I'd seen a news blurp a week or so ago about the new dollor coin due out soon. Today I received the first of what will likely be thousands of emails floating around the country warning of the evil, godless condition of this coin.
Here's the message of the email:
It does not have "In God We Trust" on it. Another way of leaving God out. Send this on and let consumers decide if it will win acceptance or not. Let's just keep spending our paper money; forget the new coin.
I thought I'd jump in with my two cents.
Honestly, I don’t find this to be a point of contention for me. Trusting God has never been about words, coins or even schools. Trusting God is about my heart. About how my confidence in God’s agenda dictates my behavior, my conversation, my relationships… and whether or not I’ll lean into God’s kingdom purposes as I understand them better and better. Printing a phrase on a coin, bill or anything else does nothing to bring anyone to trusting Jesus. If these words do mean something to those of us who trust him, that gets lived out relationally, allowing others to be impacted by our God-trust.
I’m afraid this recent string of emails about a new coin will have a number of well-intended Christians missing the point - again. After all, when was the last time you handed money to a sales associate and stopped to read the coin’s inscription? Or pointed out the script to another person?
The more important struggle for me is how I spend any of my money – paper, coin or plastic (by the way, last I checked, my bank wasn’t printing anything about God on my debit or credit cards). What are my family and friends experiencing in my life of trusting God? Is the way I handle my money, my words, my attitude, my time, my energy communicating anything about my trust in God? You bet it is.
Let's just keep trusting God, huh?
