Ep. 8 | Biblical Money Principles For Life

Money is one of the things that Jesus talked about the most. How should we handle money? What should we give? Is money evil, or is it just misunderstood? Does God really need our money, and why does Scripture place such a strong emphasis on giving?

We answers all of these questions and more on this weeks episode. If it's helpful make sure to subscribe and leave a comment!

Transcript

SPEAKER_01 0:00

Welcome to the For What It's Worth podcast, where our goal is to help you navigate life, faith, and culture. Today we're going to be talking about one of the most important principles in life, and that is money. And I believe if you apply what we talk about today to your life, it will change your life for forever. So subscribe if today is helpful and enjoy the episode. All right, we're back today. We got Adam here, we got Michael here. And fellas, we're talking about something that people get super uncomfortable about. And people are probably going to get mad at the things we say in this conversation, but we're talking about money, everyone's favorite subject, every pastor's favorite subject, frankly. So we're going to talk about it today, though. But here's the thing about money, and I know people get uncomfortable about it, but one out of every 10 verses in the Gospels is about money. And then listen to this. There are 2,350 times in the Bible that money is referenced. And so, like, obviously, it's something that the Bible cares about a lot. Jesus cared about a lot. And so we have to talk about it because it's an important thing. And you see it a lot in probably our own lives, but you see it in the world too. That the thing that's said is that you can't serve both God and money. It's not God and relationships, it's not God and status. It's God and money. And so clearly those two things are the things that combat. But before we hop into just some really practical questions about money, I want to give just a theological overview of what the Bible actually says about money. Because you hear tithe in church, right? That's the word that you hear. And all the tithe is, it's the Hebrew word for a tenth. And that is the baseline of giving that we as Christians are supposed to give. Now you'll hear two arguments against that. One, tithing is old testament, that's under the law, and we live under grace now. But the reality is the tithe was actually implemented before the law. Abraham, he gave a tenth to Melchazedek. We love Abelch. Okay. He's you he you hear about him like twice in the Bible, but he's a big deal. But Abraham, so this is actually established pre-law, and then in the New Testament, Jesus says that you should tithe. Now he's reprimanding the Pharisees, but in his reprimand, he tells them that they that they should be tithing. So you see that in both Old and New Testament that you should be tithing, but then you'll hear people say, Well, I'm a New Testament giver, and you know, I just the tithe is, like I said, law, and you know, I'm just a New Testament giver. And the New Testament says that we're just supposed to give, they they get this from where is it, 2 Corinthians, right? A giving according to what they have and giving to whatever they feel led to give. But the the thing about this piece in 2 Corinthians is Paul is writing to the church and receiving an offering. And so offering, yes, is over and above giving, whatever you feel led to, whatever you're able to. But this baseline of tithe is something that's 10% that we're all supposed to give. And if you really want to follow the New Testament model of giving, well, they were selling everything they had and giving it to the poor. So to me, I'm like, I'll I'll take the tithe. I'll take the tithe over that. But so so that's that's that's a real just general overview of what the Bible actually says about it and just arguments against it. And obviously, there's in Malachi where people love to talk about the the part of Malachi where it says, test me in the tithe, and I'll pour out the blessings of heaven upon you. People love to talk about that. But if you go one verse back, people really talk about this one. But it says, You are God is saying, You are robbing me, and you're living under a curse because you refuse to tithe. And so that that's a real, like I said, general overview of what the Bible actually says about giving, because you hear opinions on the internet, but when you do when you're trying to build your life on principles, you have to go to what the Bible actually says. And the biblical precedent, both pre-law and after the law, is that tithing should be the baseline. And then obviously, if you want to give over and above, give over and above according to what you have and according to what you feel led to, like Paul says in 2 Corinthians. But the first thing I want to ask Adam is is money inherently evil?

SPEAKER_00 4:14

Simple answer no. Money is not evil. If money was evil, then why would we need to have it, need to give it? All the things. Money is a tool, it's an instrument for daily life and living. It's a tool, it's an instrument for building up the church, doing outreaches, reaching the community. Money in itself is not evil, but what does the the Bible say? The love of money is the root of all evil. Right. And so when you love money over God, it will lead you to to potentially do evil things. I'm not gonna say it's gonna lead you to do it evil things today, tomorrow, but at some point you will fall in the category of doing evil because your love is placed in a in a thing and not God. And so is money evil? No. Money is a tool, an instrument, something that we use in our daily life to buy food, have fun, go to the movies, but also to serve the poor, give out homeless kits, uh, whatever, whatever your local church does to do outreach. Money is the instrument that allows us to do those things. And so I would almost venture to say that money is good when you're doing it the right way.

SPEAKER_01 5:23

Yeah, you could you can assign purpose to money. Yeah, right. Like you can use it for evil and you can use it for good. Like a perfect example. We like at the church that we're all part of, Healing Place Church, we do Hams for Fams every Thanksgiving. That is requires money to be able to bring Thanksgiving food to people that can't afford it. So that's that's a good use of money. Then there's like George Soros, who uses money to destroy the planet, right? Like you can use your money for both good and bad. And like you said, if if if you love morning more, if you love money more than God, well, that's a sin. And so it is what purpose you assign to it. But Michael, can money bring you joy?

SPEAKER_02 6:02

This is a funny one. I I mean, simple answer for this one too. No. Uh, I mean, we know, like, we believe in God, we believe the word. And so every good and perfect thing comes from above. Anything that's gonna make us feel joy is gonna come from God. But can money be a part of the path there? Like, absolutely. I feel pretty happy when I'm like hanging out at Disney World with my boys, you know, and we go to Ohana and we're uh we're smashing all you can eat shrimp, dude. Uh, and so I'm feeling pretty joyous. But you know, if I sit here and think like, oh, the reason that I'm happy right now and having a good time is because of the money that it costs. Like, I'm really missing the mark. Like the Lord built all of the earth and everything and and is instrumental in every single good and strong idea that we have. And so I I think it's like a really shallow perspective to look at life and look at joyous things that maybe money was involved in getting you to that movie theater or to that restaurant or on that vacation. Like if you go to Italy and you're looking out like in some bay and you're like at all of this beautiful creation, and you're like, man, money is so awesome. You're like, dude, you're missing it. Like, God made all of that. And so I think it could be part of the path to getting there, but like money is not bringing anybody joy.

SPEAKER_01 7:26

Yeah. They did they did a study where they found that money up to 70,000, like income up to $70,000 a year brings incremental increases of joy, but after $70,000 a year, money actually doesn't add any joy to your life. It doesn't make a difference, uh, which I thought was interesting. But I think the problem with that is we don't actually believe that. Like we we believe that no, I'd be happier if I had 200 grand. Right. Or if I was driving a Lexus instead of a Toyota Corolla. Like we don't actually or a Tesla, uh, like some people in this chat. Um but yeah, we actually don't believe that. And like Michael said, money can bring you temporary happiness. Like, yeah, bro, I'm happy when I'm at the beach and it costs money to go to the beach, but that's not lasting joy. Even Ecclesiastes says that that if you love money, you'll never have enough. Uh so loving it goes back to that loving money thing. Like money up to a point does add value to your life, but there's no difference in in your internal joy between 100, 200 a million. Um, and and and I want to be I want to I don't want to be unsensitive in saying this, but like the thing that registered for me at one point, because I used to struggle with this hard of like money, money, money, money, gotta get money, gotta get money. And then I went into ministry, so didn't make you know, figure that one out. But I I I used to struggle with this, and and I was having a conversation with someone about it, and they were they just shot me straight and they were like, hey man, if money truly could bring you happiness, then you would see no depression, anxiety, suicide amongst millionaires and billionaires, right? Like that and and it's like you say, you don't want to be insensitive in saying that because it it's a tragedy anytime anything like that happens to anybody. But it struck me of like, oh, yeah, money actually doesn't bring you joy. Like you truly do have to find your joy in the Lord.

SPEAKER_02 9:19

I I think too, I mean, if money brings you happiness, then the lack of money will will pull all of that away. And so that's such a shaky foundation to build your life on. Like, even if we really did think, like, yeah, money can bring you joy, money money comes, money goes, dude. Like anything could happen. People get down on their luck all the time. And if that's the foundation that you're building your the joy of your life on, like you're gonna end up in a situation where you're not gonna have access to any sort of joy. But if you build this foundation on Christ and God, like He's steadfast and everlasting. And so no matter what you're going through, highs and lows, you always have access to that joy and that peace.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Right. I I know poor people that are the most joyous people I've ever met, and I know miserable rich people. Like and that's just that's just how it goes. But Adam, what so say you've got some money, whether you make it 40k a year, 100 grand a year, 200 grand a year, what should you actually be spending your money on?

SPEAKER_00 10:16

Whatever you want. No, I'm just playing. Not whatever you want. I know for my wife and I, we we follow the 10, 10, 80 principle. And so it's tithe 10, save 10, live on the 80. And the tithe is something that's super important to us, and so that's something that we we when we first get our paycheck, it's the first thing that goes out. Um, and then the next, like literally the way that our bank account is set up, it's like automatic pool for tithe, automatic pool for um our savings, and then um we live on the 80%. And so um, whatever that may look like, you know, for me, for us, um, I I don't know what the percentage is, uh, but a a good bit of that goes to our house note, and then and over buying groceries and uh going on vacation. Um, you know, the the normal life things, but for us, like the most important side of that is the tithe. And I I will say I was never taught how to use my money wisely. And so when I was single, I didn't follow any principle. I just got a paycheck, tithe 10 because I knew I had to, and then just spent 90% on what I wanted to shoes, high, hunting gear, yeah, like just ridiculous things. But I wish I would have when I was 18, 19, 20, single, tithing my 10 and then probably saving 10, but investing, you know, 20, 30 percent, because I didn't need that much to live on. I wasn't I wasn't out here going crazy. I was bumming in at my mom's house, you know, like I didn't have any bills. Um, and so for those who are, you know, in that 18 to 22 age gap, and maybe you have some money, tithe your 10, save your 10, but it look at what you can invest and cut back on some of your expenses that you don't necessarily have to do. Don't eat out every single night, eat out a few times a week, but find a place where you can invest early because it will help you out in the long run. And so I wish I would have known that, you know, earlier on, but that's that's how we live our life. 10, 10, 80.

SPEAKER_01 12:17

Yeah, I think that's why is that Michael should because Adam talked about a budget. Should every person have a budget?

SPEAKER_02 12:23

100%. If you don't have a budget, then you're just you're wasting your money. Even if you're not like in practice, if you don't know where it's going and you're not controlling where it's going, then things they get out of your hands super fast. And so, like, I want my money to be honoring to the Lord, to be a blessing to my church, my community, and ultimately to be to take care of my family. And if I don't have a budget, I'm not gonna be able to do any of those things. I'm gonna realize, dude, I spent 500 bucks on McChickens this month, and I could have been, you know, hanging out with my kids or whatever. You know, I mean, out then, and now my urgent care bill is through the roof because all those McChickens, you know, like and I'm not I'm not being smart. The hot and spicies, man, they stack up.

SPEAKER_01 13:13

Nah, they're unbelievable too.

SPEAKER_02 13:15

I know that mayo in there is like insane. Um, but yeah, if we don't have budgets, man, we're just run, we're just running around aimlessly and we are gonna waste money. And I mean, honestly, the it's uh a level of like ignorance and like naivety that the devil is gonna grasp onto and uh can easily be used to uh take over your life because you're like I make whatever. Like my my wife and I together make 80 80k, and we should totally have money and savings and be able to do this, and we can't. Like, why is that? And it's because we're not paying attention, we're not planning.

SPEAKER_01 13:54

Yeah, and it it's important it's important to understand that we are actually not owners of our money, we're stewards of the money God has given us. And so I don't think you can be a good steward of what God is asking you to steward if you don't know where your money's going. Like you need to assign where the resources that God has given me going. Is it to like we talked about the 10%, first 10%, that's that's automatic. Then you should probably save because that's wise. And then, yeah, house note, like spending your money on needs instead of wants, like I need a car, I want to go to the UK for a week, right? Like those two are not the same thing. And so assigning purpose to your money because ultimately we're stewards of what God has given us. But does God actually need our money?

SPEAKER_00 14:39

I would say yes. And and I I say yes from the perspective that if you our church like cannot do outreach without financial resources, right? And somebody could hear that and go, Well, well, God could just print some money. Okay, cool. Look how that went with America. Yeah, I think all that money. At the end of the day, like we have to give in order for outreach to happen. You know, like we we do I'm trying to say four really big outreaches every year, and they all require money to buy things. Like you mentioned, ham for fans, like it costs money to buy the hams and the meal kits. Right. And we do another one that's servicing oil for single moms and widows. It takes money to buy the air filters and the headlights and different things that we'll service on their cars as well as the oil. So it it costs money to do these things. And uh and the church doesn't just have a money printing machine in the back, you know, like it's it's it goes back to for me, Acts chapter four, when it talks about, hey, all the believers had everything in common. They sold possessions, they gave so that nobody had a need. And so when the church comes together and gives, it allows us to one, serve the people in our church well. You know, the that widows and single moms thing, that's a lot of that is we we offer it first to the people in our church and then go outside of that once if we have the availability to do so, but it allows us to serve our church well. And the same thing with Hansford Fams, like without resources, without money, there's no way that we could do what we do as a church when it comes to serving our community. And so, yeah, God does need our money.

SPEAKER_01 16:17

Yeah. I dude, I gotta be honest, man. Like, this is one of the things, like if we're power ranking the top three things that frustrate me that I hear pastors say, it's God don't need your money. And I'm like, that's half true. Because, like you said, God could God could speak and create a billion dollars right now. For sure. However, I think he chooses to need our money because he chooses to partner with us and everyone else, or with everything else. He could he could make everyone believe in him right now, but he chooses to partner with us to bring forth his kingdom on earth. Yeah, yeah. And like you said, it we we're all a part of Healing Place Church. If Healing Place Church did not get another dollar from this day forward, it wouldn't exist in six months. So, like, yeah, God, God does need our money because he chooses to need our money.

SPEAKER_00 17:04

And that's what you do, man, for it's it for us uh on our end, like it's an obedience side. Like, you know, we talk about tithing or offering, like it's a it's an obedience test. And do I do I trust God to do I trust God to to sustain me with 90%? Or do I feel like I have to have control of my hundred percent? And um, and that that 10% goes towards all church operations from staffing to outreach to the delights and the look what all the things that happen in church. Um and so it's a it's a big deal. And yeah, God, God does need our money, but more than more than he needs our money, I think this is where where pastors will will tie this in is at the end of the at the core of it, do I trust God with with my life and with do I trust that he is my provider above this money that I'm giving?

SPEAKER_01 17:54

Yeah, and and you know, we're talking about the tithe a lot, you all of us tithe, but an argument you'll hear against that, aside from the theology side, the practical side of people say, Well, I can't afford to give right now. Michael, what do you say to that?

SPEAKER_02 18:06

I've been there when my wife and I first got married, we moved to San Francisco, and I was making like 30 grand a year, and my rent costs like 24 grand a year. Like for like a shoebox on somebody's shelf. And I felt like that, man. I was like, dude, what am I I I don't know how I could possibly cover what I need to cover. And the place I got at that point was I'm gonna do every single thing I possibly can when it comes to serving at my church, serving the Lord, and anytime that there's an opportunity that arises where I can use my money to be the hands and feet of Jesus and bless somebody or or or help out with something, I'm gonna do it. And just because I I wasn't at a spot where at that point I was in the I'm not recommending this because I was a very young Christian, but I felt like I couldn't tie the full 10%. At least I still had the wherewithal to say there is an amount that I can give that I'm going to commit to giving. And so I had, and whatever that was, 2%, 3%, it was still a non-negotiable that we were gonna give that. Now, looking back now, I wish I would have just actually gave 10% and and trusted God with the rest. But I do think whatever that looks like, if you get to times where it feels like you can't give or whatever, you can. And and the the response should not be, I have to do this exactly or do nothing. If you're at a point where something may happen, like you got medical expenses show up one month, just then you get in a car accident, whatever, and you're like, oh dude, like I'm gonna be upside down in my life if I give 10%, but I could give nine, and so your responses are like, Well, I can't give ten, so I'm out. Like, you gotta do something, it's gotta mean more than just like a ritualistic 10%, 10%, 10% all the time. Yeah, if that's the way it is in your heart, then so legalistic that I I do think for me, I know I'm gonna do 10%. And that's what I I as I read the Bible and and discern from the Holy Spirit, that's what's supposed to be done. But I also understand like 26, 27, dude, like I've got a whole lot of life ahead of me. There might be situations where it feels like I couldn't do it, or maybe I and when those things come up, I need to pray about it, see what the how the Lord is directing me, and I still need to prioritize giving and do every single thing I can to use not just my treasures, but my times and my talent to give to the Lord.

SPEAKER_01 20:46

Yeah, and there's a couple things here. One, if you if you don't give when you have a little, you're not gonna give when you have a lot. That's just you're not going to. And I think about the woman with two coins, she gave everything. She didn't have a lot, she had hardly anything, and that she was the one that Jesus praised. And so I I think there is something of, dude, I don't have a lot, but I'm still gonna choose to trust God. And here's the fact, and I'm sure this would be the case for y'all. I've never met anybody that tithes that is constantly worried and stressed about money. But the people that I know that are always tripping about money, none of them tithe. And so, like it it goes back to Malachi three, where hey, if you're not tithing, you're actually robbing God and you're living under a curse. Like that that's just the Bible, bro. Get what classic get mad at the Bible situation. But that that's just I see it with my own eyes.

SPEAKER_00 21:35

I'm sure y'all have seen it as well as this is for for Haley and I, when we got married, like one of the first conversations we had, and this this comes from you know, Pastor Mike's teaching of like, hey, I want to know that my my kids' spouses are tithing because I want their money to be blessed and not cursed. And so one of the first conversations Haley and I had was about tithing. Like, hey, what do you think about tithing? And so it's like, you know, I'm I'm in church, I'm on staff. Like, I'm tithing 10%. It's non-negotiable for me. But for her, she was teaching. And so, you know, hey, how what does your tithe look like? Well, you know, I g I give. Okay, well, what do you what are you giving? Are you giving a tenth? It's like, no, I give like I give what would be the equivalent of like a fifth. And I was like, okay, so we're not tithing. So this is a non-negotiable for me. We have to tithe. And so she starts tithing. You know, we get engaged, we get married on our wedding night. Our our cake lady had messed up her cake. And so she was like, hey, I messed it up. I'll give you guys a refund, whatever. I'll touch basically all when you get back from your honeymoon. So we get back from our honeymoon. And um, you know, great time on the honeymoon. Jamaica was awesome. We got back day one. We had to pay all of our bills. Rent was due, the electricity was due, the trash was due, the Wi-Fi was due. It was all due. And so we were looking at our account, and bye-bye, all of the money. We literally had $20 our account. And then the we were renting at the time. And so the the people in the house, they texted me and they're like, hey, you forgot to pay this bill. And it was our light bill for $167. I'm like, cool, we're just not gonna have electricity this month. And uh I was sitting at the church doing some work on one of the computers, and she sent me a text. She's like, hey, the cake lady just texted me and said she sent us our refund. So I checked my Vemo, she sent me $167. And I literally just in all caps wrote, This is why we tithe. Yeah. Because God knew we were gonna be short, and he had already made a way for us to, we still had a great cake on our wedding and it didn't look the way we wanted it to look. But guess what? I got $167 to pay for my light bill. And just in that moment, it was like it was like, thank you, God. Like you knew exactly what I needed right when I needed it. And so we had $27 to eat some McChes the rest of the month. Come on, King.

SPEAKER_01 23:44

Dude, I uh we we all we all got stories like that too. Also, I did not notice anything about your cake on your wedding night. So like I thought the cake, I thought the cake was great. Tasted good, tasted good.

SPEAKER_00 23:55

It just didn't look exactly what we wanted.

SPEAKER_01 23:59

I didn't even know it existed at that point. Oh, but now here we are. Now here we are. Now, okay, so so people complain about prosperity gospel when we talk about money. You start to talk about money from the platform, people are like prosperity gospel. You know, we all know the pastors that kind of do that thing. But is there a piece of the prosperity gospel that is true? And what I mean by that, like, am I going to get something back if I give? Like, isn't there a principle there?

SPEAKER_02 24:23

It it depends what we think. Like, I know like prosperity gospel, obviously, tragic. I hear dudes saying that all the time like, hey, if you give my wife a thousand bucks, like God's gonna give you 70 virgins in heaven or whatever. Like your people just start twisting stuff up. But for me, I do think that uh if you give, God will take care of you. I not even do I think that, I know that. Like over the course of my life, my wife and I, every year when we're doing our taxes, one of the things that you see is like your yearly income for the past however many years that you've been doing taxes. And I'll look back sometimes and go, like, dude, the math is not math. Like, there's no way we afforded to pay all of our bills and eat and do anything that we did with this amount of money. But I know that we've been committed to ministry and serving and giving, and every single year, year after year, we've been taken care of. It hasn't necessarily been luxurious or like this lavish thing. But if you look at what your definition of prosperity is, like if that means to just like I'm gonna be sustained and taken care of, and everything that I need will always be there when I need it, not necessarily wants or anything above that, then like, yeah, I'm feeling pretty prosperous. Like, God has always met my needs in that way. But you know, do I just have money falling out of my ears and just because like I'm a youth pastor and I and I give? Like, absolutely not, dude. That's not promised to us. But God is gonna take care of us every single time.

SPEAKER_00 26:01

I think it depends on how you define like you said, defining prosperity. It's it's a you have to remember that in God's kingdom our definitions don't necessarily always fit. And so we'll say, Well, rich here looks like having eight zeros in your bank account. But in God's kingdom, rich in God's kingdom does not look like that. It's not the same. And so for me, when I think about being prosperous in the kingdom of God, I think about being full of the fruits of the Spirit. And for me, when I give and when I hear stories of, you know, single mom getting her oil changed or being able to give a family, like when when people tell us, like, hey, we weren't gonna have Thanksgiving, but because you gave us this, we could have a Thanksgiving meal, like that brings a level of joy that no amount of like if I had money to buy a jet ski, that jet ski joy and this this family having Thanksgiving dinner are incomparable. And so that's to me, that is prosperity. Like the joy that I get from giving and seeing the kingdom be impact or be brought here on earth. That is that is awesome. And and I agree, like when we give, God takes care of us. I've never lacked anything. Um you know, there and there's been times where we've struggled and it's been hard to say yes to things and we've had to say no to things, and we don't go out to eat for this month because we need to catch up on some bills. Like, yeah, that's that side of it sucks. But did I lack? No, I didn't. I didn't lack.

unknown 27:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 27:27

So I've watched as God is taking care of us, and I've watched as you know, pros prosperity, though it hasn't looked like this many zeros in my account, it has looked like, man, seeing God's kingdom touch earth and and move in my community, and and that I wouldn't change for any amount of money in my bank account.

SPEAKER_01 27:46

Yeah, when you walk in obedience, you're gonna be blessed. And there's the law of the harvest in scripture where if you sow sparingly, you're gonna reap sparingly. But if you sow abundantly, you're gonna reap abundantly. And that's not a give-to-get thing. Your heart is to give and be obedient to God. And when you give, like you said, Adam, then you're gonna find joy in other areas of life. Like you can be blessed in your health, blessed in your relationships, blessed in your marriage, your kids be healthy. Like that, we gotta we gotta we gotta get away from blessing equals money because there's so many other things in your life that you can and would honestly rather be blessing. You can have a million dollars, but if your marriage sucks, well, what's the point? Right? Like I'm gonna be blessed across the board. But to close us, how can we practically guard our hearts when it comes to money?

SPEAKER_00 28:29

So I think I think number one, keep the tithe, number one in your life. It is to me, uh, it's a non-negotiable because it simply says, God, I trust you with this number one, it says I trust you with this 90% of my life, but uh, or this 90% of my income. But also it's like, I trust you with my life because I'm already creating like a negative gap here, right? I'm giving up 10%. That for somebody could be the difference in paying their car note that month or going to the doctor or whatever it may be, and you're saying, hey God, instead of this, I trust to you. And I've seen time and time again where God takes care of us, and we've talked about we're beating that horse in this podcast, but keeping the tithe central, number one, I think will keep you in alignment with God's will, but also keep you in obedience and trust to him and his plan for your life.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

It's important to pursue your relationship with Christ. And this is something that I feel like every single episode we get to this same point. But the deeper relationship you have with Christ, the more you know him, the easier it becomes to trust. Like I'm have seen time and time again that God is he's not a man that he should lie, and he has been faithful and consistent in in my life. And so when it comes to now, here we're talking about tithing, it's a much easier situation for me to trust him, to believe that he's gonna do what he's gonna do, because I have so much evidence that he has done it. Now, you don't necessarily have that rapport if you're a new Christian. That doesn't mean like, oh, we'll just wait to tithe until you have built up your a strong relationship with Christ and you trust him. But one of the things that will help you along that journey is to focus in on building that relationship. Because if you're just giving and you're like not really building your relationship with Christ, and you're just trying to like uh, I don't know, throw throw the money at the church and move on and just do whatever else you want to do in the rest of your life, like that's not gonna last. That's gonna that's a shaky foundation and it's gonna break down. So get a deeper relationship with Christ, and He will reveal to you even other ways that uh your faithfulness, like Adam was talking about earlier, um how how much more richness he can add to your life through just that sort of communication and back and forth that you'll have.

SPEAKER_01 30:40

Yeah, there's three things here. Give, give the tithe, have guardrails, have a budget, assign value or assign purpose to your money, and don't compare. I think you can you the comparison to other people's money is is the fast track to make a money an idol in your own life. Uh and so don't compare yourself to the person that's going to Santorini for the third time this year on Instagram. Like, okay, who cares really? You know, like I if you do those three things, man, I think you're gonna be a lot more content in your own life, but also live a life that's just more blessed because you're being obedient to God. But man, I that that that'll wrap it for today. Fellas, thank you all for hopping on. Thank y'all for listening. We hope it was helpful to everybody, and we'll see y'all next Tuesday. Thank you for watching today's episode. We hope it was helpful to you in your walk with Jesus. If it was helpful, make sure to send this to a friend and subscribe to the channel, and we see you next Tuesday.