The Hidden Treasure Right in Front of Us

At Faithfi, our vision is to redeem God's design for money so that people would come to see God as their ultimate treasure. When you prioritize God above all else, your financial decisions reflect your identity in Christ. We're here to provide biblical wisdom and practical tools to help you on this journey. By becoming a monthly Faithfi partner, you're supporting us and actively participating in our vision to help people integrate their faith and financial decisions for the glory of God. You can make a difference right now at faithfi.com slash give.

That's faithfi.com slash give. Now let's dive into the podcast. What would you do if you found something so valuable, so life-altering, that you gladly gave up everything else just to have it?

I am Rob West. That's the image Jesus gives us in Matthew 13. Two short parables, one powerful message. Today we'll take a closer look at the treasure hidden in the field and the pearl of great price, and how they speak to our financial fears in uncertain times. And then it's on to your calls at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial journey. In Matthew 13 44, Jesus says, The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy, he goes and sells all he has and buys that field. And in verses 45 and 46, he says, Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who, on finding one pearl of great value, went and sold all he had and bought it. In both parables, something of immense value is found.

And in both cases, the response is total surrender, but not begrudgingly, not with fear, with joy. That joy is everything. It's the natural overflow of discovering something so worthy, so beautiful, so eternally good, that it reorders everything else in your life. All other pursuits pale in comparison.

Now, let's be honest. In today's economy, with interest rates up, inflation lingering, and layoffs still making headlines, it doesn't always feel like we're standing on treasure. Maybe it feels more like you're grasping for security, or calculating risk, or waking up in the night wondering how you'll make it through the month.

If that's you, you're not alone. The fear is real, but so is the invitation of Jesus. Jesus is telling us there is something more valuable than everything you own, something worth surrendering every lesser treasure to gain, and that something is actually someone, him. You see, when Christ is your treasure, money stops being your master.

You're no longer a slave to the uncertainty of the economy or the pressure to keep up. Your peace isn't tied to your portfolio. It's anchored in something unshakable, God's kingdom. That's exactly what Paul discovered. In Philippians 3, 7, and 8, he writes, Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. Paul had status, power, religious influence, but once he encountered Jesus, all of that became secondary.

He found the pearl, and he gave up everything to have it. The same is true of the Macedonian believers in 2 Corinthians 8. Though they were living in poverty, Paul says they gave with joy and generosity because they understood the treasure they had in Christ.

That's the paradox of the kingdom. When you release your grip on material things, you're free to take hold of eternal things. You begin to see giving not as loss, but as gain, not as risk, but as worship.

But let's acknowledge something here. There are days when the treasure feels far away, when joy gives way to fear, when anxiety drowns out trust. Jesus knew we'd face those days. That's why he says in Matthew 10, Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

And not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your father? Fear not, therefore, you are of more value than many sparrows. God sees you. He knows your needs. And his care for you is not based on your net worth.

It's based on your infinite worth to him. That's the heartbeat of our 21-day devotional, Look at the Sparrows, a resource we created here at Faithfi to speak directly to the financial fear and anxiety that so many are facing right now. Each day, it helps recenter your heart on God's promises, on his presence, on his provision.

Because when you're standing in a storm, you need more than a budget. You need a savior, and he's not far off. As Jeremiah 29 13 says, You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. Jesus isn't just part of your financial life. He is your life. He is the treasure worth everything.

And when you find him, you'll never look at money the same way again. You'll begin to steward what you have with open hands, not clenched fists. You'll invest in what matters most. You'll trade the stress of accumulation for the peace of contentment.

And yes, joy will return. So if your heart is anxious today, remember the man in the field. Remember the merchant with the pearl. And remember the savior who invites you to find lasting treasure in him.

If you want to go deeper, pick up your copy of Look at the Sparrows at Faithfi.com. Just click on Shop to order or place a bulk order for your church or small group. All right, back with your questions after this. 800-525-7000.

We'll be right back. Jesus does this through investment solutions that span the capital market spectrum from large cap to small cap strategies, including equity, fixed income and balance strategies. They are led by industry veteran Bob Doll, CFA, a regular guest on the faith and finance program.

More information is available at Crossmarkglobal.com. Jesus said, Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Today, put your heart into something that makes an eternal impact. Heart for Lebanon is sharing the gospel and protecting girls from early marriage, child labor and violence. Your gift of $114 helps reach three at risk girls with hope and a brighter future.

Give generously. Text faith to 98656. That's faith to 98656 or visit faithfi.com forward slash Lebanon. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance. Looking forward to taking your calls and questions today. 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000 tackling any financial topic today.

We're ready to dive into those questions and help you think about them in light of biblical wisdom. Again, that number 800-525-7000. We've got lines available. This is a great time to call before they get all filled up. All right, we're going to dive into your questions today. Again, lines are open.

We'd love to hear from you. Sandy standing by to take those calls. You can call right now. We're going to begin in Florida today.

Hi, Chris. Go ahead. My question, Rob, is I'm retired living on Social Security. I have no debt. All my key expenses are paid off. Whenever I have a significant project that I'm only pulling in about 1900 a month on Social Security. So whenever I have a project for the house, or whatever, I pull it out of my, I believe it's an IRA that my broker has set up for me. And what I'm wondering from your expertise is, is that the best way to go about financing these projects so that I can remain debt free and I don't have to finance anything and incur any interest?

Yeah, it's a great question. And let me just say, first of all, Chris, kudos to you, you're in a strong position being debt free. You know, that IRA is obviously money you worked hard to set aside during your working years. Now you're retired 69 living on Social Security. So that's what it's there for the only thing we're going to want to keep an eye on is just what that withdrawal rate looks like, to ensure that we can keep this IRA around for as long as possible, to the extent that Social Security alone.

Social Security alone is not enough, you know, to cover your living expenses, especially as some of those expenses can grow in the future, namely around long term care and medical related expenses. So what is your balance roughly on that IRA? And then if you look at the last 12 months, how much have you pulled out? In the last 12 months, I took a recent distribution of a tax distribution of 25,000 out.

And that was it for this current calendar year. Before that, I've still got half, I've still got about 5000 in a savings account, that is a remnant of the 10,000 I withdrew in 2024. So I'm very frugal with my money. And I kept that distribution from 2024 around in case I came up short or got hit with any unbudgeted expenses that would put me over the over the ability to pay with the 1900 a month Social Security.

Got it. Yeah, that's great. Glad you're you're doing that. Sounds like you're being really judicious about how you're using that money.

The 25,000 that you mentioned, is that what's needed, but you haven't taken or have you already taken that as well? I took that out about a month ago. And that was taxed whenever my broker sends me the money, he withdraws 10% in tax off of that right off the top. Sure. Yeah, that's a good practice.

That way. That's a head start on what you'll ultimately Oh, even if that's not enough, at least you've got something that, you know, is offsetting that tax liability. What is the balance on that IRA roughly? Before all this market turmoil started up, I think it was right around the beginning of the year was about a million two. And honestly, Rob, I hate to sound like a chicken, but after my broker called me to congratulate me with going over the million mark, I've lately I have not looked at the account was down slightly in the first quarter.

But I haven't actually looked at it probably in several weeks. Yeah, good. Well, that's probably a good thing, because the last thing you'd want to do would be to react emotionally and call him and say, Hey, let's get out of the market. And so I'm glad you have an advisor overseeing it, because that, you know, make sure that we're not acting on an emotional basis.

We've got hopefully a rules based, you know, approach to investment management sounds like he's doing a good job. It grew, you know, from that $1 million mark to now 1.2. I'm sure it's down, you know, it may be back close to the million, depending on kind of what your allocation is.

But I'm okay with that. You know, I think just in terms of a rule of thumb, if you were to think about limiting, and you've, you've, you know, gone far under this, which is great, limiting to your annual distributions to, you know, no more than 4% a year, which would be on your case, 48,000 on the 1.2, obviously, a little less than that, if the balance has come down. But as long as you're staying under that, that's why this money is there. I think you're taking out an appropriate amount. So it should continue to grow, despite these, which is, you know, it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's it's withdrawals.

And the last thing we'd want to do is take on debt, you know, and pay interest when you've got this money sitting there for this purpose. So, you know, I think you're in great shape, I'd say continue to do this. And given how little you're pulling out, I think you've got, you know, even a bit more room there for you to do other things, you know, if you wanted to do some work on the house or take a trip or something like that. And on getting back on track with home renovation. And I'm very judicious with that a lot of people from my church, we have a lot of craft type people, carpenters and nice and builder stuff.

So they normally are my go to. I love it. One other thing, once you're 70 and a half, I understand you're not there yet. That'll be the time for you to look at doing qualified charitable distributions, any giving you're doing out of cash, you ought to replace with qualified charitable distributions.

And then you can get that money out without paying any tax on it. Hang on the line, I want to send you a copy of our magazine. Before we head to the break, let's tackle a couple of emails. By the way, if you want to send an email along, you can do that to ask Rob at faith phi.com. Karen writes, I have a 401k and I'm wondering how I can invest according to my values with the options that are available in it seems like the only options are big companies that I'd rather not be invested in.

Do you have any suggestions? Unfortunately, Karen, the 401ks are a little slower to adopt the faith based investing fund families. These are still relatively new, although the faith based investing space is growing rapidly. The 401k custodians, many of them have not yet been added. So you've got a couple of options. Number one, call your 401k custodian, give them the fund families like eventide and praxis and timothy plan and one ascent and guide stone, and you know, all of the others and ask them to add them to the mix.

That would be a great step. And hopefully you'll see them we are seeing some of these plans add them over time. The second would be to look for something called a brokerage window. This is where they allow you to invest beyond the limited options available in the 401k. And if you have that available, not all do, but that would allow you to select these fund families.

By the way, if you'd like a list of those faith based investing fund families, just quickly go to faith and investing.com slash faith five, that's faith and investing.com slash faith five. Alright, this next one says, from Hannah, we recently sold our house for a good profit. And we're wondering how do we tithe on it? Do we tithe on the full amount we received or only what goes above the initial price and the interest we paid on it? I would not factor in the interest paid. But you do want to just look at the selling price minus the original purchase price, minus any improvements that you made to the property that resulted in it increasing in value. That's going to be the gain. By the way, that's what will be considered a capital gain.

If you don't have an exemption because that was your primary residence. But that same number could be the number that you look at in terms of determining a tithe on the increase that you would then give a 10th on. So hopefully that helps to clear it up, Hannah. Folks, we've got room for additional questions in the remainder of the broadcast call right now 800-525-7000. We'll be right back.

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Start your journey today by going to kingdomadvisors.com slash get certified. Hey, great to have you with us today on faith and finance. Let me take just a moment and tell you about what it means to become a faith by partner. And then we'll head to the phones.

Anthony's holding patiently in Wisconsin. Faith by partners are those that support the listener supported work of faith by they come alongside us each month with a gift of $35 or more, which is huge because as a listener supported ministry, the only way we can bring you this broadcast call is by giving you a free copy of the Bible. The only way we can bring you this broadcast is through your listener support. And so these are the men and women that say, I love the program. I've benefited from it. I want more people to get this message.

I'm not getting this anywhere else. And they say, I'll be in the boat with you to the tune of $35 a month or more. Now, as a way of saying thank you. And because we know that if you're a faith by partner, you want to be a good steward of God's resources, we produce some world class resources that we send out to our partners on a regular basis. In fact, you would get faith by partner, you want to be a good steward of God's resources, we produce some world class resources that we send out to our partners on a regular basis. In fact, you would get four copies of our beautiful, really thoughtful magazine, faithful steward.

It's gorgeous and really incredible content. You get four issues a year mailed to your door. Plus every time we come up with a study or devotional, which is typically twice a year, you'll get that mailed to you as well. So if you want to become a partner, just head to our website, faithfi.com.

Click Give at the top of the page and you'll find all of the details. Two more right now, 800-525-7000. You can call right now. Anthony, thanks for waiting patiently there in Wisconsin, sir. Go ahead. Yes, sir. First off, I want to thank you for your program.

I try to listen to it daily. Just the financial advice from a Christian perspective is invaluable. But my question is, my wife and I are going to be purchasing a home hopefully this year. We have a purchase agreement already lined up. The homeowners right now, actually, they're looking for a new house and they have a home equity line of credit that they're going to use to purchase their home from a Christian perspective. From the sale of the home that they're living in. And my question is, the credit union that we're going through, they're offering us the standard 30-year mortgage with one monthly payment. But my wife and I, we try to do extra payments at least once a month, maybe once every two months.

And the loan officer said that they offer a biweekly payment plan. And I just wanted to get some of your insight on that. What would be better? Which one would be best? You know, the pros and cons of both.

Yeah, well, it's a great question, Anthony. And I love you sending extra to the principal, because that's really gonna pay off. And if you just send the equivalent of one extra payment a year, it'll take a 30-year mortgage and make it like 26 years, depending on the interest rate.

But it's going to cut years off, which is awesome. And you know, that's a that's a real savings and interest. Now, here's the thing, I like the biweekly payment option.

And I'll explain to the rest of our listeners, what that is, and just a moment. The only thing I don't like is, if in doing that, by setting it up through the credit union, if they're going to charge you a fee, you don't need to do that, because you can essentially do this on your own. Now, if they're willing to do it and not charge anything, that's great. The other thing is, you don't want to have to do it. You want it to be an optional thing. Because if forever if for any reason you ever needed to just go back to the one standard payment a year, instead of the the half payment every, you know, two weeks, you would want that option.

You don't want to have to be forced into doing the biweekly payment. Does that make sense? Yes, sir.

Okay. But essentially, you can do this on your own. Now, let me explain how this works for the benefit of the rest of our listeners. So think about this, when you make a mortgage payment, you make one payment each month. So you make 12 per year. And that's just the way most people pay their mortgage. With the biweekly mortgage payment, or some people call bi monthly, essentially, you make a half payment every two weeks.

Okay. Now, when you make a half payment every two weeks, there are 26, you know, two week periods in a year, which means you're making 13 monthly payments, you're making an extra payment every year. And so by getting into that, you know, bi weekly option, where you send a half payment every two weeks, essentially, if you can get into that rhythm, you're going to every six months, you're going to send an extra half payment every year, you're going to send an extra to the equivalent of one full payment. That's great.

Because again, that one extra payment a year makes a dramatic difference in the total payback of that mortgage. The key is I don't want to pay for the option to do that, because it shouldn't cost you anything. And I don't want to be required to do that.

But apart from that, I really like it. Is that helpful, though? Yes, sir. It makes sense.

Awesome. Well, Anthony, all the best to you and your bride on purchasing that home, that's going to be a real blessing. Just make sure you don't get stuck with a home that you you can't afford. I realize homeownership is really challenging right now. And, you know, you don't want to stretch and buy a house that's beyond your means. But as long as you keep it within your means, typically, that means around 25% of your take home pay for principal interest taxes and insurance with a total payback.

20% down payment, then it'll be a real blessing to you. Hey, thanks for calling today. Call anytime. We appreciate you being on the program. By the way, stay on the line. I'm going to send you a copy of faithful steward.

I think it'll be an encouragement to you. Let's see, we're going to go to Illinois. Diane, go right ahead. Hi. Okay, I used to be poor. It was like 25 years ago, I was extremely poor. I filed bankruptcy for $3,500.

Now, I get my dead husband, ex husband's social security. And I would like to see about possibly paying that back. Yeah, and who are you trying to pay back? Is it the creditors that were discharged under the bankruptcy or somebody else?

Well, I filed bankruptcy with the credit union. I mean, that's what it went through. I believe. It's been a while. I'm sorry. That's okay.

Yeah. And so I appreciate that you are now in a much stronger position. I'm just trying to understand exactly who is it that you're trying to make whole? What were the debts that you that were not paid that you're trying to pay? The ones from like, 25 years ago, I'd have to go back and look at my papers.

Exactly. I believe it was just a credit card with the credit union. But I got to go back and double check that. Yeah, the challenge is I boy, I so appreciate your desire to steward this money well, and then to honor your obligations. What's going to happen is they're going to tell you, listen, number one, it was charged off, you know, number two, you know, we probably can't even accept that payment against that account, because it's so long gone. In fact, they probably collected a little bit of insurance on it anyway, because they ensure these accounts. So you could reach out to them and say, let's go back and double check that. Listen, I just feel convicted that I want to honor this obligation from a bankruptcy 20 years ago, I suspect they're not going to be able to take it.

But you can at least try Diane, and maybe what you find is you just end up giving that money to the Lord, as because you're not able to pay it otherwise. I'm out of time today. Thanks for calling. You know, folks, so thankful for you stopping by each day being a part of this program. Thank you for the notes that you write and the comments that are so kind that you share when you call in and send us emails. We appreciate it. We love what we do here. And I couldn't do this without this amazing team that joins me each day to bring you this broadcast beginning with our on air crew here today. Amy Rios, who's producing today as long with Tahira Haynes, and our call screeners today. We have a brand new call screener, Tahira, and we're grateful for her as well as Lynn, who's sitting in working with her, and also Jim Henry serving us really well as well today. In the meantime, we'll see you next week. Bye bye. faith and finance is provided by faith by and listeners like you