Chapter 18
Saving, Retiring, and Insuring
Make as much as you can, save as much as you can, and give as much as you can. JOHN WESLEY
Earthly goods are given to be used, not to be collected. Hoarding is idolatry. DIETRICH BONHOEFFER
Billions of dollars each year are poured into savings accounts, retirement funds, and insurance policies. Are these wise places for Christian stewards to place their God-entrusted funds? Is it unspiritual to have these things? Is it irresponsible not to have them? Are they morally neutral? Can they be used well or poorly depending on amounts and attitudes? Do savings and insurance pose dangers to us? Are there biblical principles that can help us evaluate them? In this chapter, we’ll seek to answer each of these questions.
The purpose of savings is to set money aside for the future. By forgoing expenditures now, we preserve resources for later. “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has” (Proverbs 21:20). The wise anticipate future needs while the foolish consume their resources, not considering the future.
“Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise! It has no commander, no overseer or ruler, yet it stores its provisions in summer and gathers its food at harvest” (Proverbs 6:6-8). Even ants know there will be no food in winter unless it’s stored during the summer. Only a shortsighted person would fail to store up provisions (money, food, or supplies) for upcoming times of predictable need.
By God’s inspiration, Joseph devised a careful savings plan in light of an upcoming famine in Egypt (Genesis 41:25-57). For seven years the Egyptians stored a large portion of the harvest. When the seven years of famine came, they drew on their stores of grain. The nation was able to care for itself—and provide for others as well.
Saving Today
Sometimes our future needs aren’t as predictable as in these biblical examples. Nurserymen or carpenters may have seasonal incomes and must discipline themselves to save for the lean months. But most of us receive a regular paycheck. Even for those with steadier incomes, it seems wise to set aside funds to allow for both anticipated and unanticipated expenses—but most people don’t. Although we live in the most affluent society in human history, eighty-five out of one hundred Americans have less than $250 in available savings when they reach age sixty-five.157 That means, without counting retirement funds, that a person who has worked from age twenty has managed to save less than six dollars per year. If the reason for this lack of savings was faith in God and a conviction that we shouldn’t hang on to resources but give them to meet others’ needs, then we’d be in the company of the poor widow of Mark 12 and the Macedonian Christians of 2 Corinthians 8. But the reason typically isn’t our trust in God. It’s usually self-indulgence, presumption, and lack of foresight and discipline. God doesn’t bless a lack of savings for those reasons.
In the event of a lost job or unexpected major expense, the average American family is three to six weeks away from bankruptcy. Yet in other countries with far lower incomes, people have learned to save enough to provide for future needs. To be shortsighted is to invite poverty. To feast now without regard to future famine is to manage our resources poorly and presume upon God or others to bail us out.
We must learn not only to weigh our expenditures in light of their immediate value but their ultimate cost. Money needlessly spent is a double loss. Not only is it gone, but its potential for earnings is also gone. Had we set it aside, it could have been multiplying on earth through savings or in heaven through giving.
It’s wise to give first, save second, and spend last. Otherwise, we will spend everything and have nothing to give or save. We’ll also set ourselves up to fall into debt when true needs arise.
Saving is a discipline that develops authority over money. Instead of letting money take us wherever our whims incline, we take control.
After I give the firstfruits to the Lord, I can take money off the top of my paycheck to save for future purposes. I might save for a family vacation or a remodeling project. I’m not saving without purpose, but for a specific cause.
Long-term savings are a way of using years of plenty to prepare for years of lack, as Joseph did. Anticipating retirement, I might set aside money to supplement an income reduction in the future. Or I might systematically save for my children’s college education, which could be ten years away.
There are also many poor reasons for saving. Some save out of greed. Others save because they’re misers. Others save out of fear. They’re anxious about the future. By stockpiling money, they insulate themselves from God, no longer depending on his provision and protection.
We can’t say, “Saving money is biblical” or “Saving money is unbiblical.” It may be either, depending on the reasons and the alternatives.
Hoarding is saving taken to an extreme. It’s accumulating assets for no purpose other than to ward off future disaster, or to provide wealth for many years to come. The classic example of hoarding is the rich fool, who says:
I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.” (Luke 12:18-19)
God then says, “You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?” Jesus promises, “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God” (Luke 12:20-21).
When we read about the rich fool, our first mistake is in thinking we’re not really rich. Bill Gates, Ted Turner, and Warren Buffet are rich. We’re just lower upper class, or middle class, or lower class. Because we know so many people who are wealthier than we are, we think we’re not rich. But we’re wrong. Even most lower-class Americans have access to benefits and luxuries—including medical care, indoor bathrooms, running water, food, microwave ovens, radio, television, reading materials, sports equipment, and financial assistance from government, churches, and charities—that the richest people in Bible times never dreamed of. By global standards, even the poorest Americans are easily in the upper 20 percent of the world’s wealthy. By historical standards, anyone with a house, indoor plumbing, and enough to eat is certainly rich.
Our second mistake in reading about the rich fool is in assuming we’re not fools. We act as if the rich fool was terribly different than we are. In fact, he was living out the American dream, reflected in television commercials, movies, and conversations. He was storing up wealth to rely on in the future while enjoying his favorite recreational pursuits in the present. God calls this man a fool because when his life is suddenly over, his obituary shows that he’s been rich toward himself but not toward God.
What will happen to the billions of dollars in the savings accounts, real estate holdings, insurance policies, stock market portfolios, and retirement plans of western Christians? Christ suggests we should be “rich toward God” rather than “store up things” for ourselves. Why? Because by giving freely to God, we store up things in another world where they’ll matter and last. Meanwhile, we’ll also honor God and help our neighbors. If we fail to do this, we are exactly the same as the rich man—we are fools.
Is it inconsistent to say that saving for possible short-term needs can be wise, whereas saving vast sums for decades ahead can be foolish? It may appear to be, but I’m attempting to balance what Scripture says about both. We can’t ignore all the verses in Proverbs that laud saving, yet we also can’t ignore Christ’s scathing appraisal of the rich fool. It may not be easy to find a balance—in fact, personally I find it very difficult—but that’s the position Scripture puts us in. The solution is not to focus on one group of Scriptures while ignoring others, but to affirm both and seek to honor both, even when we find it difficult.
Hoarders imagine themselves as wise. Jesus says they’re anything but wise. They’re fools. Hoarding is an attempt to completely cover our material bases so that God becomes unnecessary. Rather than responsibly taking steps for future provision while trusting in God’s sovereignty, we assert our own sovereignty by hoarding.
A common goal of hoarders is to achieve “financial independence.” But from whom do we wish to be independent? God? Our family? Christian brothers and sisters? I certainly favor independence from the government or parents, in the sense that I earn my own living. There’s a kind of dependence that’s terribly unhealthy. But isn’t there a kind of independence that’s equally unhealthy?
“Whoever trusts in his riches will fall, but the righteous will thrive like a green leaf” (Proverbs 11:28). When we stockpile riches for every conceivable scenario, aren’t we trusting in our riches rather than in God? The clear teaching of the New Testament is that we are to be channels of money and possessions, not storehouses. Whatever role that saving has in our lives, it should always be secondary to giving. And it must never be a substitute for trusting God.
Should We Save for Possible Disasters?
Some Christians believe that everyone should store up years of water, food, and even ammunition for our families. One author says that believers should secure passports now in order to be prepared to flee the country during a nuclear holocaust. Certain Christian financial counselors encourage us to invest in diamonds, art, and antiques to hedge against various economic catastrophes that may be ahead. One Christian resource suggests placing assets in offshore tax havens and Swiss bank accounts. Numerous advisers emphasize gold, claming it’s the ultimate answer to future security.
When evidence suggested that the Y2K bug would likely create weeks of economic turbulence, it seemed reasonable to acquire extra supplies, including food and water. It turned out to be a false alarm. But it also served as a test—where were people’s hearts? How much did they store up and for whom? Would we have been willing and eager to share with neighbors and others in need?
In early 1999, countless mainstream magazines and newspapers contained Y2K articles citing the likelihood of a temporary loss of electricity in various parts of the country. Believing that I should provide for my wife and daughters, I decided to buy a generator. After paying for it, though, I felt uneasy. Why was I providing this for myself and my family regarding possible future hardship when that same money could deliver people in other places from actual present hardship? I considered people around the world who on their best day have greater need than we might have on our worst day. Convicted, I gave the generator to a mission to Native Americans, who could make good use of it even after Y2K was long gone.
I don’t mean that it’s faithless to lay something aside in the face of a likely shortage. It may just be good planning, especially if the money’s not wasted. Someone who had extra food stored for Y2K could go ahead and eat it afterward and not have wasted money. (It certainly isn’t more spiritual to have money in the bank or stock market than canned food on a shelf.)
But there’s a difference between conscientious planning for the future and hoarding or survivalism. Does the same Christ who said we should look to the birds and the lilies and trust our heavenly Father to provide for our futures, and that we are to lay up treasures in heaven and not on earth, really want us to stockpile gold bullion and store up years of freeze-dried food in a bomb shelter? Does that really sound like what Jesus would call us to do?
Our own retirement accounts—which are quite small by American standards but large by nearly every other measure—contain a combination of mutual funds, precious metals, and other investments. I don’t believe these are inherently wrong. But they can become dangerous. When we amass wealth to protect ourselves against imminent doom, where is our faith? Yes, extremely difficult times may be ahead. (With much of the world already experiencing such things, why would we think it couldn’t happen to us?) Prudent foresight can be wise. Realism and good planning should characterize God’s children. Panic and hoarding should not.
I remember the reactions of people during past shortages of gasoline, sugar, and other supplies. One man, storing drums of gasoline in his garage, said, “I have to get as much as I can before the hoarders get it!” If economic catastrophe does come, will it be a time that draws Christians together to share every resource we have, or will it drive us apart to hide in our own basements or mountain retreats, guarding at gunpoint our private stores from others? If we faithfully use our assets for his kingdom now, rather than hoarding them, can’t we trust our faithful God to provide for us then?
Here’s what James says to the wealthy stockpilers in the church of his day:
Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming upon you. Your wealth has rotted; . . . your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and eat your flesh like fire. You have hoarded wealth in the last days. . . . You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. (James 5:1-5)
James doesn’t suggest that these people could avoid future tribulation by hoarding their wealth. On the contrary, it was their hoarding and self-indulgence that assured them of God’s coming judgment. Far from being the solution, hoarding is part of the problem!
The book of Exodus contains a graphic lesson against hoarding. When God provided manna from heaven to meet the needs of his people, he told them they’d have just enough for each day. They shouldn’t try to store it up. But Israel had its hoarders. They determined to save up in case God didn’t come through. But God made the stored manna foul, filling it with worms (Exodus 16:16-20). Their savings may have seemed to reflect good planning; but they were stockpiling, and God would not bless it.
God will provide for his obedient, responsible, and wise children who seek first his kingdom (Matthew 6:33). Any savings, retirement, insurance, or survival plan that diverts our attention from God also undermines our dependence on him.
Distinguishing Saving from Hoarding
Saving is a means of not presuming upon God. Hoarding is a means of replacing God. Saving can avoid presuming upon others to assume responsibility for our future needs. Hoarding is a self-absorbed commitment to independence from others who could help us if we’re in need, just as we can and should help others.
Here’s another lesson we can learn from the ants: The more hostile the climate, the larger the anthill, because more storage space in needed. The milder the climate, the smaller the anthill. Why? Because ants only store for the coming winter, not for a decade of winters.
When I save, I lay something aside for future need. If I sense God’s leading, I will give it away to meet greater needs. When I hoard, I’m unwilling to part with what I’ve saved to meet others’ needs, because my possible future needs outweigh their actual present needs. Hence, I fail to love my neighbor as myself.
The difference between saving and hoarding isn’t simply the amount but the attitude. Nonetheless, there’s a vast difference between saving five hundred dollars or a few thousand dollars for a “rainy day” and saving a quarter of a million dollars that could last a rainy decade. Some lay up enough to survive a stormy century! In seeking to provide for our future needs, we should not neglect those who are currently needy. Our plenty will supply what they need (2 Corinthians 8:14).
“God pours out his choicest blessings on those who are anxious that nothing shall stick to their hands. Individuals who value the rainy day above the present agony of the world will get no blessing from God.”158
Most people must pay Social Security taxes and thereby save for retirement. Many have pensions and retirement plans through their employer. Financial counselors speak of the three-legged stool of retirement—Social Security, employee retirement programs, and individual savings (often through Individual Retirement Accounts and other investments).
We must ask the same question about our retirement savings as all savings. Is this reasonable planning, exercising foresight as Proverbs commends? Or is it an alternative to trusting God, a backup in case God doesn’t come through? How is maintaining a generous retirement plan fundamentally different from the rich fool storing up for his later years to live out his life in comfort and security? We know what Jesus thought of that man’s retirement plans (Luke 12:16-21). Why should we assume he thinks differently about ours? We should study this passage and compare our attitudes, behavior (including giving), and plans for the future to that man’s, and ask how different we are from him. If there’s no difference, obviously we need to change something.
How much is reasonable to save for retirement? At what point does responsible saving cross the line and become greedy hoarding? What would happen if I took part, most, or all of the funds I would otherwise put into retirement and invested them in God’s kingdom? Financial counselors would tell me that I would be “jeopardizing my retirement years.” Might God say I would be “enhancing my eternal years”? If I waste the money, spend it, or am just a poor planner, that’s one thing. But will God really fail me if I invest these funds in his kingdom in an honest effort to obey his words in Matthew 6:19-21 and many other passages?
I agree with Larry Burkett’s assessment of the saving-for-retirement obsession:
Retirement planning so dominates the thinking of Christians who have sizable incomes that they overkill in this area enormously. The fear of doing without in the future causes many Christians to rob God’s work of the very funds he has provided. These monies are tucked away in retirement accounts for twenty to forty years. God’s Word does not prohibit but rather encourages saving for the future, including retire- ment (Proverbs 6:6-11; 21:20), but the example of the rich fool, given by the Lord in Luke 12:16-20, should be a clear direction that God’s balance is “when in doubt—give; don’t hoard.”159
We are to love our neighbors as ourselves. If we or our children were hungry, would we take something out of our retirement program to feed them? If so, why wouldn’t we consider doing this for our neighbor’s children? Are we truly obeying the command to love our neighbor as ourselves if we’re storing up money for potential future needs when our neighbor is laboring today under actual present needs?
I realize this is a troubling and threatening question. Believe me, it bothers me to ask it. Although my retirement savings account may be small by American standards, it’s still enough to keep many people alive and reach many people with the gospel. Nanci and I decided a while back to take out some retirement funds and give them to God’s kingdom. But we still have a significant amount left. Some day we may give more of it away, or none of it, or all of it. I don’t know. But I do know we must ask God, because it belongs to him, not us.
I know missionaries who so believed in their work training young believers in Europe that they cashed out their retirement funds and gave them all to the ministry. Many Christians would shake their heads and say, “How foolish.” But if God commended the widow for giving away her last two pennies, wouldn’t he commend these missionaries who—even without retirement savings—have many more financial resources than the widow could have dreamed of? Isn’t their action consistent with Christ’s promise that if we “seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness . . . all these things shall be added to you”? (Matthew 6:33, NKJV) Were these missionaries fools—or are we?
The rich fool never had the opportunity to use the money and possessions he stockpiled for himself. Will our own excess funds hoarded for the future one day become as filled with worms as Israel’s hoarded manna? We don’t know whether Christ will return in our lifetime. But he certainly will return in the lifetime of some Christians. We also know this: All money stored in retirement funds, savings, insurance policies, houses, real estate, and personal possessions will become eternally useless the moment Christ returns. If the countless billions of dollars now invested in earthly accounts were freed up and poured into helping the needy and fulfilling the great commission, what eternal impact might result?
Five minutes after we die, we’ll know exactly how much we should have given rather than kept. But then it will be too late. Why not spend the rest of our lives closing the gap between what we’ll know we should have given then and what we are giving now?
Can Any Resource Remain “Untouchable”?
The goal of much retirement planning is to provide a regular monthly interest income sufficient to meet all our needs without ever touching the principal that generates the interest. This way it’s impossible to outlive our money.
I met with a man who inherited a million dollars and wanted to invest it in God’s kingdom. A Christian financial counselor told him, “Whatever you do, just give away the interest earnings, but never the principal. Remember, the principal is always untouchable.”
I told him I couldn’t know exactly how God would lead him, but I was certain about one thing: He dare not tell God that the principal was untouchable. Who are we to declare any resource off-limits to the One who provided it and owns it? The principal is God’s as much as the interest. Furthermore, he knows how to make an eternal impact with the principal as well as the interest. And he also knows how to take care of our needs without a million dollars in the bank!
If we have a large amount of money, God may desire for us to give it away all at once. Or perhaps he will lead us to give more gradually from the principal, so it steadily decreases over the years. But when it comes to money above and beyond our needs—and especially when it’s more than we would reasonably need in the future—the assumption should surely be that we ought to give it now rather than later. The window of opportunity to give may close in ten years, six months, or next week.
How Much Is Enough?
Using that three-legged stool as a symbol of retirement planning, I don’t feel right asking God to hold up the stool if I haven’t made an effort to put on a leg or two. Yet I also don’t feel right taking everything into my own hands, leaving no material needs for God to provide and no need for me to trust him or pray for his provision in the future. How can we meaningfully pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” when we own the bakery?
Many financial counselors would tell me I’m not laying up nearly enough for retirement. But when I read Scripture, I wonder if I’m laying up too much. I live in this tension and I suppose it will never be resolved. But I also know that whatever posture I take with financial planning, I must leave room—a great deal of room—for God. It’s him, not a retirement fund, in whom I should trust.
The rich fool took matters into his own hands. He planned for his retirement but not his walk with God. He never consulted with the Creator of the universe as to what he should do with his money for the rest of his life. I don’t want to be a poor fool by not planning for the future. But I also don’t want to be a rich fool by overplanning for it. Above all, I want to make plans for the right future, the eternal one. I want to ask how each investment will be paying off not just thirty years from now, but thirty million years from now.
Many of us have accumulated not only financial reserves, but also valuable possessions. At any time, not only our savings but also our other material assets should be considered fair game for divine distribution. We should be especially quick to evaluate luxury items. Antiques, art, coins, and other collections may be of great (but only temporary) financial worth. They could be used for strategic purpose in the kingdom of God—but not when they’re lying in a safe, behind a locked display, or hanging on a wall.
Is God calling us to liquidate some of these items and invest them in his kingdom? Are we willing to seek his will in diligent prayer and biblical meditation? If anything we have is off-limits to God, if it’s not fair game for prayerful dialogue, then let’s be honest about it—we aren’t stewards, we’re embezzlers. We aren’t serving God, we’re playing God. If we consider “our” retirement funds off-limits to God, we’re acting as owners, not stewards. When we ask God’s direction for our lives, we need to lay everything on the table.
Charles Spurgeon writes:
Christians often look to man for help and counsel, and mar the noble simplicity of their reliance upon their God. . . . If you cannot trust God for temporals, how dare you trust Him for spirituals? Can you trust Him for your soul’s redemption, and not rely upon Him for a few lesser mercies? Is not God enough for thy need, or is His all-sufficiency too narrow for thy wants? . . . Is His heart faint? Is His arm weary? If so, seek another God; but if He be infinite, omnipotent, faithful, true, and all-wise, why gaddest thou abroad so much to seek another confidence? Why dost thou rake the earth to find another foundation, when this is strong enough to bear all the weight which thou canst ever build thereon? . . . Let the sandy foundations of terrestrial trust be the choice of fools, but do thou, like one who foresees the storm, build for thyself an abiding place upon the Rock of Ages.160
Is saving large amounts of money for retirement as essential as we’re constantly told? Reading 2 Corinthians 8:3-15, can you pick up a hint about the need or the wisdom of saving up money for retirement? The Macedonian Christians had virtually no material things, yet they gave beyond their means to the point of leaving themselves impoverished. If they didn’t need to think of tomorrow, why do we—with all our material wealth—need to be so concerned about storing up earthly treasures for thirty years from now?
We may legitimately use retirement programs for a good purpose, but are they not just one more tool the Provider can use for his own good purposes? God—not our IRA or 401(k)—is the source of our future well-being. The truth is, we really don’t need retirement programs. I’m not saying we can’t use them or shouldn’t have them—but, as God’s children, we don’t need them. Our brothers and sisters in other ages didn’t have retirement programs, and neither do most Christians today in other places. Yet they’ve found God absolutely sufficient to meet their needs.
How much retirement savings is really enough? Once again, we must consider the available alternatives to invest in eternity. It’s not an overstatement to say that if even one-fourth of the funds tied up today in the retirement programs of all Christians were made available to churches and Christian ministries, world missions could be propelled forward in unprecedented ways. This isn’t just because of the value of the money, but because along with the giving of such treasure would go the giving of hearts and the corresponding prayer and commitment that God could use to reach the world.
Society in general (and financial advisors in particular) appeals constantly to our fears and insecurities. One wealthy widow told me of several friends whose husbands also have died who are sitting on large fortunes. She said, “Whenever we discuss whether we should give more, before you know it we get into the ‘bag lady syndrome’—talking as if unless we have millions stashed away, we’re going to end up out on the streets.” Ironically, giving isn’t a cause for insecurity but a cure for it, because it turns our hearts toward the only One worthy of complete trust, and it fulfills the conditions of seeking first his kingdom so that we can depend on him to provide for us materially as well (Matthew 6:33).
How much is too much? I can’t answer the question for you. I have a hard enough time trying to figure it out for myself. But I do know that each of us should ask ourselves the question. We should also shut out the distracting noises of the world, tune our ear to God’s Word, and quietly listen for his answer. And we should listen to the voices that bring a balance of biblical principles, not to those who blindly follow the lead of popular culture rather than taking a serious look at what the Bible teaches.
Retirement from What and for What?
Where did we get our concepts about retirement? What do we read in Scripture about saving up for retirement? Try doing a Bible study on the subject—I guarantee you, it won’t take long! How many people in other places and times in history have been able to even consider the option of retirement or of saving up money to last twenty-plus years? Typically, we see financial planning from a cultural perspective, not a biblical one.
When it comes to the “retirement dream,” we must ask, “Whose dream is it?” It may be the American dream—but is it God’s? For some people, retirement has replaced the return of Christ as the “blessed hope,” the major future event that we anticipate.
When a man retires at sixty-five, studies show his chances of having a fatal heart attack immediately double. Our minds and bodies weren’t made for an arbitrary day of shutdown. Nowhere in Scripture do we see God calling healthy people to stop working. Of course, it’s perfectly legitimate to work without pay. It’s your option to give labor to ministry and volunteer work rather than to your present job. But as long as God has us in this world, he has work for us to do. The hours may be shorter, the work different, the pay lower or nonexistent. But he doesn’t want us to take still-productive minds and bodies and permanently lay them on a beach, lose them on a golf course, or lock them in a dark living room watching game shows.
If you’ve saved for retirement and no longer need to work for pay, then work for God, the church, the poor, or underprivileged children. And don’t forget the great opportunity you have to become a self-supported missionary for two or five or ten or twenty years. If you’re still here, God isn’t done with you. In fact, your most fruitful years of ministry may be ahead. That’s true whether you’re in a retirement home or anywhere else. God has a unique ministry for you here and now. Don’t kill time, any more than you would burn money. Instead, invest it in eternity.
Christian Foundations: Saving, Investing, and Giving
Never has there been so much wealth in the hands of Christians. And never have there been so many Christian foundations.161 Foundations are nonprofit organizations that make grants to charitable organizations and ministries, including schools and the arts. Foundations are professional grant makers. They have their own capital or assets, enhanced by earned interest and sometimes supplemented by gifts. One major foundation advisor says, “Small donors are the engine that runs God’s kingdom. They provide the bulk of the support, but rarely more than $1,000 per person per year. They provide the prayer support. They provide the encouragement to the individuals within the organization. And they provide financial stability to an organization.”162
Christian foundations maintain a certain amount of interest-generating capital, which is given away, often annually. Usually, the principal is kept intact. Sometimes foundations give away the legal minimum of 5 percent annually, meaning that their principal grows each year rather than diminishes. Hence, the foundation’s assets often get bigger each year. (Or when the stock market declines they can significantly shrink.) Individuals, families, or corporations can set up foundations. Often, they are directed by paid professionals who decide how much to give, who should receive it, and how it should be distributed. Foundations often do what individuals can’t. They take on risky ventures outside of a ministry’s usual means of operating, ventures that may have great kingdom payoffs.
Many wealthy people who want to involve their children in the family giving see foundations as a way to do that. People used to create foundations to last forever. Lately, however, more and more people are creating foundations that will distribute the principal value of the fund within fifteen or twenty-five years of the grantor’s death. This approach ensures that the fund will be administered by people who knew the grantor and his or her wishes, and it avoids the tragically common situation in which grantors long ago set up foundations to support Christian colleges that have since become at best nominally Christian and sometimes even anti-Christian.
Some wealthy Christians, instead of creating foundations, are doing their giving directly during their lifetime. They are doing this within an estate planning process that reduces their estate as they get older and leaves behind much less than they might have.
In some cases, foundations bring to the table not only money, but also expertise. They can offer wisdom as they work with ministries that may not be accustomed to receiving large gifts or carrying out large, independently funded projects.
Christian foundations have done much good—and God certainly leads his people to different decisions. However, all who are considering setting up a foundation should ask themselves the following questions.163 They are equally pertinent to all of us—even on a smaller scale—who have savings, retirement plans, real estate, and other investments that we think or hope we will one day give to God’s kingdom.
1. How much is our self-worth tied up in our net worth? How important is the recognition and status we get from gift recipients? Is holding on to funds in a foundation a way of gaining recognition? (If so, then we are not really giving, we are purchasing power and status under the guise of giving.) If we gave everything away, would organizations stop courting us? Are we willing to live with that?
2. Does putting money into a foundation allow us control we’re unwilling to give up? Is our decision to place significant assets into a foundation an egocentric attempt at giving us the best of two worlds—being givers, yet still having wealth and power? By setting up a foundation, are we attempting to one day control our accumulated wealth from beyond the grave?
3. Why has our sovereign God entrusted today’s Christians with greater financial resources than at any time in history? Is it to possibly meet needs twenty or thirty years from now or to definitely meet needs today?
The first church in Jerusalem didn’t hold back resources as a hedge against possible future needs. Instead, they used their resources to meet present, actual needs (Acts 2:44-45; 4:34-35). If the Jerusalem church had held on to more of its assets, it might have needed less help from others later. Yet God provided the excess to meet others’ present needs, allowing others to help when the time came for future needs (2 Corinthians 8:14-15). Why should we hold on to what we don’t need when God says the reason it has been entrusted to us is for distribution to the needy? (2 Corinthians 9:11).
Does one generation have the responsibility to evangelize the world and feed the poor in the next generation? Or does each generation have the responsibility to reach and care for its own? Doesn’t the God of providence know how much is needed when? If we take much of what he has provided now and save it to meet future needs, will there be a shortfall in meeting present needs? If the world is full of lost and dying people now, is it appropriate to defer our present giving in order to possibly reach lost and dying people twenty years from now? Given the present urgency, shouldn’t we assume that God has provided today’s resources for today’s needs? And shouldn’t we trust him to provide for future needs when the time comes? John Wesley said, “He who governed the world before I was born shall take care of it likewise when I am dead. My part is to improve the present moment.”
The New Testament pattern is clear—Christians gave to meet actual, present needs as they arose. We see no example of them holding back wealth for possible future needs.
4. Doesn’t endlessly perpetuating a foundation guarantee that the bulk of the fortune will go up in smoke at Christ’s return? Wouldn’t more be accomplished for the kingdom by giving away a larger percentage of the capital now or by having a phase-out plan that culminates in giving away all the assets, not just a portion of them?
5. Some would argue that many ministries aren’t prepared to receive large amounts of money all at once. But distributions can be spread out among dozens of worthy ministries, so that none receives more than it can handle. If a foundation’s assets are exceptionally large, maybe they should be phased out over a period of years. But if the needs are real and the opportunities are current, doesn’t the weight of evidence suggest that we should distribute our assets rather than holding them? Shouldn’t we assume that giving now is the best course of action, and that postponing our giving should be the exception, not the rule?
6. If God gave us the ability to make money, why should we leave to others much of the responsibility for giving it away? Are we sure that after we die the next generation will have the same priorities we have?
Even if we completely trust our grown children—as Nanci and I certainly do—aren’t there better ways of teaching them about giving than leaving behind a large fortune for them to gradually give away after we die? When our daughters were teenagers, we delegated to them the responsibility of choosing ministries to receive funds from our book royalties (which are owned and distributed by our ministry). Once we designated $10,000 for each to give, and they made phone calls and checked information on the Internet, learning about eternal investment possibilities and drawing their hearts toward various ministries. We did it again soon after they were married. They and their husbands had the joy of giving away another $10,000 of royalties—in this case earned from a novel they wrote with me.164
But how much does it really help grown children to develop a heart for giving and missions by putting them on the foundation board so they can give away “our money” for the rest of their lives? Shouldn’t they first learn to give by watching our example of distributing money rather than holding on to it, and then by actually giving away money that God chooses to entrust to them through their own labor? (Vicarious giving only goes so far.) What better model of giving can we show our children than giving today?
7. Is it really better to give the interest on five million dollars for twenty years than to give the five million dollar principal the first year? If we hang on to the money, do we really believe that Wall Street can outperform the God who promises 10,000 percent interest on money given to him?
8. Do you really want to take upon yourself and lay upon your children the unnecessary burdens of wealth distribution, when you could easily give the money away instead?
Frederick T. Gates, who was John D. Rockefeller Sr.’s chief philanthropic advisor, said this of Rockefeller: “Neither in the privacy of his home, nor at the table, nor in the aisles of his church, nor during business hours, nor anywhere was he secure from insistent appeal. . . . He was constantly hunted, stalked, and hounded almost like a wild animal.” Although few of us have wealth like the Rockefellers, many of us know what it’s like to be pursued by others—including many fine ministries—trying to convince us to support them.
Referring to the ruined temple, God says, “These people say, ‘The time has not yet come for the Lord’s house to be built’” (Haggai 1:2). He then asks, “Is it a time for you yourselves to be living in your paneled houses, while this house remains a ruin?”
On the priority scale, are we putting God’s kingdom work first, or are we mainly just building our personal kingdom? God rebuked Israel for procrastinating about funding his work by saying “the time has not yet come.” Meanwhile they were aggressively funding their own projects, such as building and furnishing their nice, paneled houses.
They didn’t say, “We won’t rebuild the temple.” They intended to do it—eventually. But they said, “This isn’t the time.” Many Christians make similar statements. We intend eventually to give generously to God’s kingdom—later, after we take care of more pressing things. (Things centered around ourselves.)
If you’re holding on to money today with the thought that you’ll have more to give later, you’re kidding yourself. The economy may fail, you may become dependent on the money you’ve held on to, and your heart will stay on earth with your money instead of following it to heaven. Nongivers remain nongivers until the moment they give. Intending to give eventually is radically different than actually giving.
God links Israel’s financial problems to their failure to give toward doing God’s work: “Give careful thought to your ways. You have planted much, but have harvested little. You eat, but never have enough. You drink, but never have your fill. You put on clothes, but are not warm. You earn wages, only to put them in a purse with holes in it” (Haggai 1:5-6). It’s not that God always withholds material blessing from nongivers. He may provide the same amount for givers and nongivers, but for a giver it will go much further. For a nongiver, money—no matter how much—disappears, as if put in a purse with holes in it.
God says, “‘You expected much, but see, it turned out to be little. What you brought home, I blew away. Why?’ declares the Lord Almighty. ‘Because of my house, which remains a ruin, while each of you is busy with his own house’” (Haggai 1:9). We think we come out ahead by not giving. But God says exactly the opposite. He says the nongiver puts a curse on himself. God says, “Because of you the heavens have withheld their dew and the earth its crops I called for a drought on the fields and the mountains, on the grain, the new wine, the oil and whatever the ground produces, on men and cattle, and on the labor of your hands” (Haggai 1:10-11).
Postponed giving is usually postponed obedience, and postponed obedience is disobedience. Charles Spurgeon had something to say about this:
Churlish souls stint their contributions to the ministry and missionary operations, and call such saving good economy; little do they dream that they are thus impoverishing themselves. Their excuse is that they must care for their own families, and they forget that to neglect the house of God is the sure way to bring ruin upon their own houses. Our God has a method in providence by which He can succeed our endeavors beyond our expectation, or can defeat our plans to our confusion and dismay; by a turn of His hand He can steer our vessel in a profitable channel, or run it aground in poverty and bankruptcy. It is the teaching of Scripture that the Lord enriches the liberal and leaves the miserly to find out that withholding tendeth to poverty. In a very wide sphere of observation, I have noticed that the most generous Christians of my acquaintance have been always the most happy, and almost invariably the most prosperous. I have seen the liberal giver rise to wealth of which he never dreamed; and I have as often seen the mean, ungenerous churl descend to poverty by the very parsimony by which he thought to rise. Men trust good stewards with larger and larger sums, and so it frequently is with the Lord; He gives by cartloads to those who give by bushels. Where wealth is not bestowed the Lord makes the little much by the contentment which the sanctified heart feels in a portion of which the tithe has been dedicated to the Lord.165
The Nature and Implications of Insurance
Insurance is a guarantee against loss. By purchasing an insurance policy for a comparatively small price, the purchaser is assured of recovering from a large loss, should it occur. Possessions or people can be insured. Houses, cars, buildings, boats, collections, weapons, books, businesses, and almost anything else can be insured—even the hands of professional musicians or the careers of athletes. Common forms on people are medical, disability, and life insurance.
There are obvious benefits to insurance. For an affordable amount, someone can avoid considerable losses. If theft, fire, accident, disease, or death occurs, people are very happy they have insurance. If these things don’t occur, they should be happier still. They’re glad to have bought the insurance just for the peace of mind.
Laws require minimum liability insurance for automobiles. There are regulations for deeds, permits, and loans requiring fire insurance on houses. In such cases, insurance isn’t an issue. We should simply obey the law (Romans 13:1-7).
Are there any biblical principles suggesting that insurance has disadvantages? One is a loss of our perceived need to trust in God. Scripture teaches that God desires to develop our character through trial and losses. If everything—other than items of sentimental value—is restored when a house burns down or a catastrophe strikes, we’re saved much heartache. But are we also “saved” of the need to trust a sovereign God?
If my car gets hit, its replacement is guaranteed. If I get sick, the doctor and hospital will be paid. If I stay sick, my family will receive a full income. If I die, my family will be taken care of for many years. Of course, the mental and emotional loss may be substantial, but if my insurance policies are sufficient, there’s no such thing as significant material loss. The situation is airtight—so airtight, in fact, that God’s provision may appear unnecessary.
Corporation and Community Insurance
It used to be that people had to trust God to provide for the medical bills when they got sick. If they stayed sick, they and their family had to depend on God, family, and the Christian community for support materially and personally. A person who was injured and could no longer work was helped by his family, church, neighbors, and community. His “insurance” was his own participation in the community. People cared, helped, and prayed. God worked through these personal relationships to meet not only material but emotional and spiritual needs. If someone died, others came forward to help care for the family. With insurance, all that changed. But is the change for the better?
One hundred years ago, if a house burned down, neighbors and church members rallied and gave of their assets of time and money and helped to rebuild. (You’ve seen it in the movies, among the Amish, or on Little House on the Prairie, right?) But now the insurance company takes care of that. Friends, neighbors, and church members may feel bad and offer brief emotional support, but then they return to their own lives, barely affected and minimally involved with their suffering neighbors.
Today, someone who is injured is compensated by unemployment insurance, worker’s compensation insurance, or disability insurance. Because they are “taken care of,” other people don’t get involved.
To distinguish between these two sources of care, let’s call the contractual insurance issued by an insurance company “corporation insurance,” and let’s call the spontaneous provision issued by a community, whether geographical or spiritual, “community insurance.” History has demonstrated that as corporation insurance becomes prevalent, the role of community insurance is minimized and ultimately nearly eliminated. If a person has sufficient corporation insurance, there’s little or no perceived need for community insurance.
The demise of community insurance is not only a problem with corporation insurance but also with the endless number of government programs that dole out money without providing the holistic care that happens naturally in a network of established relationships. The fault lies not only with the government or with the providers of corporation insurance, but also with the members of the community, who fail to realize that they’re still needed. Insurance not only pushes people away from supporting relationships, it also steps into the void created by people turning away from relationships.
Regardless of who is at fault, a tragic erosion of community, church relationships, and commitment has occurred. The natural events of life that once drew people together no longer do so. Because everything’s taken care of, people seldom become meaningfully involved in each other’s lives.
“But can’t God work through an insurance company like he can work through a church or community?” God can work through anything. But he desires to work through people in personal ways, not simply through a huge, impersonal pool of assets that issues computer-printed checks from one part of the country to another.
I know insurance agents who are exceptionally kind, compassionate, and helpful. They might go beyond the call of duty in carrying out their jobs. But they may not be church members, and often they aren’t even neighbors of their clients. Even if they are, the money they distribute isn’t theirs; it’s the corporation’s. It has been paid (not lovingly contributed) by a million people who don’t know, or care to know, each other.
We can look at health insurance in several ways. First, when we consider the exorbitant medical costs of our society, it seems dangerous and irresponsible not to have health insurance. After all, if everyone else is paying to have health insurance, why should an extended family, church, or society be expected to pick up the tab for someone who could have bought health insurance but chose not to?
Our ministry provides health insurance, and I’m grateful for it. Even if it wasn’t provided, I’d probably choose to have it. Although I’ve been moved to this decision by the stark reality of escalating health-care costs and stories of cases that have resulted in hundreds of thousands of dollars in medical bills, I believe the situation is not ideal.
What would be ideal? A Christian community that is spontaneously self-insured. I don’t mean a situation where everyone signs contracts and pays premiums to the church, nor one where the church acts as an insurance company in a formal way. I mean a relationship in which the church takes responsibility to care for its members who are ill or disabled, just as it did in the first century and always did until recent history—when society started providing alternatives to church care.
Whether a large benevolence fund is maintained or special offerings are taken as needs arise, the church should be there to meet needs. The church, not the insurance industry, is the body of Christ. Jesus said that the gates of hell would not prevail against the Church—not insurance companies. God can provide however he wishes. But his ideal plan is to provide through his church.
Consider what would happen if the massive sums that Christians pay in insurance premiums were instead given voluntarily to churches. Much of this money could be passed on immediately to the cause of reaching the world for Christ and feeding the hungry. The rest could be accumulated, if this seemed the best way, and saved at a significant rate of interest. As needs arose, the money could be drawn upon. Perhaps the same results could be accomplished through special offerings.
Several churches could join together within a community. Apart from the potential financial advantages of such an arrangement, God’s people would be acting as God’s people—united in ministry and personally involved in the lives of the needy. God would be seen to work through them, just as he did in the early Church.
I’m told that Amish communities function in this way. I’ve heard of a few churches that operate on this basis, although I’ve never seen one firsthand. The problem for a small church would be the possibility of a massive hospital bill, but larger churches—or a community of churches working together—would have a broader base of support, thereby greatly reducing the individual risk.
Since 1993, Christian Care Ministry has had a program called Medi-Share, a self-regulated group with more than forty-five thousand members from thirteen different denominations. Members, including many health care professionals, share each other’s medical bills on a not-for-profit basis. This alternative to insurance allows many households to save thousands of dollars each year and has helped members in all fifty states pay tens of millions of dollars in medical bills. Although it cannot guarantee coverage, the group claims no eligible treatment has ever gone unpaid.166
Medi-Share is not an insurance company, but a lower cost alternative requiring a $150 annual fee plus a monthly sharing in actual member costs. (It also covers catastrophic bills up to $5 million, for expenses exceeding $50,000, through an insurance policy.) One of Medi-Share’s purposes for existing is stewardship: “Most members are able to significantly cut their annual medical expenses, leaving them with more income for giving to the Lord’s work.”167 The organization also educates and encourages healthy lifestyles, and denies coverage for morally objectionable procedures such as abortions.
Although our family is not yet part of such an arrangement, I believe there’s much to be said for this type of organization. Instead of always accepting society’s status quo, we should ask God to show us more biblical alternatives.
Life insurance is actually death insurance, because it’s payable upon the death of the insured. The major purpose of life insurance is to replace the provider’s income. If you’ve ever sat through an insurance sales presentation, you know that the agent will explain how you must have a certain amount of insurance in order for your dependents to be taken care of at your present standard of living (allowing for inflation) for another five, ten, or twenty years after your death. Typically, the agent will summarize the results on a computer printout, suggesting a huge amount of coverage requiring large insurance premiums.
But where does God fit into all this? If a man dies tomorrow, it seems reasonable in this economy to have a moderate amount of funds designated to care for many of his family’s basic needs. On the other hand, to supply them with a huge chunk of money to be appropriated over the next fifteen years until his children are grown, and another thirty years until his wife may die, seems like too much. If life insurance is appropriate, its purpose should be to provide for a family for a season, not to protect them against any and every eventuality, and certainly not to profit them by their loved one’s departure.
I’ve had distraught unemployed men tell me that due to their large life insurance policies they’re worth more to their family dead than alive. One of them seriously contemplated suicide for this exact reason. Something’s terribly wrong when a man’s most effective avenue of material provision for his family is his own death.
When I die, I don’t want the church to say, “Randy was a good provider—all his wife’s needs are taken care of.” I want them to realize that my wife does have needs and will continue to have them. Yes, I may have seen to some of her ongoing material needs through a house, some savings, some retirement funds, and a modest life insurance policy. But she’ll need the ongoing help and support and wisdom and counsel and encouragement of the church, just as my children would have when they were younger. In fact, at some point my loved ones might need material help as well. Would that be so terrible? Isn’t it okay to sometimes need help from others in Christ’s body?
Time and time again, I’ve seen Christians keep their distance from hurting brothers and sisters because they believe the insurance company, government, hospice, or some benevolence organization is taking care of them. When it comes to caring for their needy, even some of the pseudo-Christian cults put evangelicals to shame.
Life insurance agents don’t account for many things that could and probably will happen over the next five, ten, or twenty years. Not the least of these, I hope, would be my wife’s remarriage. Of course, this isn’t certain, and it might take several years. (And I’m grateful she hasn’t already picked someone out!) I believe it’s often unhealthy for a woman to bring a large amount of money into a second marriage. Although many men have failed to provide life insurance that would have been a big help to their wives, many others have provided so much that it actually works against them. (For instance, children can be hurt when they are lavished with many possessions and vacations that the family couldn’t afford when Dad was alive.)
Our children need to know that God is the One who will meet their needs. Having enough insurance to be responsible is one thing. But playing God by factoring in every conceivable future scenario, and thereby overinsuring, is another.
Is Insurance God’s Tool or a God Substitute?
The greatest danger of insurance is that it easily undermines our dependence on God. I must carefully evaluate my motives when it comes to buying insurance. Is it a God-given means of provision? Or is it an end-run that makes trust obsolete and God unnecessary? The more prone I am to trust in insurance, the more likely it is that I should have less, not more.
The kings of Israel paid tribute to foreign powers, the kings of Egypt and Syria. Isaiah condemned them for trusting in worldly powers rather than God (Isaiah 30:1-2). Is dependence upon the worldly power of insurance corporations an act of independence from the God who promises to provide for those who trust him? Is collective insurance a financial equivalent to the Tower of Babel? Is it a God-substitute? Are we using insurance, savings, and our retirement plan as a horizontal means to gain our family’s financial security without having to look vertically to God? Is it a way to hedge our bets in case God doesn’t come through? Is insurance a means by which faith becomes obsolete and God unnecessary? If our financial bases are covered, do we really have to depend on God?
Here’s the bottom line question: Is insurance a legitimate tool of God or an illegitimate substitute for him? Is it a provision or an idol? These questions can only be answered in our hearts, but we need to ask them.
Would Jesus have bought an insurance policy if one had been available? (As it was, when Jesus died, he entrusted his mother to the care of the apostle John.) How about the apostles? If not, why not? If so, what kind and how much? Because no parallels to the kinds of insurance policies we buy today are mentioned in Scripture, it’s impossible to prove that insurance is right or wrong. Some would consider insurance as a legitimate way of providing for their family. Others see it as a lack of dependence on God. The sin of presumption could be committed in either case.
Our own choice has been to use insurance sparingly. Naturally, we buy insurance when it’s legally required. When we owned cars (the ministry owns them now), we didn’t carry collision insurance, because it cost more than the cars were worth. Before it became part of our compensation package, we chose high-deductible, low-cost health insurance. We’ve never had disability or mortgage insurance. Our ministry provides a life insurance policy. (Normally, with a few exceptions, term insurance makes more financial sense than whole life.)
In short, we do have insurance—more than some, less than others. We want to be responsible, yet leave plenty of room for God. We also want to be able to use the money for God’s kingdom that would otherwise go to pay additional premiums.
I’m not trying to set a standard for others to follow. Everyone must measure his or her own situation and convictions. Nanci and I have no debt, and our children are now grown and married. Our parents are either deceased or financially independent. There are many factors to consider when making an insurance decision. Sometimes I think we should have a little more insurance; other times I think we should have less. This tension is healthy. As we continue to grow in Christ, we continue to evaluate. But we are determined to follow his lead as best we can discern it.
Why Worry?
“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things [what you eat, drink, and wear] will be given to you as well” (Matthew 6:33). Unlike the pagans who “run after all these things” and “worry about tomorrow,” believers are told to follow Christ, live a radical life of faith, and trust God to provide (Matthew 6:25-34). In this passage, Jesus says that God cares for the birds. Yet birds aren’t created in God’s image. Christ didn’t die for birds. The Holy Spirit doesn’t indwell birds. Birds won’t reign with Christ. But we will! So Christ asks his disciples, “Are you not much more valuable than they?” (Matthew 6:26). If he takes care of the less valuable creatures, will he not take care of us, who are far more valuable?
Of course, the birds provide for their immediate future through labor—building nests and obtaining food for their young. But they don’t maintain one nest in the mountains and another at the beach. Neither do they fill their cellars with freeze-dried worms. Birds do the work that God created them to do; they sing when they work, they don’t hoard, and they instinctively trust their Creator to take care of them. Should we who know God’s grace do any less?
Contrast this with a life-insurance pitch that preys upon the anxieties that Jesus told us we’re not to have. (Not all insurance agents take this approach—many are honest and not manipulative). Jesus says, “Accept my sovereignty and goodness, and you won’t have to worry about tomorrow. Trust me.” The agent says, “Buy our policy and you won’t have to worry about tomorrow. Trust me.” We must ask whether God offers adequate coverage. And does he have the resources to back up the offer?
All of us trust in something. The more dependable the object of our trust, the less we need to worry. The stock market isn’t God, The Wall Street Journal isn’t the Bible, your asset manager isn’t your priest, and financial experts aren’t prophets. (Prophets were put to death when their prophecies didn’t come true!) That doesn’t mean the stock market is bad, but it does mean it’s not trustworthy. It may do well for a day, a month, a year, or even a few decades. But because the stock market is uncertain, it can only produce anxiety when it becomes the object of our trust. God is the only totally trustworthy object. Therefore, he’s the only one who cannot betray our trust.
Why is this truth so hard for us to accept? If we believe that God can create us, redeem us, and bring us through death to spend eternity with him, why can’t we take him at his word when he says he’ll provide for our material needs?
If God calls on you today to share your resources with another, you must not say, “I can’t, Lord, because I don’t know where my own provisions are coming from.” Yes, you do know where they’re coming from. They’re coming from God. You may not know the form this provision will take, but you do know the Source. Like the poor widow who had no cash reserves, you know that God will take care of you, even if there are no visible resources.
If God has control of everything, and God takes care of his children, and God gives everything necessary to those who walk with him; and if you are his child, and you are walking with him—why worry? Worrying never helps anything anyway—but has hurt plenty.
The Bottom Line: Dependence
In each of the matters dealt with in this chapter—saving, retirement, and insurance—the issues are the same. Do these instruments reduce or increase our sense of dependence on God? Do they reduce or increase our flexibility and openness to God’s direction? Considering what money spent on these things would do if invested in God’s kingdom now, is this money being well utilized?
If we don’t have savings or retirement funds or insurance, is it because we’re consciously trusting God and giving substantially to meet others’ needs? Or is it because we’re lazy, undisciplined, and irresponsible? God honors the sacrificial pilgrim of faith, but he does not honor the lazy fool. God wouldn’t have been pleased with the rich fool for squandering his money rather than hoarding it. Either way he would’ve failed to invest his assets in God’s kingdom. There’s sometimes a fine line between faith and foolishness.
Remember the missionary family who took their retirement savings and poured everything back into the mission? I suggest that God looks very differently at these people than at the Christian who spends his money on short-term indulgences with no thought of saving for upcoming needs or providing for his family’s future. Both may have nothing at a given stage in life, but God’s voluntary obligation to the one is much different than to the other. To those who seek first his kingdom and sacrificially give of their assets to his kingdom, he promises to provide materially (Matthew 6:32-33; Philippians 4:19).
No matter how much it clashes with the prevailing opinion, we can’t afford to dismiss William MacDonald’s exhortation:
Reserves are crutches and props which become a substitute for trust in the Lord. We can’t trust when we can see. Once we decide to provide for our future, we run into these problems. How much will be enough? How long will we live? Will there be a depression? Will there be inflation? Will we have heavy medical bills?
It is impossible to know how much will be enough. Therefore we spend our lives amassing wealth to provide for a few short years of retirement. In the meantime, God has been robbed and our own life has been spent in seeking security where it cannot be found.
How much better it is to work diligently for our current necessities, serve the Lord to the maximum extent, put everything above present needs into the work of the Lord, and trust him for the future.168
We may choose to have savings accounts, retirement funds, and insurance policies. But if we do, let’s be careful to have only enough to avoid presuming on God but never enough to avoid trusting him.