I know that I have been talking a lot lately about money, and my struggle with whether it is a blessing or not. I don't want to overdue it, but I do want to put down a couple of thoughts here, and then I will be done with it for a while.
I am really having a hard time seeing wealth (at least the wealth that we in Canada/the Western world have) as being a blessing given to us from God. It has come at the expense of all of the rest of the world, and is brought to us on the back of oppression. How can God be part of this? I recognize that wealth does bring blessings - such as the blessing of using it for good and giving it to those who need it. But there is so much curse that it brings that it really outweighs those blessings in my mind.
In my travels, I have come across people living in abject poverty. I have been to the poorest county in the western hemisphere - Bolivia, and spent time with the poorest of the poor there. What I have learned is not the typical, "Wow, I am so thankful that for what I have. I am so much better off than they are and I need to be greatful for it." Instead, what has been impressed upon me is, "Wow, I don't really have all that I think I have. They have more life, more joy, more peace, more confidence, more community, more of true life than I have ever experienced. I don't need to give them a whole lot - I need to receive from them what they have." And it is partly due to their poverty that they know more of true life than I do.
I want to challenge you to do something. It won't take that long (or maybe it will). I have been reflecting on several Scripture passages, and I want you to read them one after the other, and simply allow the Holy Spirit to speak to you through them. Read them asking the question, "What is the lesson Jesus is teaching me?"
Here they are:
Matthew 6:19-24
Matthew 25:31-46
Mark 12:41-44
Luke 12:13-21
Luke 18:18-25
Here is one final thought that reflecting on these passages has brought to my mind. What do these teachings of Jesus have to say about saving for retirement? I know that this flies in the face of our society, but what if saving for retirement is "storing up treasure on earth" and all that? Doesn't this kind of saving sound an aweful lot like the man in Jesus' story who built barns to store all his bounty and then was called a fool by God? We don't know how long we will live, so why are we planning for it? I know that it is called "smart planning" to do this (save for the future), but why does God call it foolishness then? What if works to eat away at faith and trust? For most of the world, saving for retirement isn't even part of their vocabulary - their family takes care of them when they can't. Do I need to move away from planning for my retirement and instead focus on what God wants now, and leave all of my future, and my family's (including how we will eat, etc.) to God? What would that look like?
I know that it seems foolishness to not plan for our provisions in the future, and it is a disrespect to our family and those that "count on us". But, is it really? I don't know. This is something that I have really been wrestling with.
And if God wants me to put all of my future, including retirement, in his hands, what does he want me to do with the pension that I have saved up?
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1 comment:
I love it that you know you're rich and that you are wrestling with these issues. I often wrestle with the same things.
However, not the retirement savings. Several of my aunts and uncles have been missionaries in the past and my parents (obviously) are missionaries now. The one regret my older aunts and uncles have is that they did not plan for their retirement. And one thing I respect about my dad is that even though he has never made over 2000 a month, he is an excellent financial planner and he is able to be frugal, generous, and wise. It's just been hard to watch some of my older relatives who no longer have the strength to do regular work weeks, have to endure just so that they can get a big enough pension just to survive.
And really, this goes back to the fact that we live in an individualist society. In other cultures the children and the community would take care of your survival after you can't work, but in N.A. society, it seems you need to plan for it yourself.
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