Thursday, September 24, 2009

If it's free, it has no value

In response to my column of a couple weeks ago, "Preserving Abundance," a reader sent the following observation which I thought was very true:
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"It's the tragedy of the commons: If it's free, then it has no value and therefore you don't preserve it."

This line hit me like a ton o' bricks. The first thing that came to my steel trap of a mind (rusted shut) was: the same can also be said of our salvation. Without launching into deep theological discussion, let's just say that people also have a cavalier attitude about God's greatest gift. It too was free; bought and paid for by Someone else. Yet we seldom seem to cherish it and work to preserve it between Sundays.

1 comment:

  1. Don't believers usually reckon life is "God's greatest gift?

    I think most of us, believers and non-believers, cherish it. And many are actively struggling to protect the environment, and the diversity of life it
    nurtures, from the ravages of profligate consumption. The US of course has the highest per capita consumption in the world.

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