00:00:00 Thanks for joining me on episode 737 of the inspired stewardship podcast. I'm Shelly Lombard, founder of Millie money. Learning how to invest. We'll give you options for your future and to help others get inspired. One way to do that is to listen to this podcast, inspired stewardship with my friend, Scott Mader. And again, this isn't about where I stand and this isn't about my own political beliefs.
00:00:38 This is for all of us. I think it happens on both sides of the aisle. I think it happens every single day, and I think it happens whether you're a Christian or whether you aren't you state that you stand for certain things, but then your actions show that that's out of alignment. Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast.
00:01:01 If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast. We'll learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact the world. And today's spiritual foundation episode about investing in yourself.
00:01:31 I talk with you about why this idea of you are, what you do, is it about your career or your vocation, but rather your action. And instead I share why we are what is said in first Peter chapter two, verse nine. I also share what it means that we need to listen more. So our actions are in alignment with what we stand for.
00:01:55 One of the most popular questions that people will ask even a total stranger is what do you do? I would argue that who are you or what's your name? And what do you do are probably the two most common questions that we get asked in various settings, other than maybe how are you doing? And how are you doing is usually a question that really doesn't require an answer.
00:02:17 Instead. It's just about being friendly. But when you start talking to someone, pass that and you start asking things like what their name is and what they do for a living. That's when you're starting to try to get a little deeper into building a relationship. But in this case, what I'm talking about, who you are is what you do. I'm not talking about your career.
00:02:36 I'm not talking about your vocation. I'm not talking about what you get paid for, or even the hobbies that you do or volunteer work or passion projects, per se. Instead, I'm talking about any action that we take. I'm talking about what we say to other people. I'm talking about how we act out to other people. I'm reminded of a story.
00:03:01 I believe it was from Duke, the seminary there, they, they took a bunch of pastors and training people that were getting ready to go out. And they told them that they had to deliver a sermon within the next hour or so over at the other side of campus. And the sermon was on the subject of the good Samaritan. You know, the story of the man that all of these people pass by.
00:03:27 As he laid injured on the side of the road. And for some of them, they told them you better leave now because you're already late. The, the sermon is supposed to have started already. You better hurry up and get into the other side of campus. And for the others, they told them they had plenty of time to get onto the other side of campus.
00:03:47 And what was interesting is they set up an experiment where there was somebody in the pathway and an area where they could not get around them, who was lying there, obviously injured. And of course, I think as most of us would expect here are these pastors that thought they were late, would literally step over the person in the majority of cases, something like 70 or 80% of them stepped over the injured person to go deliver a sermon about not neglecting an injured person,
00:04:20 where if they had plenty of time, these folks would actually stop and help. It's kind of the results that we would expect. And yet this is not something we would expect from someone that we generally think of as perhaps a good person. And I hate to tell you this, but you probably exhibit similar actions that are out of alignment with what you say and who you say you are,
00:04:44 what we say we represent. I do it as well. I found myself this week, lashing out at people sometimes when in reality, what I should be doing or is being quiet and listening. I'm reminded this week of first Peter chapter two, verse nine, but you are a chosen people, a Royal priesthood, a Holy nation. God's special possession that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light at the end of the day.
00:05:14 That's the truth. All of us, all of us As Christians are called to be the light into the world. And yet all too often, what we end up instead doing is taking our own particular view. Whether it's being on the right or on the left, whether it's being liberal or conservative, we look at the world and we expect everything to operate the way we feel it should.
00:05:39 And when it doesn't, instead of listening, we get angry. You, I truly believe that most people in the world want good things. They want good results. They want the best, not just for themselves, but for others, but the problem, what we often disagree and argue about is what does that mean? What does that look like? And how do we actually get there?
00:06:05 And what I would argue is that as you see all of this going on in the world with the election here in the United States and all of this fear and anger and angst and worry to calm down and to listen more, not because listening is all we do, we still are called to take action. We have to do things, but we have to do things that are in alignment with what we say.
00:06:31 We stand for what we say. We believe we have to go out and take actions that show people the Christian way in action. And I think sometimes instead we get so mired down and trying to talk about what we believe that we stop and don't listen to what others believe. We can't look for the common ground because we're not even listening to what they say.
00:06:57 And again, this isn't about where I stand and this isn't about my own political beliefs. This is for all of us. I think it happens on both sides of the aisle. I think it happens every single day. And I think it happens whether you're a Christian or whether you aren't, you state that you stand for certain things, but then your actions show that that's out of alignment.
00:07:20 So I'd ask you to kind of do a survey of what you're thinking and what you're saying this week and try to listen more and then do the things that actually show that you are, you are what you do. Thanks for listening. Thanks so much for listening to the inspired stewardship podcast, as a subscriber and listener, we challenge you to not just sit back and passively listen,
00:07:54 but act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. If you enjoy this episode, do me a favor, go over to facebook.com/inspired stewardship and like our Facebook page and market that you'd like to get notifications from us so that we can connect with you on Facebook and make sure that we're serving you to the best of our abilities with time and tips there until next time,
00:08:28 invest your time, your talent and your treasures, develop your influence and impact the world..