(Unless specified, Scripture verses are from the KJV.)
Heb 13:14 For here we have no lasting city, but we seek the city that is to come. (ESV)
One of the YouTube channels I follow is called The Philosophical Gamer, featuring a millennial who long ago has moved out of the United States because the rising cost of living, and other societal issues. He has videos titled "Gen Z Doesn't Want To Work / Be Slaves Anymore", "Gen Z's Wages Can't Even Pay For The Job Itself", "$50 Boomer Rent vs. $5000 Gen Z Rent!", "How $60,000 Became The New Poverty Wage In America", etc.
This got me to thinking: What sort of life does this person want? The main reason I work, no matter the wage, was, at first, the following:
Rom 13:8 Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.
Now, it's more because of the following:
2Th 3:10 For even when we were with you, this we commanded you, that if any would not work, neither should he eat.
I used to work in order to pay off debts. Now I work to have the right to eat.
In my own life, I still live with my parents, because I can't afford the insane rents of this country. I certainly can't afford to support a family by myself. If I had to finance another car of similar quality, it would be MUCH more expensive than it was back in 2019 ($14k debt vs., say, $28k debt). So in a way, I agree with The Philosophical Gamer in that the economy is pile of garbage. Yet, as a Christian, it doesn't matter, because this isn't our world anyway. Believers must be willing to endure MUCH MORE than a relative pile of garbage economy (I say relative because there are billions of people around the world who have it MUCH WORSE than I do). Think of what the Apostle Paul went through:
Five times I received at the hands of the Jews the forty lashes less one. Three times I was beaten with rods. Once I was stoned. Three times I was shipwrecked; a night and a day I was adrift at sea; on frequent journeys, in danger from rivers, danger from robbers, danger from my own people, danger from Gentiles, danger in the city, danger in the wilderness, danger at sea, danger from false brothers; in toil and hardship, through many a sleepless night, in hunger and thirst, often without food, in cold and exposure. And, apart from other things, there is the daily pressure on me of my anxiety for all the churches. Who is weak, and I am not weak? Who is made to fall, and I am not indignant?
(2Co 11:24-29, ESV)
If someone were to suffer today like Paul, it would sound more like this:
"I was beaten multiple times. I was shot multiple times. Three times the car broke down, and I was stranded on the highway. I was always in danger from the elements, from thieves, from posers. I often went without sleep. I often went without food or drink. Besides all this, I have a continuing concern for all the churches."
Hmm...just writing this makes me think of another thing: What if I actually tried to pull an all-nighter, just to see what it would be like? No, I'm not trying to test God (Deuteronomy 6:16, Matthew 4:7, Luke 4:12, etc.), I just wonder what it would be like to actually experience even a fraction of these sufferings for myself? Now, I don't dare ask God to do so, because, honestly, I don't think I'm ready, maybe not even willing. Something I have to work on, I guess. Perhaps, if it's God's will, He will lead me to the depths of suffering, poverty, sleeplessness, hunger, thirst, cold, pain, etc. and then, while I'm in the middle of all this suffering, He tells me, "You see? It's possible. No one can ever say that you never dealt with this." Again, I don't want to intentionally throw myself into poverty and suffering for no reason. I want to live my life righteously, and THEN physically suffer as a result of it. And I want feedback from the world telling me this is so. This is not an unbiblical concept. Jesus Himself asked of the Pharisees:
Joh 10:32 Jesus answered them, Many good works have I shewed you from my Father; for which of those works do ye stone me?
So, if anything, a garbage economy should be welcomed by the Church, because it teaches you not to be attached to this world. Believe me, it's much easier to follow Christ when times are bad, because when times are good, I'm afraid that people will behave like the Laodicean church in the Book of Revelation:
I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.
(Rev 3:15-19)
