Making provision for the future – part 1
My birthday is in a few days time. It’s not one with a big juicy “0” on the end, though I have had the pleasure of attending a few decadal celebrations this past year – most of them beginning with 5, 6, or 8.
I mention my birthday not in order to draw attention to it, but rather just to highlight that in a mild bout of trivia-titis, I came to the fascinating realization that if you could anagrammaticize numbers (that is, reverse their order), this coming birthday of mine would be the official retirement age in New Zealand. How ‘bout that?
Time is moving on (okay – that’s just stating the obvious). I’m inching ever so closer to my Gold Card. Free public transport, here I come!
Which has caused me to reflect again on questions surrounding what to do to plan for the future – particularly in the economic sense.
You see, I think we’d all agree that providing for our current needs is clearly important. But what does the Bible say about making provision for future needs? Another way of putting this is: how appropriate are matters such as savings, investments, retirement, and insurance, for those of us who are seeking to follow Jesus?
Now we all know what conventional wisdom says: take full responsibility for your future; save, save, and then save some more; ensure you have enough to last you at least twenty good summers; don’t be caught short – otherwise you’ll regret it if you are unable to maintain your standard of living. And make sure you’ve got plenty of insurance – life, house and contents, health, income-protection, to cover any unforseen disaster.
But if I’m to be both a responsible steward of God’s resources and trust God that he will provide what I need – both at the same time, what might that look like? Will it look any different to the conventional wisdom?
A few years ago I did some thinking about this – partly in response to conversations with various friends. So I dragged my penned thoughts out, dusted them off, and decided I would share them with you. I’m no trained economist, theologian, or financial advisor, but nevertheless I hope you find my thoughts helpful for your own ruminating.
So, here’s where this is heading: I hope to post several pieces over the next little while around these issues. To begin with, here is a kind of Readers’ Digest attempt at summarising how the Bible appears to treat these matters (always an exercise fraught with challenges).
An ever-so-brief survey of the Bible
The creation mandate of Genesis 1 provides the basis for taking seriously our role as stewards of the material world. God’s instructions to Adam and Eve in Genesis 1:28 assume a long view of the work of humans, in partnership with God. “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth and subdue it…” The clear implication is that this is not just a task for the next few days, nor even just a lifelong goal for Adam and Eve, but rather, a multi-generational role, requiring a great deal of longterm planning and thinking.
One of the earliest examples in the Bible of savings, is the storage of grain in Egypt under Joseph’s leadership, found in Genesis 41. Joseph took seriously the stewarding of food resources in Egypt over the good years of harvest, in order to provide for famine. Multiple storehouses in centrally located “storage cities” were built to hold the grain, with Joseph instructing the Egyptians to save 20% of the harvest each year. This is what enabled Egypt to have provisions on hand for the seven years of famine they experienced under his leadership.
Once settled in the Promised Land, the people of Israel were instructed to divide up the countryside so that each tribe and family group received a parcel of land to be responsible for (the exception being the Levites, who were to be economically supported through one of the tithes). The intention of the Jewish Law was for this land to be held and worked, in perpetuity. In our language we might say (a little crassly) that everyone was given shares in Israel Inc. so that they could sustain themselves economically through the dividends produced by working the land. These shares were to be handed down through the generations, like a kind of extended family business. Only in the most extreme of circumstances were these income-producing shares to be cashed up, and even then there was a buy-back clause within several years on unbelievably generous terms. Within the structure there was plenty of incentive for people to benefit by improving production on the land, which was the primary asset of the business, and thus increase their dividends.
So the structure of the Law was intended to help Israel take a long view – it was a commitment to generational stewardship. The people were encouraged to plan ahead so that they could provide for themselves over the long haul (no need for Kiwisaver here!) and so they could leave a legacy for their children and children’s children. At least that was the intention. The reality was that, just like in our economic system today, some took advantage of others. Which is one reason the Prophets railed against the powerful elite who emerged in Jewish society.
A further provision of the Law reinforced this provisioning for the future. One of the tithes involved putting aside a portion of harvest for the regular celebrations that were a feature of the Jewish year.
Unsurprisingly, the Wisdom literature – particularly Proverbs – has several exhortations to plan ahead and save. For example: “Go to the ant, you lazybones; consider its ways, and be wise. Without having any chief or officer or ruler, it prepares its foods in summer, and gathers its sustenance in harvest.”[1] And in Proverbs 13 a planned approach to the future is commended again, first in verse 11: “Wealth hastily gotten will dwindle, but those who gather little by little will increase it.” And again in verse 22: “The good leave an inheritance to their children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is laid up for the righteous.” Proverbs 21:20 also contrasts the wise person with the fool by noting that: “Precious treasure remains in the house of the wise, but the fool devours it.” Balancing these messages of proactive planning for the future, are also plenty of warnings about the accumulation of wealth. The words of Deuteronomy 8: 12-17 seem particularly pertinent:
“For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful! Do not become proud at that time and forget the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’”
The New Testament
So what about the New Testament? In the Gospels, the most obvious and well known case of savings and investment is Jesus’ parable of the talents.[2] However, because the main point of this parable is not primarily about financial investment we must be careful not to assume too much. Being a parable, Jesus is using an everyday experience his audience could relate to, to make a point about discipleship and the kingdom of God, not primarily to recommend investing! Nevertheless, stewarding our economic resources is as important as any other form of trusteeship.
On the other side of the equation, the temptation to hoard is condemned by Jesus in his parable of the rich fool, recounted by Luke.[3] This parable raises some important questions, such as “What should we do with surplus resources?” and “When does responsible planning for future needs morph into hoarding, greed and lack trust in God’s provision?”
Make no mistake, this is a story about greed. The rich man is not condemned for having surplus resources, per se. It’s what he does with them and the effect having these resources has on his attitude. As Craig Evans notes, “The man is implicitly selfish. He does not see this abundance as an opportunity to help those needing food. Rather he hoards his plenty and then relaxes under the assumption that his troubles are over.”[4] He assumes that the bumper crop, the surplus, is there just for his own pleasure.
The irony of this parable is that having secured himself for life, the rich fool didn’t count on his life being so short. Stored wealth is no guarantee of a life of ease and pleasure. Fortunes can be wiped out by failed enterprises, stock market crashes, natural disasters and fraudulent investment agencies. And of course, unexpected death can render such security instantly useless. No wonder Jesus counsels his hearers in Matthew 6 to instead “store up treasure in heaven”.
Talking of Matthew 6, what should we make of Jesus’ counsel not to worry about tomorrow, or about what we eat or wear? He’s certainly not saying that these things are unimportant, nor that we shouldn’t plan for the future. On the contrary, it’s an invitation to trust God – rather than be consumed by anxiety and fear. His point is summed up in the statement, “Instead, make your top priority God’s kingdom and his way of life, and all these things will be given to you as well.”[5] It’s about getting our priorities right – trusting God that he knows our needs and will provide for our future.
So?…
In spite of the inherent warnings throughout Scripture regarding wealth, planning ahead and saving for future needs is encouraged. However, lots of questions still remain, such as, what are fair and reasonable savings? When does enough become too much? How do we know when to give away and when to save? And how do we ensure our ultimate trust in God for our future is not compromised?
Unfortunately the Bible doesn’t appear to directly answer these. Even in our own discipleship journeys these kinds of issues are difficult to grapple with because one person’s circumstances can differ so much from another. However, this should cause us to pray and seek God’s wisdom with added fervour, so we can become more responsible, faith-filled, and trusting in our followership. It’s also a real opportunity to invite those closest to us to help us find our way. In fact, I’d like to encourage you to chat openly about these matters with the people you are seeking to do life with.
In my next piece I hope to tackle some questions around savings and investments. For example. what might make an investment “ethical”? Is it even legitimate to earn interest? Is it right to take financial risks? And what is the difference between investment and speculation?
I’d also love to hear from you with any questions you are pondering or comments you might have. Until next time…
[1] Proverbs 6:6-8. The savings habit of the ant is reiterated in Proverbs 30:25.
[2] Matthew 25:14-30 and Luke 19:11-27.
[3] Luke 12:16-21.
[4] Craig Evans, Luke (NIBC) (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 1990), 196.
[5] Matthew 6:33 (The Kingdom New Testament).
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