth. It is a wealth that remains with us in abundance no matter the financial condition of our personal lives or the failing resources of a nation.