Hello and welcome to another podcast of It’s Not Your Money: Finding the Peace of Putting God First. The message of It’s Not Your Money is to help you connect your faith-life with your financial life. The first step in that journey is to trust God. You can trust God to provide.

We all know the angst we experience when striving to balance family and personal time with advancing our career and earning more money to build our investment accounts in order to buy the things we think we need now and to have enough for the future. On the last cast I proposed that to alleviate this stress and angst, we need to change our attitudes toward money and possessions by admitting that God owns everything and God gives us everything as we read in 1 Chronicles 29. Therefore, we can rest easy in the truth that He loves us and will provide for us. We can trust God at His word. Let’s consider a handful of Bible verses that encourage us to trust God:

Psalm 37:3   Trust in the Lord and do good that you may dwell in the land and live secure.

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, on your own intelligence do not rely; In all your ways be mindful of him, and he will make straight your paths.

2 Corinthians 1:9-10   Indeed, we had accepted within ourselves the sentence of death, that we might trust not in ourselves but in God who raises the dead. He rescued us from such great danger of death, and he will continue to rescue us; in him we have put our hope [that] he will also rescue us again

Trust is one of the main attributes God asks of us. We can trust God that He will, as Paul says, rescue us. We can rely on His love and grace. We can be vulnerable with Him. This may sound a little counter-intuitive. It may be counter-cultural to trust in anyone other than ourselves to provide for us. After all, I am the one who is to look out for my needs – to follow society’s dictum to “look out for number one!” You may have heard the aphorism, “If it is to be, it is up to me.”

And so we strive and stress to make more money to get more stuff. That is the way to happiness. That is the way to feel successful. That is the way of our world. How is that working out for you?

Get off that merry-go-round. Listen to what the Psalmist says in Chapter 49:6-14, “Why should I fear in evil days…Of those who trust in their wealth and boast of their abundant riches? No man can ransom even a brother, or pay to God his own ransom…Indeed, he will see that the wise die, and the fool will perish together, and they leave their wealth to others…This is the way of those who trust in themselves.”

We think we can trust in ourselves and in our wealth, and that our riches will make us happy. But, we cannot redeem ourselves. Riches are transitory. We can’t take it with us. There is now trailer hitch on a hearse.

So there seems to be some competition between what the world tells us we need to do and what we need to have to be happy versus what God says. We’ll begin to consider a handful of “World Says vs. God Says” axioms in the next podcast. Until then, please stop for a moment and ask yourself if you can trust God. What keeps you from trusting God and putting Him first in your life? Know that trust comes from faith, and like faith, the more we exercise it, the stronger it becomes.

Thank you for listening. Please share this podcast with your family and friends. And please like my FB page. Hey – and go to my website itsnotyourmoney.org, to the “Join In” tab and share your story of how you placed your trust in God, and what happened. Do that and reference this podcast, and I’ll send you a copy of my book for free.

Till next time, Be Well.

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It’s Not Your Money seeks to help you form the foundation of discipleship. The message is that by putting God first in your life, you gain the sense of peace and contentment that you truly seek.

On the last podcast I said that trusting God to provide, and so giving courageously demonstrates a mature faith. I asked what keeps you from doing that. What keeps you from embracing God’s way to live, God’s will for your life? Did you know that each of us is called to holiness? Sound impossible? Pope Francis tells us that holiness is the mission of every Christian. Pope St. John Paul II said there are many ways to holiness according to the vocation of each individual. So then, how do we attain holiness?

It starts with considering our Ideal. An authentic Ideal gives meaning and purpose to life. It causes us to rise above our normal self. It drives us to be a part of something bigger than ourselves. It gives us hope for our future. Think about what drives and informs who you are. What are your priorities? What kind of person do you aspire to be? This is hard stuff, I know, but forming the proper Ideal is vital to how we live our lives every day. And so, it is vital to our discipleship.

Stewardship is the Ideal

Stewardship gives us the perfect framework on which to build our discipleship. Stewardship as our Ideal becomes our philosophy of life – that set of beliefs that determine how we set priorities and make decisions. So as disciples of Jesus Christ, living stewardship should be our Ideal.

A Stewardship Ideal is a mindset. This mindset first admits and embraces the truth that It’s Not Mine. God owns everything! What??! I hear your push-back, “Joe, what do you mean God owns everything? I own my things.” Yes, of course we own our things. Thankfully, we have laws that govern our ownership of things in relationship with each other. But in relationship with God – He owns everything.

The Bible lays this foundation. The passage in 1 Chronicles 29:11-14 says, in summary, that “All in heaven and earth are yours, Lord. Riches and glory are from You. Everything is from You.”

So, since everything is from God, this means that God gives us everything. Every single thing we have is given to us from God. What??! You push back again, “Joe, nobody gives me anything. I earn everything I have.” Yes, of course we work and earn the money we have to spend to get the things we have. But think about it – where do you get the talent, the ability to do what you do to earn? Where do you get the time to go do what you do?

Consider one more verse with me. It is Deuteronomy 8:10-18, especially verse 18. Moses tells us to “Remember then the LORD, your God, for he is the one who gives you the power to get wealth.” God reminds us that He is the one who gives us the ability to earn.

I go into a lot more detail on this in the book. Get copies at the website www.itsnotyourmoney.org

A huge step toward being a mature disciple is to embrace this truth that God owns everything and God gives us everything. Make this the foundation of your philosophy of life – your Ideal. When I did, my mindset changed and allowed me to begin to put God first in my life, in every area of my life, including money. This was a giant step toward alleviating stress and finding my peace.

Thank you for listening. Think about your Ideal. Make living Stewardship your Ideal. Please share this with your family and friends, and your priest. Also, please share your thoughts on this with me. Do that at the website under the “Join In” tab.

Till next time, Be Well.

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Deuteronomy 26:2and 10 tell us plainly what our financial priority is to be. It says, “You shall take some first fruits of the various products of the soil which you harvest from the land the LORD, your God, is giving you; put them in a basket and go to the place which the LORD, your God, will choose as the dwelling place for his name. Now, therefore, I have brought the first fruits of the products of the soil which you, LORD, have given me.” You shall set them before the LORD, your God, and you shall bow down before the LORD, your God.

There it is – God first. We are to give to God from the first fruits of what He gives to us.

No misconstruing that one. We are to acknowledge that everything comes from God. And in humility and gratitude, we give back to God from our first fruits.

Is God first in your life? In every area of your life? If I looked at your check book would I see evidence of that?

Give to God the first fruits of your income.

Give to God because It’s Not Your Money.

#GodFirst #FirstFruits

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Hello and welcome to another podcast of It’s Not Your Money: Finding the Peace of Putting God First. The message of It’s Not Your Money is to help you connect your faith-life with your financial life. The first step in that journey is to trust God. You can trust God to provide.

On the last podcast I talked of how when I finally took that step of faith and trusted God enough to start giving courageously, that my life changed for the good. Stressing about money melted away.

That is absolutely true, but I have a confession to make: it didn’t all happen at once. It was more of a progression of steps over time. Let me share with you how that progression went.

The first steps happened when I was in my mid-thirties. Up to that point, I was all about building my career, my family, and my lifestyle. Sure, We went to Mass, I taught CCD, and when the collection basket came by I put some money in. I was doing all I was supposed to be doing – or so I thought.

Remember last cast I mentioned my friend’s testimony on a Stewardship Sunday that nudged me to be more intentional about my giving. I went from giving haphazardly whatever cash was in my pocket – and I never carried too much cash – to writing checks, most weeks, to giving online.

The biggest step came about 15 years ago. Father’s homily challenged us to think about what we are giving in return for all of God’s blessings. I felt a prompting by the Holy Spirit to increase giving by $15 per week. I know that doesn’t sound like much, but it was that nudge that gave me pause. I wasn’t sure I could afford that on top of everything else. You can read the details of that account in the book, but suffice it to say that it came down to trust. Did I trust God to provide, or not.

By the grace of God, I gathered my courage, stepped out in faith, and increased our giving. And what happened???       Nothing happened. We didn’t miss any meals. All the bills got paid. But what really happened was I gained a sense of peace I can not explain. That was the “a-ha” moment for me. That was when I learned that I truly can trust God to provide.

Trust God to provide in your life. Put Him first in every area of your life, including and especially with money. Take the step of faith like I did and see if you, too, don’t begin to realize the sense of peace and happiness you truly want.

Please share this podcast with your family and friends. And please like my FB page. And please get copies of the book to share. Get those at the website itsnotyourmoney.org

Thank you for listening. Till next time, Be Well.

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