Still life with a lamp, open book, and globe on a table against a geometric background in a mid-century modern style.

create a blog article header image inspired by and depicting mid-century modern era based on the following content: : Economic Stewardship and the Temptation of False Saviors: Reflections on H.R. 1 and the Great Depression A Pastoral Reflection on Power, Pride, and the Limits of Human Wisdom As I've reflected on the economic challenges facing our nation, particularly this massive piece of legislation known as H.R. 1, I'm struck by how economic policy reveals something profound about the human heart. The comparison between this bill and the legislation that deepened the Great Depression isn't merely an academic exercise—it's a window into humanity's persistent temptation to trust in our own wisdom rather than acknowledge the limits of human knowledge and control. The Heart Behind the Policy What we see in both H.R. 1 and the interventionist policies of the 1930s is a fundamentally human impulse: when people are suffering, we want to do something. This impulse isn't wrong—it reflects the image of God in us, our call to love our neighbors and seek justice. But there's a profound difference between wise stewardship and what the Bible calls "leaning on our own understanding." The Austrian economists Ludwig von Mises and Friedrich Hayek understood something that speaks to a biblical worldview: human knowledge is limited, and complex systems like economies resist our attempts to engineer them from the top down. When they argued that "the key cause of the Great Depression was the See more