clash of market economy vs. kingdom values

What do you do when the free market economy doesn’t match Kingdom values (Kingdom as in “Kingdom of God,” however you might conceive of a higher power’s activities towards making an ideal world)?

In the reality of the real world we live in, a free-market economy in the United States, customers pay money in exchange for products and services provided by businesses & vendors.

But the market alone does not account for everything.

A couple other economies are at work, and they don’t quite get as much spotlight or airplay as the business world. Namely, the government sector and the non-profit charity sector (aka NGO in other parts). Governments are funded (mostly) by taxes. Non-profit organizations are (mostly) funded by charitable donations.

Even with all 3 economies at work, that does not account for everything. There are “Kingdom value” things that money does not pay for.

Depending on one’s theology and theological constructs, 1 of 3 diagrams illustrate how one can think of these 2 spheres of economy. The green circle indicated as “market economy” refers to the the economies of business, government, and non-profits. The blue circle indicates “kingdom economy” for which money & economy does not account for.

I think the real world has an overlapping “kingdom economy” and “market economy.” Not everything we do can have money paying for or supporting it. Just because we’re doing good and producing “value,” it might be “kingdom value” that does not generate enough money for livelihood & sustainability. I could be wrong. Is this gap between values for real or is there a gap in my thinking?


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