Check your foundation

Steve Lyston, Contributor

The foundation is the key to every building constructed. When there are cracks, failures or instability, then it is a foundation problem.

Many people are spending millions, even billions in an attempt to fix different things affecting the world. Even a changing of the guards without addressing the foundational issues will not solve any problems, but will instead create new ones.

Recognise that the term foundation can refer to more than just the base of a building; rather, it is base or basis on which structure is supported. Now, there are many things nations and organisations hold on to - policies and philosophies - which they deem a blessing, but which are instead a curse.

If we lay a foundation in any area of our lives, and that foundation is not laid with the principles of God, or if it has not been dedicated to God, then when we try to build higher on that foundation, structural problems will arise. The key thing, therefore, that we must ask ourselves is, on what is your foundation built? What material comprises your foundation?

Foundations and Floorplans

Floorplan originality is important. What served as the structure for one foundation in one area, will not necessarily work as a proper structure in another area - regardless of how closely related the areas are.

Once a structure is to be erected, those involved must carry out some checks - soil quality, integrity of the ground, mineral content, and so on. They also need to see what foundations were there before, if any, and if there is, see how to remove it to build in order to support the floorplan.

Further to that, the floorplan for the structure must be built based on the foundational support it needs.

Jamaica has a Tiano foundation, with a British floorplan for African occupants. Then the British floorplan became a foundation on which the American floorplan was erected and stands to date.

Although we are 'Out Of Many, One People', this plan lends itself to some amount of confusion.

Look at our clothing styles, food choices, what we choose to watch, our speech and choice of words, they all reflect the American system. We even get more help from the United States (US) than we do from the United Kingdom.

When America suffers recession, there is a significant, negative impact on our economy.

The United States of America also has its foundational problems. It is called the US, yet different states have different laws regarding the same issue. So, there is no unity with regard to many of its laws. Hence, the economy is affected. In fact, it is one of the main issues affecting that nation's economy.

Before solutions can come to deal with the problems we are facing, we must first identify the foundational problems and fix them. For example, normally when a door becomes hard to open and close, we will say that the door is swollen. Most would shave the door down in order to bring it to proper working order again. But the problem could be the foundation - a tree whose roots have grown into the foundation; and that is what would need to be dealt with.

Now, even in dealing with that, it would need to be ascertained if the tree was there before the foundation was built, and determine the best way to remove the tree with minimal damage to all parties involved.

One cannot truly understand the economy without understanding farming and its principles. Yes, the principles of farming! (Isaiah 28:23-29)

It is the first profession recorded in the Bible, Genesis 4:1-3. Most of man's sustenance comes from the ground.

Treating economic problems

Farming involves ploughing, sowing, planting, watering and pruning. Every plant or tree carries different requirements for attention and different levels of harvest. For example, the 'army worms' eating everything in sight in Jamaica right now, is similar to the way in which we are treating our economic problem.

They are spraying the worms without realising that the root or the foundation of the problem is the fertilisers we have been importing. In former days, dead plants and animal dung became the fertiliser the healthy plants needed to produce well.

In the same way, we are spraying our economic problems with more of the same principles that are the problem in the first place.

Steve Lyston is a biblical economics consultant and author of several books, including 'End Time Finance' and 'The New Millionaire'.