Piper on the Recession

Five of God’s Purposes in this Recession (according to John Piper)

1) God intends in this recession to expose hidden sin and to bring us to repentance and cleansing

2) God intends to wake us up to the constant and desperate condition of the developing world, where they are always in recession

3) God intends to relocate the roots of our joy in His grace and not in our goods, in His mercy and not in our money, and in His worth and not in our wealth

4) God intends to advance his saving mission in the world and spread the Gospel like wild fire and grow His church precisely at a time when they have the least resources to do it

5) God intends for the church to care for its hurting members and to grow in the gift of love so that no one is in need in the church of Jesus Christ, period

Piper actually said that "God has graciously brought this recession upon us." This is a very different way of looking at our nation’s present circumstances; yet, considering his list of five things that God is doing during this time, he may be right. If God is using this time to even do any one of these five things in our church (locally or globally), then we should praise God for this recession. Any one of these outcomes would far out weigh any amount of money, possessions, or job security.