When Joseph counseled Pharaoh on how to handle the seven years of famine, he told Pharaoh to save during the seven years of plenty. The savings would then carry the nation through the famine. This is a central purpose of saving.
Almost everyone will experience times of low income or unusual bills that their income cannot handle. Therefore, if you are able to save, it is generally wise to set aside a reasonable amount of money for those times. I have intentionally nuanced that statement, so let’s discuss it to elaborate on the nuance.
If you are able to save . . . Some things take priority over saving. It is more important that you and your family have a modest place to live, basic food, simple clothes, and a means to get to and from work than it is for you to save. In addition, you should be giving something from your income even if that income is meager. If you save but never give, that’s a problem. Saving requires an income above your basic needs, and not everyone has that. Thus, some people can’t save. But if you are able to save . . .
it is generally wise . . . Saving is not a law that must be universally followed. Jesus told the rich, young ruler to give away all he had. That is the opposite of saving, and we need to hold money loosely enough that God can have it without prying it from us. We need room in our thinking on money to let God be God. He may want you to set aside some money for the future because He knows what is coming. Or He may ask you to give it all away and trust Him for the future. So saving is not a law.
But it is a principle that is usually wise. Saving allows you to buy more expensive items – a used car, for example – without having to borrow money. Saving helps prevent you from going into debt when you lose your job or get sick and can’t work. If you save nothing, you can’t pay your rent or buy groceries when those times come. Saving helps teach you to deny yourself now in order to have something for the future, for whatever you save, you cannot now spend. The practice of saving, thus, affects your spending habits, usually in a good way. So if you are able to save, it is generally wise . . .
to set aside a reasonable amount of money. Saving must never become hoarding. The man who built bigger barns for himself was a fool. Hoarding destroys your soul. It is an abuse of saving. In hoarding, saving becomes your god. People hoard to feel secure, which means that they do not feel secure in God. That is a big problem.
God must have lordship over your money. If He has you save, then let Him lead in the amount. Talk to Him about it and follow His lead. That should help against hoarding. As you save, continue to give sacrificially. That should also help against hoarding.
Responsible saving has limits to it, and those limits are driven by its purpose. The purpose of saving is not to make you feel secure. The purpose of saving is to provide for the basic needs of you and your family during emergencies and to purchase more expensive items that you know God wants you to pursue – college tuition, perhaps, or a car.
Sometimes, however, good purposes for saving can serve as excuses for hoarding. Maybe God wants you to save $20,000 for college, but you feel you need $100,000. The problem is not in saving for college. The problem is in what you feel you need. The problem is a heart problem. Therefore, let God have lordship over your money, and He will direct your saving. You can trust Him in that.
