Some of you, former procrastinators, are excellent with accounts, money, computers, documentation. Some of you are perhaps grooming yourselves to be “that woman who was lost about her affairs when her husband died.” I lean toward the latter camp and admire you in the first group. I’m involved in a great deal with my husband. But there’s more for me to learn. Financial stewardship is an area where lots of us need to say “yes” to God.
God sees this topic as important enough to address it often in scripture. Among other things, He tells us to redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16), to provide for our households (I Timothy 5:8), to invest wisely (Matthew 25:14-28), to give generously (2 Corinthians 9:17) – to manage His resources well as faithful stewards (I Corinthians 4:2). These are instructions from Him.
In 2 Kings 20:1-2 Isaiah said to King Hezekiah, “Thus says the Lord: Set your house in order for you shall die and not live.”
We avoid thinking about earthly death. That makes us more susceptible to being unprepared for death and life.
Take note: Nobody has to die for us to have need of documents and financial know-how. Travel or a stay in the hospital could suddenly require any of us to access and use critical information.
The point is to be a faithful financial steward managing from a biblical perspective. We want to 1) understand the financial operations of our households, and 2) gather and organize critical information.
The challenge is to face responsibility and act. The temptation is to say, “Well, I’ve come this far. I’ll just keep rocking along.” We procrastinate setting our house in order in the area of document preparedness and financial education.
Being faithful stewards to God in this area will lift a huge load of worry and weight off our shoulders – ahead of time and when needed. I won’t be a financial advisor; we’ll have some links to check out, so stay tuned.
What frightens you most in this area?
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