04 >> "Wouldn't a secular job be more secure financially and therefore better stewardship of my money?"

Financial security should probably not be the major factor in the decision about your career. If you have gifting and aptitude as a music teacher, you should probably do it regardless if pays less than the job at 7-11. In Matthew 6:24-33, Jesus clarifies the issue of financial security:

"No one can serve two masters. 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 both God and Money. Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? …So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well."

The greatest security for the future, solely resides in doing the will of God and in seeking first the things of his kingdom and the expansion of it.

But this always leads to a related question. "What if I could make a ton of money and fund a whole platoon of missionaries. Wouldn't that be better stewardship than going into ministry myself?" How this question is answered is deeply rooted in whether I'm the one you're planning to support - that was a joke.

Actually, if you are torn between being a laborer in the missionary enterprise and funding it, be the laborer. Remember this familiar passage:

When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, "The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field." (Matt. 9:36-38)

Jesus looks around at the spiritual hunger and observes that the greatest need is for laborers, not money. There are a billion Christian businessmen and women, but not many qualified or willing to serve as missionaries.

 

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