I was in the cab rushing to work when this thing came into my mind...

Is God a giffen good, ostentatious good, normal good, inferior good, substitute or a complement in your life?

In the economics context, an inferior good implies that as income rises, less is demanded of a good. So if God is an inferior good, as your life gets better, as you discover that things are sailing so smoothly for you, you will rely less on God. You are beginning to think that “hey... I don’t really need God cos I am living so happily now. And God does not have very much to do with it.”

In Economics, a normal good implies that as income rises, more is demanded of a good. So if God is a normal good, as your life gets better, you will begin to realize that God has blessed you with these luxuries. But other than that, you do not see God’s connection in any parts of your life cos you are too busy enjoying these luxuries and are slowly becoming complacent.

As for a substitute, these goods are similar in nature and the only thing that differentiates them is probably, tastes and preferences? For example, if I don’t want to drink milo, I will drink horlicks. If I don’t want to drink tea, I will drink coffee. So, if God is a substitute, God is then a “as I want Him, I will go to Him.” In this way, God is a “last minute resort.” All things else have failed, and we turn to God for the last minute thing.

For a complement good, two goods go hand in hand.. For example, tea and sugar, pen and ink, pen and paper. Meaning that, without the other good, the end product may not be that complete. If a God is a complement good, your life would not be complete without Him. Meaning, if you don’t say your morning prayers/evening prayers, you will find that something is strange. If you don’t pray for one whole day, you will find that there is something missing... But the underlying thing is... You can make do without God, just as you can drink tea without sugar, write on paper without a pen but with a pencil instead.

An ostentatious good means that the good is really expensive and definitely will attract attention. Goods that fall into this category are jewellery, high class watches like rolex or tag heur. So by the nature of these goods, it is regarded as a “want” and less of a “need”. Becos it is highly expensive, ostentatious goods are meant for you to flaunt/ to attract that unnecessary attention. So if God is an ostentatious good, He could be someone we use to justify our stand. He is someone we use as our shield. He is someone we could possibly tweak to suit our stand and our own thinking. God could be someone whom you use to show that what we say, could possibly be right.. In other words, it is more of “I” than “WE”.

Lastly, if God is a giffen good, He is like rice/ noodles... Our staple.. Meaning that iwe need to have Him everyday. Without Him, we find that something is amiss. Or maybe you may stop eating rice (God) for a meal or two, and then you suddenly realize that you need to have Him back. Basically, if God is a giffen good, He is a “need” and less of a “want”. You have recognized that God is a must in your life. That without Him, you will feel very lost and you cannot make do without it. Your life centres around it. In all the things that you do/think/ feel, He is always involved in your life, just as rice/noodles are involved in your daily meals as well.

So if you guys get the general rough idea about the different categories of goods I am talking about, which category does God fall into? Think about it before reading on...

Let me think about it...

If I were to categorize God into a goods category, I would choose a giffen good. Cos He has given me so many trials when I was a young toddler (i.e young in faith) that I realized the utmost importance of placing Him as FIRST in my life. In other words, He has given me so many trials that He has nurtured me to become wholly dependent on Him. I am still young but I am no longer as young as I used to be 4 years ago.

But as I was sitting in the cab today, I realized that to categorize God as a good would be foolish. Goods would mean a transactional exchange taking place. In other words, you need to fork our money to get that good. Has God ever required us to pay money to get Him? I don’t think so. Instead, He paid for our sins through His death on the cross.

An exchange would probably fit the bill but bear in mind... That this exchange will not be a selfish and mercenary one. When God requires us to give something to Him in exchange of what He’s going to give us, it is usually something that is “for our own good” nature. So when God requires us to give something to Him, He is usually doing it out of love, not for Him but for us.

So God is a gift.

We did not ask Him to pay ransom for our sins but He still endured the scourging, ridicule, suffered and died a painful death on the cross. His death is a gift to us - to understand the meaning of eternal life. Cos His death opened the gates of Heaven so that souls in purgatory and hell would ascend to Heaven with Him.

In other words, His death is like a gift... He is giving it to us and it is up to us whether we want to take it or not.

Do we want to receive His gift of love? Do we want to receive His gift of selflessness? Do we want to receive His gift of humility? Do we want to accept His gift of taking up the cross and following God? Do we want to accept His gift of trust? Do we want to accept His gift of hope? Do we want to accept His gift of peace?

I think that if we are not fully convinced and embracing that Jesus died for us, we will never be able to comprehend that God is a gift.

It’s all up to us, really. We can receive this gift bt what do we do with it? Put it at one side and let it collect dust? Or do we open it up and treasure this gift? After treasuring this gift, do we then use this gift in our lives? And do we share this gift with others?

Many people are dying to know who is their saviour. Let us recognize that God is a gift and NOT, we are a gift to Him. Let us be thankful of this gift cos at least we know who is our saviour. And let us share this gift to people who are desperately going all directions in search for someone who will sustain them, someone who will give them eternal peace.