FINANCIAL RESPONSIBILITY

God likes to bless us. Obviously, not all blessings are materialistic but all through the Scriptures God offers to abundantly bless us in material ways too. Inherent to our blessings though is responsibility. If we are blessed with material blessings, we are to tend to the truly needy. There’s someone else that we need to tend to that we never hear about. That is us. We are to tend to financially responsible ways.

We all know people who live from paycheck to paycheck but are also world travelers, or people who go on exquisite cruises, expensive vacations, live in more house then they can afford, drive a more expensive car they should, eat out all the time, and etc. Then, they come up to retirement time and complain that social security doesn’t pay them enough to live. They become one of the destitute senior citizens that politicians pander to as they become a financial burden to society. Now they are one of the needy and financially destitute. There’s just something wrong with that.

Before I go farther, let me recognize that there are those who are truly needy. Who are the truly needy? For now we’ll just say they are the ones who are unable to provide for themselves. That is different from those who choose not to provide for themselves.

Anyway, we also know people who spend everything they make, have “mall habits,” have the latest fashions, and always seem to afford things beyond their income. They have insurmountable credit card debt. Thus, when it comes time for their kids to enter college, they are in the front of the line for government programs because they have no assets. Meanwhile parents who have been sacrificially saving for retirement and to aid their children with college don’t qualify for these government programs, because they have assets and most financial aid is “needs based.” One family has spent its money living it up. As a result, they get college paid for. The other family saves their money and ends up spending most of it on college. The weird thing is that not only does the one who saved have to pay for his own kids’ college and/or loans, but his taxes also help pay for the one who was irresponsible with his money!! Something seems wrong with that too.

Now let’s talk about the nursing home. If you sacrificially saved up for retirement and need to go to the nursing home, you’ll spend it all on the nursing home. If you lived it up and spent all your blessings, then Medicaid will pay for your nursing home care.

Government programs have their purpose but they seem to reverse the natural order of everything they touch. The programs oddly reward the care-free while being laborious to the productive. It is rearward of natural order. In truth, we have a responsibility to be good stewards of our blessings and to not unnecessarily become a burden to others/society.

Proverbs 21:20 “Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man's dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.”