Storing Up Treasures

[carolejw]

We visited a church Sunday before last and the Pastor preached that it was wrong to have a savings account or to have a retirement account to save for your later years. Bro. Ben, would you please comment on this.
Thank you, Sister Carole

[Brother Ben]

Mat 6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.

I beleive it is a heart issue. If your faith is ONLY in your 401k plan, then you need to do some introspection. However, if you love the Lord with all your heart, and you serve Him, and give when He tells you to, I don't think it is a sin to put some finances away for your senior years.

I think godly strong families should be the "401k" program for the "saved," but some people don't have children, or their children don't love the Lord and are not going to support their elderly parents in their declining years.

The Lord is faithful and CAN BE DEPENDED ON, but again, it is up to the individual.

Ben

[Brother Randy]

I would like to add just a little to Brother Ben's thoughts. I believe also that it is not wrong to put some way for lean times. But we do need to be care that that is not what we are put our trust in, because it is of man and it will surely fail. I believe if the Lord has blessed us , money wise, and we see a fellow brother or sister in need it is wrong not to help them in what ever way we can. This is a Bible principle that is not very common in most churches.

In this day and age when insurances are the rule. Far to many people put their trust in them instead of the Lord providing. Please don't take me wrong I am not faulting anyone that has insurance. For me personally I only carry what the law requires me to. Many times my wife has asked me to consider buying life insurance for her and Hannah encase something happens to me. And my answer has always been , If something does God will provide. I think the money or time we spend on other God will more then repay some day.

Just my thoughts for what they are worth.

Bro Randy

[bereanman]

If I may...

We must be careful when dealing with issues of faith. For example, one could easily say "Well, I've just been told I have early cancer, but I won't seek treatment because God will heal me." Now, there is nothing wrong with a healthy faith that God can heal, but there is the fact that God gave us medical science and many treatments that can slow down or even stop that dreaded disiease.

We must be careful not to tempt God. After all, He did give us a mind and common sense. He gives us a wonderful example in Genesis when Joseph was #2 to Pharoah in Egypt:

Gen 41:35,36 And let them gather all the food of those good years that come, and lay up corn under the hand of Pharaoh, and let them keep food in the cities.
And that food shall be for store to the land against the seven years of famine, which shall be in the land of Egypt; that the land perish not through the famine.

Here, they laid their food in a "savings account" in order to have during the bad times, the famine.

It would be easy for one to say "I'm not going to wear my seatbelt today because God will protect me." Now we know that God will protect us according to His will, and I don't think anyone places more faith in their seatbelt than they do in God, but the fact is that seatbelt is there to help and it has been proven to do so. The same principle applies for the child of God, one with a right relationship with the Lord will not place more faith in a savings account than Him, but will know that it is there to help and it has been proven to do so.

Lev 25:22 And ye shall sow the eighth year, and eat yet of old fruit until the ninth year; until her fruits come in ye shall eat of the old store.

Here we see the commandment to "save" for that year when they were to let the land rest. One could have said "I won't save because God will feed me" but this clearly goes against common sense and reasoning.

God certainly does not want us to place out faith in any material things instead of Him, but He shows us that it is important to plan ahead and invest in the future (on earth) as a basic principle of living. These are simply the means to being able to do more for God, for example, having some money in a savings account that can be given to a special need of a missionary if directed to by God.

Again, there must always be that awareness that our real treasure is in heaven and we must never hesitate to give all that we have in this present life if called upon to do so. The Bible says that it is the love of money that is the root of all evil, not the having of it in abundance.

I believe the Scriptures teach us that being a good steward of what we have is more important than how much we have.

Just my two cents!

Br. Tony

[carolejw]

Thanks for your replies.I wanted to seek wise counsel. It confirms what I believe, and you put it into words better than I could.