Category Archives: stewardship

Reap What You Sow

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When you decide to invest for your financial future, what do you consider to be important? Do you want to accumulate money for retirement or to purchase something big, like real estate? Do you need money to get your children through college or to start a business? You may also think about your risk tolerance, impact on taxes, and personal comfort zone. As Stephen Covey says, always start with the end in mind.

For Christian investors, this saying may have a deeper meaning.

Reap What You Sow

As investors, we ask ourselves these questions:

  1. What is the best use of my money? Should I invest now or use my income to pay off or avoid debt?
  2. What is my objective for investing? Do I want safety, long-term appreciation, or high gains? 
  3. Where and how much should I invest at my age? Should I invest while I’m young, have more disposable income, and can recover should my investment choices fail? Or should I wait until middle age when I am making more money and thinking of retirement?
  4. How much time do I have before I need to turn my investments into cash for living expenses? 

As Christian investors, we may also ask:

  1. How does God want me to invest my money? We should be good stewards by investing wisely, a concept emphasized in the Parables of the Talents in Mathew 25:14-30
  2. What investment opportunities should I seek? Our investment objective should always be to make the world a better place. No one can serve two masters. We cannot serve God and worship money at the same time, as we read in Luke 16:8-13
  3. What should be my attitude about the future? Keep a wise and humble attitude about the future and avoid boasting about wealth. Proverbs 27:1
  4. Can I be sure my investments will be profitable? Trust in God and make thoughtful choices about investments. Romans 8:29

Someone paraphrased the challenge of Christian life as “living in the world without being part of it.” There are no easy answers as to how to do this except in Scripture. Understanding God’s Word on wealth, money, and stewardship may not offer financial success, but we will all reap and sow more confidently by investing according to His teachings.

Estate & Gift Planning Awareness

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October is Estate and Gift Planning Awareness Month — dedicated to supporting the improvement of financial awareness and financial literacy for all Americans.

According to the Financial Awareness Foundation, a majority of adults in the U.S. that reach age 79 are almost out of money even though life expectancies are well in the mid-80s and beyond.

Over 120 million adults don’t have nor do they understand the importance of having a current financial, estate and gift planning strategy to protect themselves and their assets during their lifetime and after death.

Too many young people and their families are burdened with excessive education debt. Student loan debt is the second largest class of consumer debt after mortgages!

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau reported in January 2019 that there’s a link between financial education and financial well-being. A key finding was that while many adults desire to educate themselves to become more financially literate, they often seek out that information only within their social networks. This cuts across all demographics, including education level and income and is quite alarming: People are making critical life decisions based on information gained from non-experts and fragmented sources. 

If you, or someone you care about, needs a financial health and planning checkup, we are happy to offer our professional advice, or we can recommend a financial planner that is the ideal fit for your personal financial situation. Drop us a note at info@stewardshipworks.org

“Sell All That You Have”

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A rich young man said to Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Jesus answered, “Sell all that you have and give to the poor.” Mark 10:21

What? Sell my home, my cars, the sofa, the lawnmower, clothing, shoes, and all that stuff in my garage? You’ve got to be kidding!

When we, as wealthy Americans (and we are all wealthy as compared to the world population), read this Bible passage, how does it make us feel? Confused mostly, because it can’t be possible for God to wish that we actually sell all that we have and, after it’s all gone, still give more to the poor!

If we have “stuff” and money, are we doomed to the eternal fire because we disobeyed Jesus?

Look at the passage again, the rich young man asked Jesus how to inherit even more than he already had. In addition to his worldly goods, he also wanted to “inherit” (get without working for it) eternal life. 

Jesus was teaching the young man a valuable lesson. Serve the Lord, not money. Comparing the concept of eternity, endless time, with the 70 – 90 years of earthly life, can put a few things into perspective. We also learn in 1 Timothy 6:17-19, that we can serve God and His people by means of our money so as to “win the life that is true life.” Bottom line, material wealth should never become our god, nor should our greed prevent us from reaching out to the needy.