The Biblical Worldview of Saving

Shawn (00:00): Are you prepared for life’s unexpected financial storms? The Bible has a lot to say about saving, and it’s not what many people think. Today we’ll explore the biblical worldview of savings, why we should save, how much is enough, and when saving crosses the line and hoarding, let’s get some perspective. Welcome back to Christian Financial Perspectives. We’re so glad that you’ve joined us today, whether you’re listening in or watching us, whether it was right after we released this or I don’t know, two, three years later and all of our cultural references will be out of date, but we’re glad you’re here today. We’re going to be talking about something that won’t get out of date, though, which is a biblical worldview on saving. And keep in mind saving money- this is a topic that generates, we believe a lot of confusion and anxiety for many Christians, and many people wonder, well, is it biblical to save? How much is too much? When does prudent saving become hoarding? Well, today we’re going to be looking at some scripture and what scripture actually teaches about savings, and this is something we think will be very practical and have real spiritual implications regardless of when you happen to be tuning in. So Bob, why don’t you give us a little bit of why we’re covering this today from your perspective? Bob (01:19): I’m 63 right now, going to be 64 this year. Shawn (01:25): Almost middle age then, right? Bob (01:26): I’m getting up there. I’m getting up there. I tell you. But I’ve seen how saving over the years and having a savings and a fallback when tough times have come along have kept me from being worried and anxious because we have adequate savings. We’re prepared, and I’ve always followed the scriptural guideline of Genesis 41 where it talks about saving during the good times, and we’re going to cover that. Shawn (01:58): We will. We’ll get into that one. Bob (01:59): Later today. But like you say, saving is very important, and my wife, Rachael and I, when I was putting this together, she asked me, she goes, well, Bob, what do people say? Some people say, if you’re saving too much, like you say you’re hoarding, and we’ll get into that. But one of the things I noticed because Jesus talks about do not worry and the birds of the air, and we’re going to cover that again, is that you look at the birds of the air and you look at the squirrels and they’re always working. They’re always gathering their food at harvest and saving it, including little ants. We have a great scripture, Shawn (02:34): Which is our first scripture, Proverbs 6:6-8, “Go to the ant, you slacker, observe its ways and become wise. Without leader, administrator, or ruler, it prepares its provisions in summer, it gathers its food during harvest.” Now, it is interesting. It says, without a ruler, people talk about, oh, the queen. Yeah. Well, it’s not really queen like the way we would normally think of a ruler, so it doesn’t really apply. She just… Bob (02:57): They’re working hard though. They’re always working, and if you put down any food for ’em, you notice they’re going to come get it and they’re going to take it. Shawn (03:04): And then they tell everybody else. Bob (03:05): Tell all their friends, come over here. Shawn (03:07): But I think the key point is that God points to one of his smallest creatures to teach us a big lesson. The ant doesn’t need someone telling it to save. It’s just built into its nature and they prepare during the abundance during summer for times of need, winter, and this is really the heart of biblical saving, preparing in good times for the hard times because as we know from Ecclesiastes, there’s a time for everything’s a time for everything. So if you’re going through a good time, well, there’s going to be a bad time, and if you’re going through a bad time, there’s going to be a good time. So just got to be prepared for that. Bob (03:41): I remember the church we used to go to, Pastor Ray would always say, if you’re having great times right now, enjoy them. Because inevitably there’s going to be some tough times, and if yours have been tough times, you’re going to come out of that, too. Ecclesiastes is so true that there is a time for everything in life. Shawn (03:58): That’s right. Another one from Proverbs for the ants, Proverbs 30:25, “The ants are not a strong people, yet they store up their food in the summer.” Small and weak, yet wise, their strength isn’t the key, but it’s the wisdom and preparation. Even those with limited resources can and should save. Bob (04:14): Right. Shawn (04:15): I think that’s a good way to kind of bring it back to us humans like, well, don’t make the excuse of, I don’t have as much as what other people have. Well, and I would argue even more so it’s important to save if you don’t have as much of a cushion or as much of a disposable income as maybe other people have. Bob (04:31): And Shawn, the convenient time is never going to come. I mean, I’ve had… Shawn (04:36): The convenient time was always yesterday. Bob (04:39): We go through the phases of life and when we’re young, we don’t have the big family, but somehow we don’t have the money and then we get the big family and we say, we don’t have the money. There’s always an excuse. And as we know, the number one reason for financial failure is… Shawn (04:51): Procrastination. Bob (04:51): Procrastination. Shawn (04:53): And I said that backwards. I was thinking the joke would be the convenient time is tomorrow. Bob (04:56): Yeah. Oh yeah. Right. Shawn (04:59): Which never comes. It’s always today. Bob (05:01): Yep. Yep. Shawn (05:02): So the purpose of savings. Bob (05:03): Yeah, there’s a lot of purposes for savings. Before Shawn (05:05): We get into our six biblical purposes for saving, we’re going to one more verse for you. 1 Timothy 5:8, “Now, if anyone does not provide for his own relatives and especially for his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” Bob (05:20): I don’t think there’s anything you can add to that. Shawn (05:22): There we go. All right. Bob (05:23): Pretty straightforward. Shawn (05:25): What’s our first purpose? Bob (05:26): With six main purposes, the first one is that emergency buffer. There’s always going to be those unforeseen circumstances. I remember when Rachael got cancer and now she’s been cancer free coming on nine years. Praise God. So just praise God for that. But there’s that sickness. There’s the job, maybe the job loss or you get injured maybe in a car accident. There’s all these things that will happen. Shawn (05:50): Your air conditioning unit breaks. You lose your job. Bob (05:52): You lose your job completely. Shawn (05:53): Yeah. Major expenses like your AC goes out. I remember in our first house, Jenna and I, that was definitely one of those where I got cancer in 2015, but it was 2013, we’d been saving up and the AC went out, and so at the time at least, which now would be a steal is like, I dunno, seven or eight grand, not really what we want to spend money on. And then the next year, Jenna’s just minding her own business, sitting at a stoplight, somebody rear ends her who wasn’t paying attention. Bob (06:21): I remember that. Shawn (06:21): So the car was totaled. Bob (06:22): Yep, I saw that. Shawn (06:24): And then the next year I got cancer. I’m really glad we had already had a number of years that we had been making sure to build up some savings because otherwise that could have been really bad, which would take us into the next one. Number two, avoiding debt. Bob (06:38): By the way, you’ve been cancer free now for 10 years. Shawn (06:41): Over 10 years now. Bob (06:42): Over 10 years. So we want to tell everybody that. Shawn (06:45): As of the time of this recording, but if it’s three years later, then just add however much time. Bob (06:49): Amen for that. So the second biblical reason for saving. Shawn (06:52): Avoiding debt, which is kind of what I was alluding to with what happened with us, and your saving for avoiding debt helps you stay out of debt for depreciating items like cars, furniture, clothing, and same thing with the car. That was part of it. Of course, insurance said, well, it’s totaled, so here’s a certain amount of money, but it wasn’t really enough to get a new car or replacement car. And so we had some savings and then along with what we got from the insurance and then no debt, we didn’t have to take on debt all of a sudden for a car that had already been paid for, the one that got totaled. This connects back to Proverbs 22:7, the concept of borrower being servant to the lender. Bob (07:33): As we’re doing all of this biblical worldview of money and wealth, we’re going to do an entire episode on debt and what the Bible has to say about that. Third reason for a purpose for saving is the investment opportunities that might come along. I’ve seen this personally many times and when those opportunities arise, and many times you have no idea when they’re going to come about and all of a sudden there’s an opportunity and you need that capital ready. And with savings you can do that. You can take advantage of those God given opportunities that just come along every now and then. Shawn (08:06): That’s right. Number four, not being a burden. It keeps us from becoming a burden on others. Our own irresponsibility should not cause financial stress to our family or to the church. Bob (08:18): I’ve seen this with people that don’t have savings, be a burden on their family, and it creates stress for everyone then. And this ties directly to that 1 Timothy 5:8 that he does not provide for his family is worse than an unbeliever. So it’s pretty strong. Like I say, we don’t have to add anything to that. Shawn (08:40): Number five. Bob (08:41): Yeah, helping others. When you have savings, we’re positioned to help others in need. Again, I’ve seen this multiple times in my own life. When someone has a need, it’s hard to be generous when you’re already financially stressed, you have no savings at all. But savings enables generosity. Shawn (09:01): I remember at our church where the message was on creating margin in your life and the idea being that whether your time, money, whatever it might be, if you’re just so tight on everything, there’s no room at all. You have no margin. The same thing if you’re this tight on the finances, when there is an opportunity that the Lord is calling you to be generous to help someone, then you can’t. Bob (09:27): Yeah, exactly. Shawn (09:28): Why don’t you do the last one, number six. Bob (09:30): Why are you having me do the last one? Shawn (09:31): I don’t know, but maybe once you say it, we’ll see. Bob (09:34): Okay. Retirement and old age, when you have adequate savings and investments, of course, during all that time, those many years that you’ve saved up, when you get older, you don’t have the energy as much as you had. I can tell you that. I maybe sound like I got in a lot of energy right now, but I do get tired quicker than I used to. And it’s not about luxury. It’s not about building bigger barns, but it’s just about having financial independence, not of God, but financial independence from having to rely on others and not being the burden, again, on your family. Shawn (10:12): Not having to work full time until you’re 80. Bob (10:15): Exactly. Yeah. As you know, I’m going on Tuesdays and Thursdays is when I do all my appointments. Now it gives me Monday, Wednesdays, and Fridays to rest up for those big days. Shawn (10:25): Well, and do your creative things. It’s the stuff that’s not necessarily a one-on-one appointment. Bob (10:31): Right. Exactly. So when we were doing savings, I really thought about this, how much is enough? Because the Bible speaks about the foolishness of building the bigger barns and the bigger barns, and this is going to kind of really turn it around of what you’ve always heard. So I’m going to have you read that scripture. Shawn (10:54): Okay, so we got Genesis 41:34-36, “Let Pharaoh do this. Let him appoint overseers over the land and take a fifth of the harvest of the land of Egypt,” which is 20%, right?…”During the seven years of abundance, let them gather all the excess food during these good years that are coming. Under Pharaoh’s authority, store the grain in the city so they may preserve it as food. The food will be reserved for the land during the seven years of famine that will take place in the land of Egypt. Then the country will not be wiped out by the famine.” Bob (11:24): You notice it’s seven years. People will say, well, how much should I have in savings? Well, there’s a scriptural guideline here that could be up to seven years. It doesn’t say 10 or 12. It’s just seven. And we know that’s kind of a perfect number, and I know that’s very, very difficult for most people to do. You’ll hear most of the time, three to six months. And I think in my opinion is 6 to 12 is kind of a minimum because I’ve just gone through life and I’ve seen that. Shawn (11:57): Keep in mind, this is Joseph’s example in this time as the main overseer, saving 20% or a fifth during seven years of abundance. Bob (12:05): That’s a lot, isn’t it? Shawn (12:06): For seven years of famine. Okay, well, you can look at that and realize, well, they weren’t saving up the same amount that they had been using arguably for seven years to be able to last for seven years. But it’s like, well, it’s, Hey, tighten the belt a little bit, but it’s going to be enough to get through the seven years of famine. They weren’t feasting during the seven years of famine on what they stored up, but they at least had this from the good times to be able to help them get through the difficult times. Bob (12:37): And Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “There’s an occasion for everything and a time for every activity under heaven.” And if you read that whole third chapter, you’re going to see over and over there’s going to be good times and there’s going to be bad times. Don’t go around believing that you’re not going to have tough times. Everybody has them and you’re going to go through that, especially anyone that’s listening to this that’s in their sixties. They’re going, yep, I’ve had a lot of good times and I’ve had a lot of bad times. And like, when you say, when you’re in the bad times, you’ve always got to look at the good times. Good times are coming. Shawn (13:11): Exactly. That’s Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 if you want to read that. But the prudent person recognizes this fact, that life has seasons and prepares accordingly. And so a general guideline like Bob alluded to a little earlier, but it’s 3-6 months of expenses, not income, but of expenses saved up as an emergency fund is a good starting point. Some advisors that might suggest working towards a little bit larger reserves, but over time you think of it as there’s your emergency fund savings of 3-6 months of expenses. But it doesn’t mean that you wouldn’t necessarily at any point have more savings than just that. But it might be that, well, you’re earmarking savings for a different reason. So the next section we’re going to cover is, well, when savings becomes hoarding. Bob (13:58): Because it can; definitely can. Shawn (14:01): We just did, “How much is enough?” Well, now we’re kind of looking at, well, how much is too much? So we’ve got Luke 12:16-21, the Parable of the Rich Fool. Do you want me to read this one, Bob? Bob (14:13): You’re my scripture reader. Shawn (14:15): No pressure. “Then he told them a parable, a rich man’s land was very productive. He thought to himself, ‘What should I do since I don’t have anywhere to store my crops? I will do this.’ He said, ‘I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones and store all my grain and my goods there.’ Then I’ll say to myself, ‘You’ve made, you have many goods stored up for many years. Take it easy, eat to drink and enjoy yourself.’ But God said to him, ‘You fool. This very night your life has demanded of you and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ That’s how it is with the one who stores up treasure for himself and not rich toward God.” Bob (14:53): Amen. That really has given us an example, isn’t it? Shawn (14:57): Yeah. So what do we learn from this? Bob (14:59): Well, we learned from this that bigger is not always better. We learned that… You’ve heard me talk about this. We have to adopt the mentality level of how much is enough. Shawn (15:10): And so really savings crosses into hoarding when it becomes obsessive, it focuses on accumulating stuff. Bob (15:18): Stuff that you have to go get a store room for. I mean, that’s one of the biggest things here in America, isn’t it, is the amount of storage. It’s crazy. Shawn (15:27): Yeah. We’re building bigger barns just to store more possessions and we’re saving for self instead of being rich towards God. So ultimately, the rich fool’s problem. It wasn’t that he had wealth, it was his attitude about it. I think that key part there is so therefore, because I have all this stuff like, oh yes, eat, drink, and be merry. And it was all about just living lavishly. It was all about himself. And it had nothing to do with, oh, well, he’s storing this up for when there are bad times. Like, oh no, I’m going to take it easy for the rest of my life. Bob (16:04): Where in the scriptural references from Genesis 41, it was storing up to help others by the way. Shawn (16:09): And that’s something he never thought of. He never thought of using it for God’s purposes. He was trusting in his stuff rather than God. Bob (16:16): And you got to be careful about trusting in your savings over God. And trusting in that portfolio over God. God owns it all anyway. Shawn (16:23): Amen. Bob (16:24): Right. Shawn (16:24): So we got another scripture. Bob (16:25): Yeah, we got lots of ’em. Shawn (16:26): Matthew 6:24-27, “No one can serve two masters since either he will hate one and love the other, or he will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and money. Therefore, I tell you, don’t worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink or about your body, what you will wear. Isn’t life more than food and the body, more than clothing? Consider the birds of the sky. They don’t sow or reap or gather into barns. Yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you worth more than they? Can any of you add one moment to his lifespan by worrying?” Okay, well, now we’re saying don’t worry about what you eat or drink or about your body. We’re not worrying about the birds don’t store things. They don’t reap or gather. So hold on now, Bob, why are saying this? Bob (17:10): You have to be very careful about taking this out of context because you have to go look at the birds, look at the animals. I love watching little squirrels play, and they’re always getting their acorns. They’re gathering their food like the ant, too. And they are putting some aside, especially we go to Colorado a lot in the summers, and you can see all the animals saving up for the winter. So we have this one in here because Rachael was talking to me about this. She says, Bob, what about this? And I told her that. And she says, that’s exactly what I wanted to hear you say that this doesn’t mean that we just going to be lazy once we get a certain amount and we just say, oh, I don’t have to do anything now. Shawn (17:53): So what’s the main question that people should ask here? Bob (17:55): You tell me. Shawn (17:58): Are we saving to serve God’s purposes or has money become our master? Bob (18:03): I think that’s great. Shawn (18:04): Which again, the rich man with the bigger barns, is it focusing on what God’s calling you to do? Or is it the focus itself is the stuff is the money. Bob (18:16): Savings equals security and ability to help others. Unhealthy hoarding. It’s turning to wealth instead of God. So we got to be careful of that. And it’s really about the heart, not just a dollar amount. Shawn (18:27): So Bob, what happens without savings? Bob (18:29): Okay, you get unforeseen debt. That’s number one. Number two is extreme stress. We become a burden to others. It can be a relationship damaging drain. As you’ve seen, many marriages have fought and been destroyed over this very subject. They’re going to become negative thought patterns from constant worry. What am I going to do when this comes along? And it’s instability. So there’s basically six areas that we just mentioned. Shawn (19:02): And Proverbs 6:9-11 goes with this section, “How long will you stay in bed, you slacker? When will you get up from your sleep? A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the arms to rest and your poverty will come like a robber. Your need like a bandit.” Bob (19:16): Yep. Some starting points. Shawn (19:18): Proverbs 21:5, “The plans of the diligent certainly lead to profit, but anyone who is reckless certainly becomes poor.” Bob (19:25): So the first thing is you’re saying, when is the convenient time going to come? It’s never going to come. And if you’ve really had a difficult time, just start with $5 to $10 a week. And a lot of times that just means not buying that $5 to $10 cup of coffee. The key is to start and to build the habit of it. Shawn (19:45): Make your coffee at home. And it is true for a lot of people that, especially if you commute further to work, there’s definitely the habit of going through the drive-thru somewhere, whatever the coffee shop, coffee place you’re getting it from, but start that habit of $5 to $10 a week. The key here is starting and building the habit, not, “Oh, whenever it’s convenient,” and increasing as you’re able. Bob (20:09): Yeah, exactly. Shawn (20:10): Diligence and consistency matter more than the starting amount, which goes right into, I know this is, you definitely like this verse, Bob, but Proverbs 13:11, “Wealth obtained by fraud will dwindle, but whoever earns it through labor will multiply it.” And I believe your, I guess your preferred version. The NIV version. Bob (20:27): Is, “He who gathers money little by little makes it grow.” Shawn (20:29): Yeah. Yeah. So key talking points on this – little by little adds up over time. Alright. This isn’t about get rich quick. It’s about patience and faithful stewardship. God honors our consistency and diligence. Bob (20:45): As we come to the end here. We want to mention there’s some great, great resources because you’re like, how do I do this? Where do I start? Crown Ministries is a great place to go. Shawn (20:52): Which is www.crown.org on the internet. Bob (20:54): And Financial Peace university, which is taught in so many churches. Dave Ramsey is the one that developed that. And it’s a great start, especially now. Shawn (21:05): If you do have a lot of debt currently, it’s a great place to start. And then Financial Peace University does at least kind of get you going on the basics of the savings. And crown.org has tons of free resources, which is what’s great. Bob (21:17): And just remember that saving is biblical. It is not something made up. It is taught to us throughout scripture. If you read Proverbs every day, you’re going to see it all over the place. And you know that I do. And it provides for your family, it’s there for difficult times, it positions yourself to help others, and it makes wise stewards of what God’s entrusted to us. Shawn (21:35): That’s right. And it’s a balance. How much is enough? How much is too much? Just make sure that money isn’t the focus or the master, but you’re trying to be a good steward of what God has entrusted to you. So as always, if you’d like to learn more about our firm, Christian Financial Advisors®, and since we put this together and we do help people with financial planning and advice and guidance, you can give us a call at (830) 609-6986 or text us. You can also visit our website www.christianfinancialadvisors.com. Thank you so much as always for joining us and God bless.