I am full up on hearing about the TARP--the federal Troubled Asset Relief Program. And "toxic assets"..."bad banks"/good banks"...and so on. We've thrown $350 million at the problem, and that's just the start. Wake me when it's over.
Then again, the TARP discussion does surface some wonderful questions. What should we do with those toxic assets that are gumming up the wheels of economic recovery? Who should they be unloaded upon? Or should they stay with the banks that created them, as punishment? How should they be valued? What's the best way to clean out the pollution so we can move on?
These are questions of both value and exchange. And if we peel this onion of a topic back another layer, there's a gospel question at the root. "Gospel" in its literal sense, that is...will there be "good news" at the end of this story? If we answer these questions of value and exchange right, we win. If we get them wrong, we lose, and lose big. We're talking about our future, after all.
OK, but what's this got to do with faith, you ask? Everything. Just look at the stock market's initial reaction to the latest TARP pronouncement.
Now that I have you thinking about faith in the economic sphere, I want to switch to a wider- angle lens. Let's focus on the the faith it takes to believe the great exchange that Jesus Christ offers us. What is that exchange? It's a TARP at the spiritual level...the life changing level. Here's how it works:
First, Christ takes all of our human toxicity--all our pride, greed, lust, anger, self-centeredness...all our smallness--and allows us to transfer it to Him. The whole dumpster load of our moral failures. We just back that garbage truck up at the mound of Calvary and raise the bucket, and out it all pours. Not just that...He gives us unlimited dumping privileges, a mega-landfill to unload our failures--past, present and future.
So we're relieved of our toxic assets. We are declared a "good bank" in the language of TARP. Jesus becomes the bad bank. That's the first part of the exchange. Who would make such a deal?
Now what about value? How does He value what we give Him? How do we value what we receive back? Well, Christ receives faith from us. That's His only demand--that we bring our sin to the Cross, and that we believe in Him. That He came to save us. That He calls us by name. That He actually wants a relationship with us. That He can cure us. We are called to believe.
God values faith a lot, doesn't He? Look at what He takes on for our belief. The burden of all our sin. The punishment. The agony. For our faith. That says the value of the exchange in God's eyes is worth it. He wants us. He's willing to pay so much.
A side note. Some say that the Bible talks about sin too much. But if we take a small view of our sin, it also means we see too small a Cross...and a diminished Christ. We miss the direct correlation between big sinner and big Savior. Think about how hard it is for us to love someone who offends us, and we get a tiny taste of how big God's love is for us.
What do we get in the exchange? First, we receive forgiveness. Wonderful and liberating in its own right. But we need to look beyond forgiveness. Those who accept this great exchange are credited with the righteousness of Christ. The righteousness of God's Son. That's not good...that's great. Gargantuan. Momentous. Life altering.
Further good news: the trading window is now open. Christ's TARP is at work. We need to bring in our troubled assets...our troubled lives. Exchange them at the window of the Cross. Receive the good news. Accept the great exchange.
It's the best deal we will ever get. Anywhere.
Chris Joyce
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