Lets say I am a parent and I have 10 kids. Four of my children have more than enough. The remaining six children, due to circumstances beyond their control, are barely surviving. In fact....one of those children died as a result of those circumstances.
Now....as the parent of all these children what am I feeling? I would be heartbroken. Especially since I am aware of the fact that my four children who have so much are doing so little. They are so concerned about their life, their future, their homes, their retirement, their.......that they cannot see their own brothers and sisters are dying.
Yes....I am one of the four. And chances are you fall into the same category as myself. I am not trying to sell your giving and your sacrifice for others short. That is not my place.
I do not even remember how I started thinking about this. One day this week as I was washing some dishes or making dinner (I know it was in the kitchen) I started thinking about retirement. And how it just doesn't seem biblical. Now....before you start throwing stones let me just say I am simply mulling things over. I do not have hard evidence either way. I am not judging anybody either way. I think retirement is good - always have. And I have been quite happy with the way our retirement fund has been growing.
But suddenly this week I started wondering what God thinks about us stockpiling our money while that same money could literally save thousands of lives!!! How many wells could we drill? How much clean water could we help to generate so children would stop dying from water-borne illnesses?
I said to Mark, "What do you think God thinks?" He replied, "How would you feel if it were your children?" Hmm......
I have no answers people. I do not know what I think. More importantly, I do not know what God thinks. I do know that I am going to start digging. And really....it is probably one of those areas that you just walk in obedience to what His will is for your life.
On another note.....for those of you who helped to pay for the surgery for the Ethiopian mother with the prolapsed uterus - she is having surgery today!!! Faith in action!!
3 comments:
Wow, so funny, Joel and I have just been talking and praying about these same things the last couple of months and it's led to some major changes in our lives! I agree with the whole retirement is not biblical thing - how can we save up so much money for the future when there are so many people living in crisis today? Have you read Francis Chan's book Crazy Love? Anyway, totally agree with this post!
So great to read this, Becky. I have LONG wondered about money hoarding and selfishness. I basically consider a lot of things other than just reitrement to be money hoarding (i.e. expensive, large McMansions for four person families), and I simply can't see how all of that is not selfish!
A few years ago I started asking around this question, but people (at least the ones I asked) were not very receptive, and it left me bewildered. I'm so glad to hear you are thinking about this!! It's hard to know how to walk the line between being responsible for one's own family and sharing the responsibility for the rest of the world's family. For instance, if you liquidate all your retirement money, then one of your kids has some major medical problem down the line that requires a lot of financial investment, how does that work? we certainly don't want to replace one child in need with another, but we also don't want to overstate our own "need", as we tend to in our comfortable, American lives.
Anyways, I think this question of retirement, savings, and our responsibility to love one another is an important, overlooked question that we should all wrestle with, pray about, and find guidance on. We probably will all come to different answers and paths. But seriously, shouldn't we be thinking about it??
Loved this! Those thoughts that we must do more!!
We will be responsible! Standing before the Lord accounting for our brothers and sisters.
To God be the glory!
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