Today's question comes from Matt, a certified financial planner who asks,

how should a Christian think about saving for retirement and or long-term care facility

requirements in their old age?

He then references part of your book, Paul, redeeming money where you write,

Could it be that when it comes to finances we have the whole thing upside down? When we think of money, we tend to think of it as God's primary means of providing for us,

and, oh yes, he has called us to give.

Could it be that Scripture teaches that God's primary purpose for money is that we would be tools

of his generosity mission on earth, and, oh yes, he also uses it to daily provide for us."

The question from Matt continues, he says, in light of that, if I think I can live a perfectly

comfortable lifestyle on Social Security when I retire in the future,

should I not then give generously today to those who have far less?

Doesn't Jesus and Matthew 25 tell us to care for the least of these?

And then to round out this question, he quotes Bonhofer, who says in the cost of discipleship, quote,

the way to misuse our possessions is to use them as an insurance against the morrow, end of

quote, which Jesus also tells us not to worry about tomorrow and our provision in Matthew 6,

25 through 34. So, all of that to say, Paul, how should a Christian think biblically about

saving for retirement and how much should they save? I do love this question because the Bible has

so much to say about money, yet often in the Christian community, we're reticent to talk about it. And the answer to

this question is really about how you read and understand God's word. The question comes out of

Matthew 6, 24 through 35.

But many people handle the Bible like it's an isolated set of wisdom principles.

So you can take a single passage and you can pull it out and you can build your view of something from a single

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