Faithful Stewardship
10 “One who is faithful in a very little is also faithful in much, and one who is dishonest in a very little is also dishonest in much. 11 If then you have not been faithful in the unrighteous wealth, who will entrust to you the true riches? 12 And if you have not been faithful in that which is another's, who will give you that which is your own? 13 No servant can serve two masters, for 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 God and money.”
Luke 16:10-13 ESV
God calls us to be faithful in how we use money. As stewards, God entrusts us with His money for the doing of His will on Earth. I think it's easy to forget this, and to assume money is to be used how we see fit. Whether that means to build a large retirement nest egg, buy a new car, or go on a nice long family vacation. None of these things are bad, but the priority must be to seek God's direction; and be willing to use money how He directs. His directions largely comes from the Bible, prayer, and other believers.
God cares about "small" things. These verses even goes so far as to suggest that how we use money here on Earth, impacts our rewards in the heaven. Why? I think it's because how we use money is a good indicator of the true intentions of our heart. Does financial security come from having millions of dollars in a bank account, or God? Does saving millions of dollars for retirement decades away make sense, or giving to meet the needs of others today?
Earlier today I saw a poll asking people how much money they would need to retire with ease. The majority said that they'd need $3 million or more. If this poll was specific to Christians would the answers be much different? Should the answers be much different? I think so.