Like many employers, IBSA has a “Flex 125 Plan,” which allows its employees to have a certain amount withheld from each paycheck, before taxes, that can then be used for medical expenses. If you don’t use the money that year, you lose it, so it’s important to estimate your medical expenses the best you can.
I know it’s a nice benefit to be able to establish a tax-free medical savings account each year. But I always have trouble convincing myself to put much into the plan. Yes, I needed a root canal last year, but surely I won’t need another one this year. Our son that plays basketball is graduating, and maybe our son that plays football won’t get injured as much this year. Our first two kids needed braces on their teeth, but maybe the third one won’t.
In other words, as a generally optimistic person, I find it hard to sit down and anticipate adversity. I want to believe that things will be better this year, perhaps easier, healthier, and more prosperous. I don’t want to “limit” next year’s possibilities by presuming it will be a repeat of last year, and I certainly don’t want to “jinx” it by planning for it to be worse!
But the reality is that the cost of living life fully is usually a little higher than we anticipate. If we knew all the injuries that are ahead, we might be hesitant to let our kids play sports. If we knew what viruses we will pick up, we might stay away from people who need us. Just “doing life” brings with it a certain amount of illness or injury, and we should anticipate that and even embrace it, whether or not we can precisely budget for it.
The same is true in our spiritual lives, and in our churches. What if a church looks into the coming year and asks the question, “What will it mean for us to live fully as the body of Christ in this place next year, to take the necessary risks, and to commit to accomplishing His Great Commission purposes here?” I suspect that church could anticipate some adversity. There are often injuries and illnesses that go with living as the body of Christ under the Lordship of Jesus.
What if we more accurately anticipated the adversity that comes from living fully for Christ, and from being the kinds of churches that really impact our communities? What if, instead of turning away from the pain, we just banked on it as part of the cost of faithful living? We have biblical reasons to do so, you know. Jesus said, “In the world you will have tribulation …” and James wrote, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds ….”
In fact, look for the words “trials” or “tribulation” or “suffering” or “persecution” and you will find them all over the letters of the New Testament. If they had spiritual Flex 125 Plans in those days, I think they would be writing to one another, “Put a lot more in there, friends; living faithfully is going to be costly again this year.”
As my wife and I sat down to consider our Flex 125 Plan for this next year, we realized that we spent more on medical expenses last year than we had set aside. We didn’t think living normal, healthy lives would cost so much. So next year we’ll plan for the “cost of living” to be a little higher, and be grateful for the continued life and health that God provides. As churches, we would be wise, and faithful, to do the same. Reaching our communities with the Gospel is likely to be more costly, in many ways, this year. If we will acknowledge that and buy into it in advance, perhaps we won’t find ministry quite as … taxing this year.
