Free Money from Uncle Joe!
When you sit down to eat with a ruler,
Consider carefully what is before you;
And put a knife to your throat
If you are a man given to appetite.
Do not desire his delicacies,
For they are deceptive food. (Proverbs 23:1-3)
This summer the US government is going to start sending out checks—monthly—for families with children. $300 a month PER CHILD for children 5 and under, and $250 per month for every child aged 6-17. If this happened in my early family years, our own family would have been raking in over $1200 a month from the Federal government! Right now, articles are out there explaining “How do I get my money?” (here). While young families (and everyone else with all the other checks coming) cannot help be excited about the prospects of the windfall, we all must remember that this is not “our” money. We did not earn it. It will be taken from someone, somewhere, somehow.
It’s not generosity.
When I was young and read through Proverbs 23, I had always considered verses one and two apart from verse three. My take on the verses was that bad decorum (overeating) in the presence of the king can damage your reputation and be dangerous. The real application is in verse three. Politicians—human leaders do not just hand out largesse of the goodness of their own hearts. When the government sends out checks willy-nilly, consider it more bait than generosity. It’s more like bribery and bribes always demand a return. It has a hook and though it may take years, someone is eventually going to try to set the hook. That check is going to cost you—or someone—a lot.
Money is the root of all sorts of evil.
Hypocrisy, hypocrisy you say! You Republicans were all about the money when Trump was President and now you get on your high horse. First, this is not about party politics. Trump’s stimulus package also deserves the same criticism. It’s about biblical principles. There is nothing wrong with supporting the biblical principles of working, earning, reward for labor, and keeping what you earn. That is immensely different from hoping for a windfall with no regard for its source. Windfall generated greed turns people–even otherwise good people–into cravenly selfish sinners.
Command those who are rich in this present age not to be haughty, nor to trust in uncertain riches but in the living God, who gives us richly all things to enjoy. (1 Timothy 6:17)
We do not labor to be rich. Wealth is not our security. Depending on wealth is disobedience. Our security is found in God alone, not riches. Personal wealth is a tool that God uses to meet our needs and that we, in turn, use to honor Him. How hard is it going to be to truly trust in God, when you get a check from Uncle Joe every month? I am not saying people should burn their checks! Christians just need to beware. These checks are not coming from friends of our Lord. They are coming from those who deny Him and want you to do the same.
The government that would be God.
I was talking with a good friend this week and he made this point (which I think he said he got from Frances Schaeffer). When a government seeks to replace God, it must become like God. It must be the Great Provider. It must be everywhere present. It must dictate its own values and the attending behavior. That is the great problem with the Nanny State. The nanny wants to be God and those that run the nanny state want to be gods themselves. That is why we have seen the god-like behavior (please notice the little “g”) of bureaucratic leaders during the Covid crisis. They are all completely sure of the rightness and righteousness of their various restrictions—until they are proven wrong. They will intrude into the most private relationships between people—that of the family fellowship of the church body.
Accreditation was the early case study for fundamentalists. The previous generation of fundamentalist leaders saw the potential of it as a “money on a hook” tactic. The argument from the younger generation (my generation) was that this was a different time and compromise was no longer necessary to receive accreditation recognition. That may be the case, but will it be in the future?
Will we, like drug addicts, become so dependent upon the government dole that we will compromise our faith to keep it? Will we be willing to walk away from the cash?
Wisdom requires us to look ahead to determine biblically what lines we cannot cross. We must make the plans necessary to facilitate obedience. Obedience to Him is mandatory, whether we have made provisions to do so or not.
In Canada we have had a similar program for many years. It started out a long time ago, I remember my parents receiving monthly cheques (note spelling!) when I was a kid. Back then they called it the “Baby Bonus.” The whole idea was to encourage population growth at the time, I think. Later on, when I became a parent, we, too, received “family allowance” cheques. Then politicians came along and said, “We need to abolish that program.” So they did, they abolished the program, but created a new one which gave out MORE money. That showed them!
You won’t be able to do much about it, so the pragmatist in me suggests that families take the money. I knew of one fellow who refused it on principle. I tend to think the government extorts too much money as a rule, so had no such scruples. However, the kids do have this annoying habit of growing up. Once they hit eighteen, the gravy train stopped. I would suggest that any Americans who receive these cheques should do something constructive with the money. Invest it, save it, do something, don’t just spend it (or depend on it). The kids will grow up and it might be a good thing to have used it to create something of a nest egg for the future.
Finally, one sad consequence of such programs is how the really poor used it. I knew a lady who had four or five different children (with about the same number of fathers). She basically lived on her Child Bonus. Until they grew up. I don’t know what happened to her after that. Free money tends to put people in bondage, so be careful.
Maranatha!
Don Johnson
Jer 33.3
Yes Don. I am by no means saying that they should not take the money, they just need to remember that it is at best a bribe for votes.