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In Genesis 11:4, the people of Babel said, Let us make a name for ourselves. Hi, I'm Rob West. That same temptation can surface in seasons of success when achievement becomes a monument to ourselves rather than a platform for God's glory. Jim Wise joins us today to talk about the spiritual risks of prosperity and how to build a life that serves God's kingdom, not our own name. And then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000.
This is Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Our guest today is Jim Wise, Senior Partner, Senior Private Wealth Advisor, and Director of Ministry Services for Blue Trust in Orlando. He's also a Certified Kingdom Advisor, bringing both financial expertise and a heart for faithful stewardship to his work. Jim, great to have you back on the program. Thanks, Rob.
It's such a blessing to be here. Jim, you recently gave a presentation to Kingdom Advisors titled, My Practice, A Ministry to My Clients or a Monument to Myself? And it's such a thought-provoking question that we were excited about bringing it to the Faith and Finance listeners. And it gets right to the heart of stewardship. I want you to back up for a moment and just take us through the journey that led to this message.
Yeah, happy to. I was studying just in my normal devotions going through the life of Saul, King Saul of Israel, and I I found myself, I was struck by the humility that he demonstrated at the beginning of his career. It's kind of a beautiful picture of godly leadership and care for others and care for God's purpose, but. Once he experienced vocational success as king, he started to change pretty significantly. And what began as this godly humility, absolute dependence on the Lord, eventually led to pride, arrogance, tyrannical rule.
And it kind of culminates with a passage that refers to. Him going out to Carmel to build a monument in his own honor. And that's really the beginning of the end. But that image just stayed with me because I realized sometimes we read something out of the scriptures that happened thousands of years ago and don't necessarily see the connection to our current life. But what Saul succumbed to is very common in our current culture, both inside and outside the church.
It's very easy to, once the Lord provides some degree of vocational success, to start to lose our way and become almost a different person as if it's not. What God is doing in and through us anymore, but we start to take ownership ourselves. Oh, that is so well said, Jim. And we see this play out in our culture. We can see it play out in our own lives.
We assume prosperity will solve our problems. But ultimately, what we come to understand is it just reveals what's already going on in our hearts, right? Amen. I love the way you phrased it, Rob. The revealing or the exposing problems in the heart.
It reminds me of Jeremiah 17:9, where we're told that the heart is deceitful and desperately wicked. Who can understand it? Success does not so much create a problem in our heart as it does expose a tendency and pattern that's already been there. It already existed, but it had no reason to surface. There was nothing to trigger it.
Mm. Wow. One warning sign you mentioned, Jim, is when pride begins to replace humility.
So let's talk about that for a moment. What does that look like in practice? And how have you observed that shift happening?
Well, a lot of folks, regardless of the career, when we start out in a new career, typically we're incredibly dependent on God. Fiercely relying on prayers for God's grace and mercy and his guidance and his wisdom.
Well, what happens is once we start to experience a little bit of vocational success, our vision often will become distorted and we start to actually believe it's all about us, that we're the ones who are responsible for it. I refer to this malady, if you will, as starting to believe our own press clippings because we live in not only a materialistic culture, we live in a celebrity culture.
So, any degree of vocational and financial success tends to bring a lot of attention and accolades. And if we're not careful, That's where that godly humility leads to the place where we start taking credit for what the Lord has entrusted to us. Wow. We're going to continue to unpack this after the break. This is such an important topic.
And when we return, we'll talk about the rhythms that will make this true in your life. What does lifestyle creep look like? And how does this relate to how you choose an advisor? Jim Wise here today from Blue Trust. Much more after this.
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Investing involves risks, including possible loss of principal. Uh Ah! Real success isn't ultimately measured by what we gain, but who we're becoming in Christ. Today, we're talking about the spiritual risks of prosperity. With me today, my friend Jim Wise.
Jim is a senior partner, senior private wealth advisor, and director of ministry services for Blue Trust in Orlando. He's also a certified kingdom advisor. And, Jim, this conversation today came from a presentation you made to some advisors, some kingdom advisors, as you talked about their practice, whether that's a ministry to their clients or a monument to self. And this certainly applies to advisors. It applies to each of us listening today as well.
But I want to talk about that advisor relationship just for a moment. You know, as we make this practical for our listeners, when somebody is choosing a financial advisor, of course, competence and credentials matter, but what should they be looking for beneath the surface? I think competence is always important, but I think character is even more so. A highly competent financial advisor who lacks character will not likely lead to the results and relationship a client is looking for.
So I think we have to acknowledge that technical knowledge or competence matters quite a bit. But the client who is engaging an advisor, I would really say character should probably be at the top of the list. For clients who are Christians, who are followers of Jesus, I think it's really important to find someone who shares your biblical worldview and your heart for generosity. But I would even suggest that for folks that maybe are not Christians themselves, but they're open to spiritual discussion or open to a faith-based advisor. I think that's probably the best decision that can be made as well.
Because even if a client doesn't necessarily share our convictions spiritually, our belief in God, our belief in Jesus as Savior and Lord, if they're open to that, they're probably going to do well to be served by an advisor who sees themselves as directly accountable to God for the advice and counsel they give in the relationships that they're engaged in. Yeah, these advisors are stewards of every client relationship God has entrusted to their care and wisdom. And hopefully, that wisdom is wisdom from above, not their own. Jim, one thing I appreciate about this conversation is that you're not suggesting success is inherently wrong. The scripture commends, though, diligence and excellence and wise stewardship, but it also warns us to guard our hearts, right?
Amen. I think the question that we need to be asking always is why, and it takes two forms. If God has entrusted me with some degree of vocational success and platform, I need to constantly be going back to the owner, the one who has entrusted me with this platform and say, why have you entrusted it to me? What were your purposes for it? And I also need to be asking myself why, from the standpoint of what am I trying to accomplish?
How am I managing or growing this business? Why do I believe God has entrusted it to me? And what is it that He expects or wants me to be doing with it? As soon as I start to lose sight of. Deuteronomy 8:18, God says, Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who has given you the ability to produce wealth.
There's no question that everything that I have belongs to him, comes from him, and has been entrusted to me.
So I need to be regularly consulting the owner as success, vocational success increases, platform, relational influence, as God is pleased to entrust those things increasingly to his people. We need to constantly be asking him what his purpose is and not start to get lost in what is it that I want or that I'm trying to accomplish. Wow, that's well said. Another warning sign you mention is when selfish ambition begins to replace kingdom purpose. How does that show up in the ordinary decisions and rhythms of life?
It's not unusual, I think, for successful Christians to set goals. For personal achievement, for business growth, for financial accumulation, while having really no goals centered around generosity, for example, or using our God-given platform and relational influence to advance the cause of Christ in the world.
So, for those of us who are inclined to set goals, it's always important to go back and review the goals that I'm setting and say, do my goals appear to be driven by selfish ambition, or are my goals actually driven by my stewardship of the vocational platform that God has entrusted to me? Hmm. Interesting. You know, as you're talking, I'm thinking about our mutual friend John Reinhart wrote a fascinating article that he calls the cycle of success. And he talks about a toxic cycle that if we work and prosper and then we rest and we forget the God that gave it to us, that that can lead easily to sin.
But the better rhythm is to worship and work and prosper and then give generously back to the God who gave it to us, which recalibrates our hearts and leads to rejoicing and fruitfulness. Those are two starkly different paths, aren't they? Amen. And often, when I get to speak with groups of Christian business leaders, for example, I'll always encourage them: we ought to be trying to be as successful as we possibly can. The issue is not the success.
Whenever. Whenever re financial resources are Are moved from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of light, that is a huge win for the advance of the gospel around the world. We should be highly motivated to succeed to whatever extent God would allow us to. Again, the question is: why? Why has God given me the platform and the success?
It is not for me, it is for the sake of the advance of the gospel, it's for the sake of the kingdom of God. And as soon as I lose sight of that, especially in our current culture, which is so kind of consumerist, materialist driven, I can very easily lose my way and then just start focusing on the things themselves and the money itself and the reputation itself, instead of always going back to the owner and the one who's entrusted it to me and saying, What next? What next do you want me to do? What next do you want me to do for the sake of the kingdom, not for myself? I think it was John Calvin that said the human heart is a perpetual idol factory.
And you use words like materialism and idolatry, and those sound pretty strong. Jim, why is it important to name those dangers honestly rather than soften them? I don't think we could ever overcome a sin that's stirring in our heart or anything that would lead us away from the Lord and his purposes for us until we've been willing to confront it directly. And I think there may be a tendency in church culture to kind of want to soften it, almost feeling like if we call somebody out in love because we're starting to see these signs and we care about them, we care about their souls, the tendency is to want to water it down or not have anybody think poorly of us. But if I love others, or if you love me, and if you see me starting to wander down the path of materialism and idolatry.
For my own sake, as well as for the sake of the Lord, if you love me, you will reach out to me and say, Jim, I'm starting to have some concerns. This is what I'm seeing. And when you do that, if you need to do that, it probably doesn't help me if you're not. Referring to materialism and idolatry or whatever other strong words you need to, we have to call them out. We have to address them directly.
That's our only hope, in my mind, of repenting and then moving toward the solution God has for us. This is such an important topic. Jim, we've just scratched the surface. We're going to have to have you back, but thanks for your time today. Absolute pleasure, Rob.
Thanks for inviting me. That's Jim Wise with Blue Trust and a Certified Kingdom Advisor. If you want to learn more about Blue Trust, go to bluetrust.com. To find an advisor who shares your values, head to findacka.com and we'll be back with your questions after this break.
So call right now, 800-525-7000. Don't go anywhere. We'll be right back. Are you feeling overwhelmed by credit card debt? As followers of Christ, we are called to be good stewards of what God has given us.
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Text the word faith to 98656 or visit faithfund.com slash Lebanon. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. We're taking your calls and questions. We've got a few lines open, so if you've got something going on in your financial life, we'd love to chat about it with you, help you think about it in light of biblical wisdom, and give you some practical, wise path forward so you can make a next step. The number to call 800-525-7000.
That's 800-525-7000. Let's dive in. We're going to begin out in Texas. Thomas, go ahead. Yes.
Uh saw a commercial for a debt relief program a couple of years ago. and enrolled Not knowing anything about it, my wife and I had been through financial problems with her being hospitalized, me having surgery and both of us out of work. for quite a while. And relying on credit cards and to just pay our normal bills. Almost lost our house, had to refinance that.
So now I'm hearing about the downside of Um, debt relief and it And I'm also learning first hand because Yeah. Basically, they don't contact any of the debtors. They just let it go to collections. And then Um make a deal then.
Well, I could have done that on my own and probably not got the um Tax uh problems as well that I had this year where I had to add the Settlement amount or the reduced amount for the settlement into my income. But then on top of it My wife's ju I'm an over-the-road truck driver. My wife just called me this morning and what uh someone came to the door this morning and she got served. for one of the accounts that has not been settled yet. once I'm in the program, is this something I just have to write out?
Or is there a way out of this that I can switch over to Um that counseling Yeah. Yeah. lawsuit apparently. What else do I need to know? Yeah.
Yeah, boy, I'm so sorry to hear you're going through this. And this is precisely the reason that that would not be my recommendation to ever go into debt settlement or debt relief because, as you point out, they intentionally stop paying the creditors. They try to negotiate settlements. But even if they're legit, and there are some bad actors in this space, but even if they're legit, it obviously really damages your credit and leads to the lawsuits that you're talking about.
So, yes, credit counseling can be an option. Because often, if you can get it into the credit counseling program, they will be able to, in many cases, what's called re-age the debt. Which essentially is if you can fit it into your budget and you go ahead and get the agreement in place and we can get it into credit counseling. Then they'll bring you essentially current and then treat you as an on-time payer from this point forward, which is really, I think, the key part. You want to review the debt relief contract.
Obviously, you've already made some payments, I would imagine, some fees. And I would go reach out to our friends at ChristianCreditCounselors.org. And let's see if we can get them connected with your creditors. Before this deteriorates further, and see if we can work toward stabilizing this by getting you into a true credit counseling program. Because that's ultimately where you want to be.
So I would start there. They can also advise you on how to approach this potential legal situation that you were served on and whether we can get ahead of that. Obviously, these creditors would rather get paid in full and not go through this costly process. The question is just whether we can intercept it.
So I would head to christiancreditcounselors.org and get them on the line even today. Thomas, thanks for your call. Let's go to Butler, Georgia. Cynthia, go ahead. Yes, uh my mother is Almost eighty, she still has a mortgage.
And I'm wondering if I need to pay off the mortgage and put her house in my name. In case something happens and she needs to go into a nursing home or something to that effect. Yeah. Yeah, generally speaking, that's not the way to go, you know, if nursing home and care and Medicaid are even a possibility. Because Medicaid has what's called a five-year look back.
So, if your mom were to apply for Medicaid, it reviews all asset transfers in the last five years. And then, you know, giving your home to a child is considered a gift. And that could trigger a penalty period where Medicaid won't pay. Paying off the mortgage doesn't help either because that doesn't change, it just changes and converts cash into home equity essentially. And it can create some tax issues because you lose the step up in basis.
So, if you receive this as a gift, you inherit your mom's original cost basis to determine the capital gains that are owed when you sell it. Whereas if you inherit it, you enjoy that step-up in basis.
So, the new cost basis is the market value as of the date of death, which means if you sell it pretty quickly after, you wouldn't have any taxes on it.
So, I think there's a reason to really go slow on this and get some counsel. You probably want to, at least for now, leave it in your mom's name. That's often best. I would talk to an elder care attorney. They could look at the various options if a Medicaid asset protection trust might make sense.
Generally, it doesn't, but it might. How to structure care without triggering penalties. And then they could help you formulate a plan for an efficient transfer of the property that preserves those tax benefits, like a transfer on death deed or a ladybird deed. And then, you know, generally what you would do is use your mom's assets for her care appropriately before any government assistance is tapped into. And that would require her to spend down under a certain limit.
Does that make sense? Um I am the executor on her will.
Okay.
So would do I just need to leave everything like it is and then at the time of her death then handle everything? Yeah, so that's your role as the executor is, you know, your job takes place at death, where you would work along with the probate court to distribute her assets according to her wishes as outlined in her last will and testament.
So, yeah, that would be your job. And there's nothing you need to do prior to death other than to understand, you know, your role and responsibility.
However, I will say if you're wanting to do some planning for how you're going to cover The expenses related to her care in this next season of life, especially if they're going to go beyond the assets she has available. Getting some counsel on how to go about that, the best way to do that, to take full advantage of any benefits coming to her, and to consider her estate plan as a part of that. And if any additional legal tools need to be used, that's where I think an elder care attorney could come in play. If you don't have access to one or someone that you know of, you could reach out to a certified kingdom advisor and ask for a referral. They're in Georgia.
Just go to findacka.com, ask for a referral to an elder care attorney. Cynthia, thanks for your call. Hey, big thanks to my team today: Devin, Patty, Taylor, and everybody here at Faith By. Have a great day. We'll see you tomorrow.
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