Financial Ethic #4 (Part 5): What to Save For

Now that we’ve addressed the subjects of why you should save, how to save, and getting your spouse on board with saving, let’s finish up this 4^th Financial Ethic by addressing what to save for. 

Financial Ethic #4 states:  “We will save a portion of our incomes for future difficulties.” ^[1]   

By now, I hope you are convinced that saving is not only possible, it is wise. Remember:  “In the house of the wise are stores of choice food and oil, but a foolish man devours all he has. (Proverbs 21:20)”

What types of things should you save for?

1. A safety net. Life will bring unexpected expenses and changes (or interruptions) in income.  Knowing that emergencies happen when you least anticipate, it is wise to be prepared with a savings safety net equaling 3-6 months’ living expenses.  This also helps to protect you from the temptation to use your credit cards to “help” during these emergencies.
2. Specific purchases or endeavors.  Do you want to take a family vacation?  Start a business? Furnish your house?  Resolve to regularly set aside as much as you can afford until you have funded your goal. Then, enjoy the fruits of your hard work and sacrifice!
3. The “distant” future.  I know the future seems like it will always be far away, but one day, you’re going to wake up and realize that the “future” has arrived.  Imagine how much peace you will have if you’ve been preparing for it all along.  If you know that one day you’re going to retire, one day you’re going to want to own a house, or one day your children are going to college, it is wise to save toward those goals starting now.   

As you can see, there are many Biblical, practical, wise things to save for. 

But now I must offer you a word of caution:  be careful not to cross the line from saving into hoarding. 

What’s the difference? Here are two Bible verses that provide us with insight.

“But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God. (Luke 12:20)”

“No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money. (Matthew 6:24)”

If setting aside money is keeping you from contentment, from generosity, and from trusting and obeying God, you have crossed the line from saving to hoarding.  Here are some warning signs:

• You take such personal “ownership” in your savings or possessions that you cannot bear to part with them for anything.
• You find your sense of safety and security and provision in your savings.
• You feel “in control” if you have a lot of money saved.
• You regularly pass up clear God-ordained opportunities to give generously because you are afraid that you’ll need it.
• You don’t think it’s possible to ever save “enough”.

Do any of these things resound with you personally?  Then before you set aside another penny, it’s time to free yourself from the very natural human tendency to gain comfort from how much you possess.

First, ask God to help you truly understand His perspective on saving. See http://blog.niadavenport.com/2011/08/financial-ethic-4-part-2-whats-the-point-of-saving/

Second, ask God to help you to trust Him completely with your finances.  See http://blog.niadavenport.com/2010/12/how-to-free-your-marriage-from-financial-friction-part-3/

And finally, counterattack your tendency to hoard money by choosing instead to give generously in obedience to God’s direction. See http://blog.niadavenport.com/2011/04/giving-is-a-blast/

Now you have all of the information, insight, and inspiration that I hope you need to start setting money aside with your spouse.  So with God’s help, go ahead and set up your safety net, dream about your next vacation or business venture, and save for the future before it comes! 

“Search My Heart, O God…”

• Ask God to free you from any tendency to hoard instead of saving,  praying

Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting (Psalm 139:23-24).