Episode 865 Balance Your Money for Self and Others
[00:00:00] Scott Maderer: [00:00:00] Thanks for joining me on episode 865 of the inspired stewardship podcast I Matt.
[00:00:09] Matt and Jocylen Woodrum: [00:00:09] And I'm Jocelyn
[00:00:10] from the family
[00:00:11] life movement podcast. We challenge you to find a way to balance your work and your family. And one way to be inspired to do that is to listen to this inspired stewardship podcast by my friend, Scott Maderer.
[00:00:28] Scott Maderer: [00:00:28] it's about taking care of yourself first, but then giving also to others, sacrificially, it's about looking to make sure that not just you and yours are taken care of, but the people around you are taken care of too. It's looking to make sure that you connect to yourself, but you don't. Serve yourself.
[00:00:50] Welcome. And thank you for joining us on the inspired stewardship podcast. If you truly desire to become the person who God wants you to be, then you [00:01:00] must learn to use your time, your talent and your treasures for your true calling in the inspired stewardship podcast, we will learn to invest in yourself, invest in others and develop your influence so that you can impact.
[00:01:15] The
[00:01:16]in today's episode about investing in others through stewarding your treasures. I talk with you about why serving others with your money. Doesn't mean you give everything away. I share how having money and serving money. Aren't the same thing. And I also share how you can balance giving. If you take care of yourself first.
[00:01:37] As we talk about stewarding your treasures. Wouldn't it be great. If you could support this podcast and do it without costing yourself an extra dime, it turns out you can. All you have to do is use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. When you're ready to make a purchase via Amazon and a small commission, we'll come back to support the show.
[00:01:59] If you enjoy [00:02:00] the show, when you're ready to buy from Amazon, just use inspired stewardship.com/amazon. Is it possible that you could be called to be so sacrificial in your giving that you give away everything you own, that you take a vow of poverty and that you're called to live in something where you have nothing.
[00:02:21] And the answer is yes, that's entirely possible. That is something that some very few people are truly called to do think mother Teresa here, thank people that take a vow of poverty and live that way through their entire life. But the truth is for most of us, that's not what God is calling for us to do with our money.
[00:02:44] For most of us, what God is calling for us to do is. To actually take care of ourselves and out of the strength of that, to then pour out to others, it doesn't require giving everything away. [00:03:00] Serving others with your money can be giving to charity can be giving a tie, can even be giving sacrificially with your money, but it also can be mean using some of your money or the proceeds from your money to serve and help others.
[00:03:16] It can even be starting a business that truly serves others. And does it. Take advantage of them are manipulate them, but actually gives a product or a service that is needed that is quality. And that people pay you for, the truth is serving others with your money doesn't necessarily mean that you have no money.
[00:03:41] Instead, what it does mean is that you're not serving money. That's the Bible passage, right? You can't serve two masters. You can't serve God and money. Notice it. Doesn't say you can't have God. If you have money, it says you can't serve them. If everything in your life [00:04:00] revolves around the money that you get and the money that you keep and how you spend that money on yourself.
[00:04:06] If it revolves around having the greatest car, the latest car or the most expensive house, if that's what you judge your success by then you're worshiping the money. Instead of God, you're putting money as your security. You're putting money as your provider. You're no longer serving God first because you're not looking out for the ways that God is calling you to use the money that God blessed you with.
[00:04:36] It's God's money in the first place. And yet all too often, I see people when we look at their budget, they say, I don't have the money to tie because they put their tithing and their giving at the bottom of their budget. The truth is it goes at the top. It's what we're called to do. First. That's putting that calling before your own [00:05:00] needs.
[00:05:00] That is all well and good, but that's not the same as giving away everything you own. If you, if money is the only object that you're serving, then you aren't really able to put your own needs, even in the right order. Because you're looking first to serve only your own bodily needs. You're not thinking about it from a heart perspective.
[00:05:23] You're not looking at the deeper needs that we have of connection of relationship and of caring. No, the truth is it's about balance more often than not for most of us. It's about taking care of yourself first, but then giving also to others, sacrificially, it's about looking to make sure that not just you and yours are taken care of, but the people around you are taken care of too.
[00:05:51] It's looking to make sure that you connect to yourself, but you don't. Serve yourself. See, there's a big difference [00:06:00] between taking care of ourselves and getting everything you want. There's a big difference between taking care of ourselves and going out of our way to make sure that we have the latest and greatest, this is why one of the reasons that I avoid debt, because the truth is I look at debt as if I have to go into debt to get it.
[00:06:19] Then I'm actually not able to really afford it. I'm tying up my future income for stuff that I want today. And the truth is when you do that, by definition, you're stepping back and not able to really balance taking care of yourself, taking care of others. Now I'm not saying that debt is evil, and I'm not saying that everyone has to do it the way I do it, but that's one of the reasons why philosophically I try.
[00:06:46] To avoid debt and we've avoided all debt since now over 11 years, almost to 15, 13 years now, because we want to make sure that we [00:07:00] have the money that we have all of the time, so that when we are called to give, we have the money to do it, we don't have to worry about taking care of our own needs, to be able to serve others because we're in a secure position.
[00:07:17] We don't live high in the hog. We don't have brand new cars. We don't have the biggest house. There's still things that we're trying to finish on our house even, but we choose to live this way so that we can serve others, take care of ourselves and still build the relationships without having to worry about where the next money is going to come from.
[00:07:39] It's an interesting way to live. Thanks for listening.
[00:07:43]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. But act on what you've heard and find a way to live your calling. [00:08:00] If you like this episode on the stewardship of treasures, you can sign up for our treasures tips by going to.
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