FreeTruth

Pastor Tim began a discussion last week by writing a thoughtful piece on the pros and cons of insurance, and by asking us: "What do you think?" I wonder if he figured so many of us would have so much to say on the subject!

Later in the string of comments, Bruce challenged me to go back and re-read some of Tim's thoughts, asking again, "what do you think?" Bruce wondered if perhaps I was being selective in my use of scripture. It's a fair question.

And so, I have been mulling things over these last few days.

To try and tie all of my thoughts together would not be practical. So, can I give them to you without tying them together? Pascal collected his thoughts on scraps of paper, and later compiled "Pensees." (Thoughts)

Read as many or as few as you wish (it may get long!) This evening's exercise may be mostly for my sake-- to collect my thoughts and put them down on "paper." Many of them relate to how I have come to view the subject of money (and, I suppose by association, insurance).

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My wife has faith that her 9 children will not let her beg for bread if something happens to me. But there was a previous faith at work (in having the 9 children) which makes this present faith about her future security reasonable. Faith, is seems breeds more faith. (excuse the pun!)

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Widows, in scripture, are to be cared for by children and other family, or, if no family is available, by the body of Christ. Jesus is hard on the Pharisees for saying "Corban." They had rejected the law "honor your father and your mother" by allocating their monies in some other direction.

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How did Jesus feel about money? It's interesting, when it came time to pick one of the disciples to carry the purse, he chose the only thief in the group.

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When Jesus told Judas "what you do, do quickly." The others figured it was either to buy some immediate provisions, or to give something to the poor. A good insight into our Lord's use of money.

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Why do the scriptures contrast God and Mammon? Is it because money can be to us everything that God waits to be to us? Money can (seem to) provide: Comfort, pleasure, hope, security, confidence, and a future. How easy to transfer one's trust from what is not seen to what can be seen and handled, and counted! The rich fool of Jesus' parable discovered too late that he had misplaced his hope... "and so is everyone who lays up treasure for himslef, and is not rich toward God."

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World Magazine had a long running add that I found disturbing and inconsistent for a Christian based publication. The ad ran like this: "END WIDOW WORRY." How? By meditating on 1 Peter 5:7 "Casting all your care on Him, for He careth for you"? NO... no such suggestion was made. Instead, the ad went on, "widow worry" could be ended by paying $36.54 each month. And, if you weren't sold on the wisdom of this suggestion, then you were worse than an infidel!

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Forgive me, but can't help but wonder... How many times has "widow worry" been turned into "widow aspiration" when once the policy is in hand? The human heart is desperately wicked... a relationship begins to go sour... suddenly that half a million seems more attractive than the one who is currently bringing home the bacon and arguing with you every night? God forbid.

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An insurance policy can be used as a means to hoard one's possessions. The lack of a policy may be an excuse to waste even more of one's resources. In his "Divine Comedy: The Inferno" Dante places the hoarders and the wasters together in the 7th Circle of Hell. Some in that dreadful circle will have had insurance policies, and others will not have had them. And in heaven, some will have had insurance policies, and others will not have had them. As a very wise pastor recently pointed out in one of his blogs... it's a matter of the heart!

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Abraham passed up a fortune when he returned all of the plundered goods back to the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah. One may wonder: Did he have any second thoughts that evening? But then God speaks: "Abraham, I am your shield and your exceeding great reward." And so it is today, there is no reward, experience, or possession that is more worth having (or securing) than God Himself!

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One of the things said of the saints in Revelation (12) is that "they did not love their lives unto death." How does one live who is not afraid to die? What does a man or woman look like in this world who loves God more than life itself? What kinds of things does that man or woman spend money on? What kinds of things do they refuse to spend money on?

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"Seek first the kindgom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you." "I have never seen the seed of the righteous begging bread." It would seem that righteouness is perhaps the best "insurance policy" available! But it can't be purchased...

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I've already mentioned this, but... Jesus across the table from a financial planner? Yes, I know, it's a little unfair to invoke the image. But there is some humor, and some truth to be had in it. I guess if you can take 5 loaves and 2 fish, and turn them into enough food to feed 5,000 there isn't much the man in the suit and tie can sell you to help make your future secure. Well, last I knew, Jesus is still able to do that kind of thing!

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God is forever challenging the things we try to put our security in! Be it Gideon, who would have preferred 20,000 to 300; or the rich young ruler who really did want God, but couldn't open his hand and let his earthly possessions go. What am I holding on to? Watch out... God may ask me to let it go before I can see a victory (like Gideon), or possess treasure in heaven!

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One of the pastors, in his sermon today said "True faith in Christ will involve suffering." Why do we take so many measures then, to protect ourselves from suffering?

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God's people Israel, were judged for "walking in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before them." I would think that whatever the custom of the secular culture surrounding us is, it ought to be looked at with some suspicion. Those who don't know God, don't trust God, don't look to God, have a way of securing their future. Is it the same way we ought to secure ours? Perhaps so... perhaps not. It may be neutral, in which case we are left to consider and decide before God what is the best course. But it should be examined in the light of Scripture. (Which, by the way, is what we are doing together.)

These, then, are some of my Pensees. (Where's JR!)

PETROS

Labels: Dependence on God, Guest Post, Materialism, money

Hello all. This will be my last post of the week as I retreat this evening to a secluded place for a couple of days of pastoral reflection, prayer, and planning.

Before I go, I want to pick up briefly on the thoughtful questions offered by you guys in commenting on my post yesterday. What are we to make of buying insurance? Is it a gamble or an act of love and stewardship? Not an easy question. I don't pretend to have complete or well-thought out answers. These are quick off the top of the head reflections thrown in your direction for a kind of group conversation. I'll be interested to hear from you all on it.

In favor of insurance I think some would argue that it is in line with biblcal commands to be like the ant, "storing up food in summer for the winter season" (Proverbs 6:6), and that it is a legitimate application of the call for parents to save up for children (2 Corinthians 12:14).

Some would argue that insurance is responsible planning for future needs. It could also be argued that house insurance or life insurance is similar to a poor man's means of providing an inheritance for his wife and children, if he should die prematurely.

Also in favor of insurance is the argument that those who do not have it may perhaps unwittingly, be assuming (some would think presuming) that others will foot the bill when need arises. If I do not have life insurance, who will provide for my family? Someone will have to. Insurance is a way for me to contribute to that now. If I don't have insurance for my home then who will foot the bill when a tornado hits? Someone always has to provide the money for everything. Is insurance a way for me to at least try to contribute my fair share in that responsibi;ity? Is insurance, in this light, a form of love for others who would otherwise have to pick up the pieces of my or my family's need?

Against the idea of insurance is that it leads away from daily reliance on God, and may violate the Matthew 6:25-34 call to be concerned with today only and to leave tomorrow to God. But is Jesus really prohibiting such things as planning for the future? Proverbs 6:6 and James 4:13-16 would both seem to encourage faith-based and God-submitted planning for the future.

Still, it is clearly a danger that people can put way too much focus on the future and become obsessed with their accounts, insurance policies and savings. In the end too much concern about this leads to a reliance on money, not on God; something God specifically forbids in 1 Timothy 6:17. Money-trust may well be the very essence of materialism.

Some would also say that present tense needs in the kingdom are often neglected because people are saving up for the future. I certainly have seen this on more than one occasion. This does seem to be a very real concern for Jesus since in MAtthew 6:33 He urges concern for the kingdom first and for future needs second.

This is a tough set of principles to balance. What do you think?

Labels: Faith, Materialism, money

I mentioned somewhere recently that a couple weeks back when the government run clunker program was going my mechanic called me and virtually begged me to participate. I can't imagine why...

I'm not sure that I could have said anything to make this good friend understand, since he and I don't come at life with entirely the same set of values, but maybe you will understand. I really had two reasons why I couldn't trade in my beat up car for a $4,000 gift start on a new one.

Reason one: in this particular case, the program seemed so much a money grab from the rich to give to others, that it felt--and I think it was--like theft. I simply felt I had no right to that money, that it was a pure political ploy to gain popularity among the masses at the expense of the better off in our society (i.e.-those who already pay a massively disproportionate amount of our taxes), and that participating in a political scheme of this sort would constitute stealing money not mine. The government was so brazenly taking $4,000 out of someone's pocket and putting it in mine, and that was so manifestly a matter of thievery that I couldn't stomach it.

Reason two: even with the $4,000 financial jump start, I would have been paying more in a year to get a new car than it costs me to run the old one. Others may think differently and with what seems like, and may be, good reason, but as for me, so long as I can keep my present car on the road less expensively than it costs to buy a new one (without imperiling anyone's well-being in the process), I'm sticking with the old.

It's not that I'm particularly special or penny-pinching in doing this; it's just that I have a car solely to get me from one place to another (it is neither status symbol nor toy to me), and so whatever can get me from one place to another safely and least expensively is what I'm going to drive. After all, I've got a few other treasures I'd like to accumulate and care for that are worth far more to me (and have dividends that last far longer!), than a new set of wheels.

I don't think my mechanic got this. Do you?

Labels: economics, money, politics, stewardship, theft