Beckham's Millions: Jackpot or Insanity

Posted by Kirk M. Wellum @ http://redeemingthetime.blogspot.com/2007/01/filled-to-brim.html

Question: What's more annoying than an Alarm Force or Sleep Country Canada ad? Answer: Soccer player David Beckham being paid $250 million over five years to come and play a game in America! Has the world gone nuts? And don't give me a lecture about free market economics, save your breath, I have been berated before. It explains and changes nothing. Any system that pays out this kind of money to an aging player well past his prime is seriously flawed no matter how many consumers he can put in the stands. In a world in which the majority of the people do not have adequate food and housing, especially among the young, there is something wrong with the way wealth is distributed, or more accurately, seems to find its way into a very select number of pockets.

No one can read the Bible without seeing that it has an enormous amount to say about money. But no one reads the Bible properly who does not also see that wealth and the pursuit of it is fraught with dangers, not the least of which is the very real possibility of gaining the whole world but losing one's soul. While there are a variety of economic options out there, in the end they are all part of this fallen order of things that the Bible calls "Babylon" that will one day perish under divine judgment much to the chagrin of the money merchants and others who have given themselves to the enjoyment of her excessive luxuries and splendor.

Now, I am not saying that there is anything inherently wrong with money or making it for that matter. It is the love of money not money itself which is the root of all kinds of evil. But still, in our world it takes great wisdom to be able to distinguish between the two. And many who think they possess such wisdom are only fooling themselves. In the midst of this confusion it seems to me that Christians need to think long and hard about the demands of the gospel and the virtue of simplicity in a world that has no end of interesting but ultimately completely unnecessary gadgets. Economic systems will inevitably reflect human depravity more or less. Of course, this is not the only factor but it is one that Christians need to think about before they declare any particular version "Christian". We are called to bring everything under captivity to Christ and to do all to the glory of God and that is not as simple as jumping on the latest conservative or liberal bandwagon. Something to think about if we are serious about serving King Jesus in 2007.