Saving is the cornerstone of wise stewardship, while excessive consumption and waste are the opposite. The Bible encourages us to save: Proverbs 21:20 says “Precious treasure and oil are in a wise man’s dwelling, but a foolish man devours it.”
Do you believe this verse to be true? It paints a very different picture than the one we see throughout our society today: a consumer driven society obsessed with instant gratification.
I wonder how we would compare to an unlikely hero commended in 2 different places in scripture.
Proverbs 6:6-8 “Go to the ant, O sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise. Without having any chief, officer, or ruler, she prepares her bread in summer and gathers her food in harvest.”
Proverbs 30:24, “Four things on earth are small, yet they are extremely wise; Ants are creatures of little strength, yet they store up their food in the summer.”
The truly exceptional thing about the ant is its ability to store up food for the winter. God has given them the instinct to know that leaner times are on the horizon, so they cannot afford to eat everything in sight. They must store some provision for a time when food will be scarce.
Sadly, this instinct is missing in some people. They live from paycheck to paycheck as if nothing can ever go wrong. Then when something does – a leaky roof, an extra school expense, or that flat tire – they must go into debt to pay for what’s needed. And thus begins a cycle of debt from which it’s terribly difficult to escape. As soon as one debt is paid off, another unexpected expense occurs, so more debt is taken on, and when that’s paid off, some new repair is needed, and so on. The key to getting out of this cycle is to save.
