Storage and burial.
written by Julie R. Neidlinger 3 comments link this postI'm not great with managing my money.
There's a reason I use a pencil in my checkbook register. It's tough to erase pen. I just don't keep track of it well. I don't remember when I've loaned people money, and I'd just as soon forget, anyway. I find money in coat pockets that I've not worn in a year. I think leaving large tips is a fun thing to do. I like to buy my co-workers a coffee drink when I go get one for myself at work. It's fun to do. I'm sure I come off as pretty wasteful. I don't save money well. I tend to burn right through it, sometimes on good things (trips to Nicaragua) or wasteful things (more books, Julie?!).
I'm sure people would categorize me as a bad steward. I feel a lot of guilt about money. We get all the material from Christian organizations telling of the importance of planning for retirement and learning to manage money better. Things like saving and investing and leaving it to a Bible college when I die. You know, good stewardship.
But sometimes?
I wonder at how Christians use the concept of retirement and "being good stewards of God's money" as a rationalization for not giving or a kind of sanitized hoarding.
You know, giving that means I don't get to say what happens once the money leaves my hand. Giving that says I don't get to be the judge of who is worthy or smart enough to use my money wisely. Giving that says "I'll give because I believe God is directing me to do it, even though I don't think this is a financially wise thing to do." Giving that doesn't determine who has used up their share of grace and deserving. Giving that says it isn't my money.
That's the key, really.
It's not my money.
That's where the story of the steward and the talents and the wise use of it all comes into play (Matthew 25:14-30). That's the proof used to ask Christians if we are good stewards of God's money, and often used to convince them to treat finances in an overly-careful, selectively-planned, less generous way.
You know the story.
Two men increased their talents through wise choices. One man buried it, the one who had the least. He was the fool, and lost it all in the end.
"We need to be good stewards of God's money and not use it unwisely," is the teaching. It's fathered all of the Christian ministries that advocate wise financial and retirement planning through saving and conscientious investing. "Be a good steward. Increase your finances so that when the time comes, you have doubled what God gave you."
That sounds pretty good to me. At first.
The foolish man was a bad steward; he buried his money.
We can bury money just as well in a bank account, and tell ourselves we're just being good stewards and making wise financial choices. We can carry that a step further and be "cautious" in our giving.
And the idea of retirement. There is no retirement plan in the Great Commission. Retirement based on our own means is a wrong mindset to acquire.
The two men who increased their talents didn't use them for retirement. They didn't increase them for the sake of merely growing them for security in later use. They increased it and gave it all back to the Master.
So I'm not good with money. I think I have some money in a mutual fund from back when I was a teacher. I have no idea what's happening with it. I suppose I ought to do something about it, but I don't care. I may not be wise, and not working to double, triple, and increase my funds through any means possible. But I don't want to bury my money, either. I'm not looking to store up treasures here on earth, either buried in the ground or in an account.
"You want this little bit of money, God? Well, take it. Tell me where you want me to give it."
He'll give me some more, when I need it, to give back. I need to remember that in moments of end-of-the-month panic. Weird place to be, torn between good stewardship and wastefulness and tight-fistedness.
Regardless of my poor example, I think we should stop telling Christians to financially plan for retirement in the manner that we are currently doing. It sounds wise but sets the heart for storage and burial.
Copyright (c) Julie R. Neidlinger 3/31/2008 10:17:00 PM
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3 Comments:
Touche' Julie. This has often been a source of contemplation for me. Although it is biblical to be good stewards in not allowing ourselves to become slaves to debt, (not a strength of mine), many of my friends, etc. seem to really let the whole retirement "idol" get a lot of attention. Difficult topic to enter however...."hey, instead of saving all that money, why don't you give it to missions growing the Kingdom, or to your neighbor that is struggling with money..." Not a popular discussion.
Thanks for tip-toeing into it.
By 
Colin, at
1/4/08 10:14
C.S. Lewis said something like this, and forgive me for not properly referencing this... in one of his books... that our giving back to God is a bit like when a child wants to buy his father a present and so he first goes to his father and asks for money to buy the present. And it's all proper, and nice, and everyone is happy about it when the father later opens the present.
But, in reality, there is nothing we CAN ever give God that He hasn't first given us the money, time or ability to give back to Him. And so we are all like that child, when we want to give God something back, we need to realize that it is not from us, at all, but from what has been given us.
And so it becomes a case of our very lives, and all that is in them, being consciously, willingly, given back into thankful service. Left hand not knowing what the right hand is doing.
I agree, Julie, to have yet another 'program' making the rounds of churches-- this time in the effort to teach good stewardship of money seems like a slippery slope.
IMO, we all need to remained focused (and Churches need to focus!), over and over again, on maintaining and developing that personal relationship with Christ among the people we are serving and letting serve us.
The rest follows--even giving and being good 'stewards' and what not. To focus so much on other things is a bit like getting the cart in front of the horse...
People want programs though, they want easy fixes, and they don't want to hear -- repent and return to Christ-- messages over and over again.
I find lots of money in the dryer, particularly from my youngest's pants.
Since he's still so young, he remains the most unchanged by the world.
By Andrea, at
1/4/08 10:43
This reminds me of the old phrase, "God prefers to give through you than to you. Something to remember, since our church's annual missions conference kicks off next week.
Clint
Bismarck-Mandan Blog
By BismarckMandanBlog, at
3/4/08 12:16
