No cuts with God

"Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure nineteen pounds nineteen and six, result happiness. Annual income twenty pounds, annual expenditure twenty pounds ought and six, result misery.” So said Mr Micawber, a character in Charles Dickens’ novel, David Copperfield (it is rather sad, and perhaps a little ironic, that Mr Micawber ended up in a debtor's prison!) It has become apparent over recent years that Britain, and many countries around the world, have fallen foul of the “Micawber principle”, and have racked up a mountain of debt.

Whichever party had formed the government following this year's general election, they would have had to face the task of dealing with the huge deficit. This week, chancellor George Osborne announced spending cuts which are likely to affect every person in the UK to a greater or lesser degree (Sue and I seem to have both born a year too late to avoid being caught by the rise in the pension age from 2020!) Although there have been many arguments about where cuts should be made, there are very few, if any, who argue that there should be no cuts of any kind. The basic truth is, financial (and other) resources are not without limit.

Faced with future uncertainty of this kind, how wonderful it is to know that there is no lack of supply where God is concerned! His gifts of love, grace, mercy, peace, forgiveness etc. are given in abundance to all who will receive. St Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is particularly eloquent on this topic:

‘All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms because we are united with Christ.’ (chapter 1 v 3)

‘In him we have ... forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding.’ (chapter 1 v7&8)

‘Though I am the least deserving of all God’s people, he graciously gave me the privilege of telling the Gentiles about the endless treasures available to them in Christ.’ (chapter 3 v 8)

‘So God can point to us in all future ages as examples of the incredible wealth of his grace and kindness toward us, as shown in all he has done for us who are united with Christ Jesus.’ (chapter 2 v7)

It was recently reported that forty US billionaires have signed up to pledge at least half of their fortunes to charity under a philanthropic campaign kicked off by Warren Buffett and Bill Gates. Yet even such riches are dwarfed by the riches of God, and the good news is that God loves to give - he even gave his only Son for us!