#148 It is Better to Supply than to Demand
We used to get our identity from what we supplied, now we get our identity from what we demand.  Christians should get their identity from being made in the image of God. 

Your Name
What’s your name?  Even more interesting, what’s it mean? That is the beginning of an interesting exercise in class at Dallas Baptist University.  If it's Mill, like the philosopher John Stuart Mill, someone in your lineage ran the mill.  If it’s Smith, like that guy, Adam Smith, someone was a black smith or tin smith or silver smith.  Farmer is obvious, as is Shumacher.  A cooper made wooden barrels, and a winnegar tended a vineyard where they made wine.  Examples go on and on.  So, at one time in history, people had no choice.  If your Dad ran the mill, you were going to run the mill.  If he was a farmer, you were going to be a farmer.  But in modern life, people have a choice.  Oh, historically women had NO choice.  It is estimated that at the time of Jesus, women had to have nine pregnancies, to produce one child who would reach the age of reproduction to keep the population stable.  Think about it: If women averaged eight, we wouldn’t be here.  So in modern times, women have been freed to pursue any field of economic production they choose.  
When Jesus first started preaching, they asked, “Who is this man, and where is He From?”  In New Testament times, a person’s identity was tied to his family lineage, and geography.  In John 1:46, Nathaniel asked, “Can anything good come out of Nazareth?  In Jesus Among Other Gods, Ravi Zacharias makes this point.  When he would lecture back in his home country of India, he was known for his family’s lineage, which was impressive.  My paternal grandmother’s family lived on the Thames river, just south of London.  Since they lived at the water, the family name was “Atwater.”   
Oh, my title today, “It’s better to supply than demand, " is a re-wording of the old bromide, “It’s better to give than to receive.”  I sometimes use that quip in a quite sarcastic way when handing out a quiz to students at Dallas Baptist University. 

Supply Side vs Demand Side
The field of economics can be divided into two groups: Austrians and Keynesians.  I am an Austrian, following the lead of Ludwig von Mises, then Frederick Hayek….yea, THAT guy, and Milton Friedman.  We believe in GROWING the pie via producing on the supply side.  Keynesians follow John Maynard Keynes, who was succeeded by Paul Samuelson and Paul Krugman and now just about every political operative on the left, who wants to redistribute the supply of goods and services.  They believe in DIVIDING the pie, by distributing goods on the demand side.  In podcast #116 titled “The Resurgence of Socialism,” I point out that Socialists are great at demand, but terrible at supplying demand.  
So here’s the interesting part.  Carl Trueman is a theologian from the UK who teaches at Grove City College in Pennsylvania.  There he is with DBU President Dr. Adam Wright, during an appearance at my University recently.  In his chapel speech at DBU he invoked the same concept I use in class: That some last names indicate job titles: Mill, Smith, Farmer, Shoemaker, etc.  And he said that, historically, that’s where we received our identity.  But NOW, we receive more of our identity from what we CONSUME.  So our identity has changed from production to consumption.  From supply to demand.