Consider a mother in her late fifties. She is healthy, works a well-paying job, and has life insurance. She is in her twenty-third year of marriage and has three kids in college at the same time. She is a woman of God, her faith motivates her warmth and kindness. Her parents were immigrants and she also wants to give her kids the best, though she has dreams of her own. Everyone knows her as someone who gathers things—mementos, memories—and people, in her home and around a table. Her name is Sara.
When Sara is diagnosed with stage IV, triple negative, metastatic breast cancer, she undergoes treatment, and she prays for healing. She is confident in the Lord, knowing He is faithful and loving and has promised to provide for her needs, and she continues to pursue different cancer therapies. When the last treatment option fails her, she decides to pursue in-home hospice care to stay with her family. Four months after she was diagnosed, she dies. Sara trusted God and prayed for healing, yet she also sought medical care, insured her life, and gently prepared her family for her departure. Did Sara trust God?
The answer is yes. Buying insurance and trusting God are not mutually exclusive. As Christians, we should do both—act prudently (i.e. buy insurance) and trust God. The question of whether to do one or the other is a ‘binary trap’ that pits the faithful attitude of our hearts against faithful and responsible actions. We are to act wisely, faithfully, and responsibly, and at the same time, trust God with all of our hearts to provide for our needs. Like Sara, we pursue healing in ordinary ways while we pray for extraordinary healing.
As gray and as tense as it may seem to hold responsible actions and trust in God together, we see this juxtaposition in Scripture. Nehemiah 4:9 says, “And we prayed to our God and set a guard as a protection against them day and night” (emphasis added). God calls us to the faithful and wise use of ‘ordinary means’ that He has established, blessed, and ordained for our provision and care—but it does not stop there.
Because we have multiple calls on our lives, we are called to care and provide for ourselves and for others. That is why we need insurance—we need it because God calls us to care for our families and surrounding communities. As the primary provider for her family, Sara knew that to care for her husband and children meant having insurance in place to pay for unexpected, tragic circumstances. She knew that God never promised to keep us from experiencing pain, and so she planned well for all contingencies. Her life insurance policy paid off her medical bills, the mortgage on their home, her kids’ student loans, and gave her husband a debt-free new beginning. The greatest gift she gave her family, other than setting a Godly example of selfless love and care, was the hope of a future without her.
To assume that nothing bad can happen to you is surely understandable, but it is also unwise. Your family, your friends, your church congregation will be burdened with life’s difficulties if you are called home at a time in your life when you have a lot of financial obligations and you don’t have adequate coverage. At PCA Retirement and Benefits, we believe that it is wise to band together corporately to protect one another and those you love, as much as you are able, from the inherent risks of living in this fallen world.
If you would like to know more of what it looks like to trust God and take responsible actions to provide and care for our families and communities, we would love to talk with you. Email benefits@genevabenefits.org to discuss your insurance needs with one of RBI’s Financial Planning Advisors.
Geneva Benefits Group serves those who serve others, providing practical support for the financial, physical, and mental wellbeing of people who work in full-time ministry.
