Toxic assets
In recent months we have heard a great deal about the banks and financial institutions and their toxic assets. Over a number of years banks had been acquiring debts on which they expected to make good returns. Debts of dubious value were repackaged and sold on as premium investments – and this repackaging made it difficult to distinguish between good debts that would be repaid and bad debts that had little chance of being redeemed. The financial house of cards then started to collapse and our financial systems went into melt down.
So what could be done to save the situation and protect many relatively innocent parties from the folly of others? Well, as we know, the banks were bailed out by governments around the world. Governments have been busy buying up the toxic assets to save the banks and financial institutions – and they have provided fresh liquidity (cash to you and me!) to get them working again. Many billions of pounds have been spent to save our financial systems so that they can return to working normally. The cost is almost impossible for us to comprehend. The cost of financial salvation has been mind-bogglingly enormous.
For toxic assets read sin – and, as with toxic assets, things are often packaged to give the impression of them not being that bad. The enormity of sin and its consequences makes the toxic assets of the banks pale into insignificance. The price paid to wipe our sins is found at the cross. The price God paid to buy up our toxic assets was Jesus Christ’s death on the cross – and that paid the price of our sins. And in Jesus Christ’s resurrection we find the liquidity that saves us from returning to spiritual debt.
David Bradshaw
May 2009