“Bible Verses” That Aren’t Actually In The Bible

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Now we'll find out why so many old saws really don't cut wood. Then we'll take your calls at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. This is faith and finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. Of all the Bible verses that aren't actually in the Bible, here's the most familiar one. God won't give you more than you can handle.

Now, this sounds great, especially if you're struggling with financial hardship. Unfortunately, it's not true. The fact is, life is always more than we can handle without God. After all, we need His help just to take our next breath. The idea that God won't give you more than you can handle is a misreading of 1 Corinthians 10-13, which actually says God is faithful and He will not let you be tempted beyond your ability. But with the temptation, He will also provide the way of escape that you may be able to endure it. The good news is God's faithfulness, providing a way so we can endure temptation, not necessarily avoid it. Okay, here's another popular quote.

Maybe you heard your grandma say this when you refused to do your chores. God helps those who help themselves. Again, it might seem like something from the Bible, but it's not. In fact, it's the opposite of what God's Word says, which is that our help comes from one place. Psalm 121 2 tells us, My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. It's not God plus me getting the job done. God's help is never contingent on what you or I do. In fact, there's nothing we can do even to earn God's help. But again, the good news from the Bible is that God shows His love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

God's help is always available, not because we do our chores, but because He loves us in spite of our brokenness. Well, we're just getting warmed up here with biblical sounding sayings that aren't actually in the Bible. Have you ever had a disappointment and someone told you if God closes a door, He'll open a window?

Besides letting the bugs in one way or another, what is that really saying? That God always resolves your problems immediately? In fact, that's not always the case, is it? Sometimes God closes a door and we have to wait with the doors and the windows firmly shut. The Bible does promise that God will keep us headed in the right direction when we're following Him with all our heart. Psalm 32 8 says, I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go.

I will counsel you and watch over you. But the way you should go doesn't necessarily mean God will make an escape hatch when you don't seem to be making progress. You'll find that God often does some of His best work as you wait, teaching you to trust Him even more.

Psalm 37 7 says, Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him. Do not fret when men succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Our next quote is, To thine own self be true. That might sound like scripture, but it's really from Shakespeare's play Hamlet. As a piece of advice, it's completely unbiblical. To thine own self be true suggests that all you need for success is to follow your own instincts and desires. Unfortunately, it's our own instincts and desires that cause us to sin. Self-reliance is no substitute for reliance on Jesus.

He is the source of truth and the only one we can really rely on. That brings me to the next common saying, another piece of unbiblical advice, follow your heart. First of all, here's what Jeremiah 17 9 has to say about our hearts. The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick.

Who can understand it? In light of that truth, following your heart seems like a really bad idea. Bible study tools dot com puts it this way. God gives us passions and desires and uses our lives to prepare us for His purposes. Just as He prepared David during his time as shepherd, soldier and court musician. But that only works if we completely surrender our lives to His leading. The next not in the Bible quote is let go and let God.

The problem with this saying is that it might encourage a passive approach to problem solving. While faith and trust in God are crucial. The Bible also teaches the importance of taking action and using the resources and wisdom God provides to address issues.

As J.I. Packer once put it, the Christians motto should not be let go and let God, but trust God and get going. The bottom line, if you're a follower of Jesus, you can always trust His provision and rest in His peace.

Even in the midst of hard circumstances. All right. Your calls are next. Eight hundred five to five seven thousand.

We'll be right back. Did you know the average person walks nearly two thousand miles a year? Now think about the millions of children around the world who risk disease and miss out on opportunities simply because they walk those two thousand miles without a decent pair of shoes around the world. Buckner Shoes for Orphan Souls provides access to health, education, hope and opportunity through the gift of shoes.

Visit GiveShoesToday.org and find out how you can provide shoes for a child right now. Thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Our hope and goal here on this program each day is to encourage you to be reverent in how we approach God's word, to be wise in how we extract wisdom from God's word to apply to your financial situation. But also to be hopeful, to really think about the fact that despite the fact that we live in a fallen world and we've got plenty of challenges in our own lives and economically with inflation and the national debt, that we can trust God. And our hope is not in the US government. Our hope is not in the Federal Reserve. Our hope is not in money. Our hope is in God alone.

He can be trusted. He is on the throne and we can manage his money in a way that gives him glory and can be used for his purposes. That's what we want to do each day on this program. But we realize in light of all of that, and I know you believe everything I just said, in light of that you have very practical questions, things you're wrestling with in your financial life as you live your lifestyle, you give generously to God's kingdom, you owe for debt and for taxes and various things in your life. And you're trying to grow God's money as well, starting with your emergency savings and then on into your long term investments. And how do we balance all of that?

How do we find the heart of God? How do we live simply and save appropriately? How do we give generously, not just to death, but right now as well? Well, we together try to sort all of that out. We don't get it right all the time. And there's not a right or wrong approach to a lot of this, but it's really just trying to discern what God has for us in this area, looking, of course, to his word and scripture.

And, of course, always asking him, Lord, what would you have me to do before we make these decisions? Well, let's do that together. We've got some lines open today. The number to call, 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000 you can call right now. We're going to dive in today. We're going to begin in Texas. Sue, you will be our first caller.

Go right ahead. Hi, Rob. Thank you for taking my call. And my question is, my financial advisor has got me in what he called Guided Solutions, and I don't know anything about that. And I was talking with him yesterday, and what left me confused when I left is I was saying, well, I guess I've lost it in the stock market. And he said, no, you've gained. But my portfolio summary that I'm looking at right now, as of June last month, you know, shows a month, a year and three years ago, I was at $500,000, and today I'm at $300,000.

And I don't understand what he's telling me. Yeah, interesting. That's probably an internal name for a selection of mutual fund options at a brokerage firm.

When you say Guided Solutions, that probably has to do with one particular firm. Let me ask you, have you taken anything out? Are you pulling a monthly income stream from this account?

Yes, sir. $1,500. Okay, so you're taking $1,500 a month, so $18,000 a year, and have you pulled other lump sums for specific projects or purposes along the way? You're taking a trip or need to do something around the house, or has it just been limited only to the $1,500 a month? No, I did that in the past, but not this year.

I mean, you know, this year I haven't. And a year ago, it was at $337,000, but this year I haven't done that. Okay. All right, so a year ago it was $337,000, and where are you today, roughly, in your portfolio? At about $322,000. $322,000.

Okay. Well, if you had $337,000 and a year later you were at $322,000, but you've taken out $18,000, you know, that would have you at $319,000, and obviously you've had some growth on that. So it's, you know, slightly up over the last year. As to what the performance has been, you know, let's say over 24 months or 36 or even 60 months, two, three and five years, you would have to look at, for instance, for a five-year return, what was it worth five years ago, you said a half a million, and how much have you taken out in total? So not only the $1,500 a month or $18,000 a year, but in those years prior to this year where you took lump sums amount, we'd need to total all that up together and figure out how much you pulled out, and then we can determine, and your advisor can do this for you, exactly what your performance has been.

Is it up, down, or flat? I think the key whenever it comes to investing is historical return, how the account is performing is always one key element, and it's a big one, right? You don't, especially in a retirement season of life where you're taking income out of it, you want to first focus on what we call capital preservation, hanging on to your money, right? It's less about the return on your money, and it's more about the return of your money. We want to hang on to what you've worked so hard to amass over your working life. And then secondly, we need to grow it because we realize that you're losing purchasing power just on as I am with inflation. So every month and year, our dollar bills buy less, and that's just a function of inflation, and we can talk about why that is and whether that's a good thing or not.

It's really not, and it doesn't have to be, but nevertheless, it's been a reality, and it's been certainly more of a reality as of late. And so that's why even in a retirement season of life, we need to still keep our money invested, albeit in a way that's more conservative. And so I think that would be the next step is to say, okay, first of all, how have I done over the last one, two, three, maybe five years? And you've got to look at that in light of your total withdrawals, and then how is the amount that you've left in there performed? And then how has that done versus the market within a similar investment strategy?

And then the next question is, you know, every year in light of your goals and objectives, you know, making sure that you have the right mix of investments, so that you know, you can accomplish your goals. Now, with 337,000, you're pulling out a bit more than we would like to see. I mean, you know, with that size portfolio, and I realized it's it's down from where it was in a half a million, which would have gotten you closer. I mean, ideally, we'd take more like 1100 a month instead of 1500 a month, just because 4% would be an ideal situation. Now, is it a problem that you're taking a little bit more?

No, not necessarily. We just need to make sure that we watch that closely, because the goal is for you to be able to keep this money around to continue to fund your expenses, for as long as the Lord has you here, and until he calls you home, and that could be into your 90s or beyond. And so that's why we keep it invested, we stay conservative. So I think the next step for you here, Sue, is to go back to your advisor and say, I'd like to see the performance on my portfolio over various time periods going back all the way five years as one of those time periods. And I'd like to see that what was my starting balance, how much have I taken out and how has the money performed? And then how you show me how that compares to a similar, you know, market index that's consistent with my investment strategy, just so you can see, have you done well, have you performed poorly?

And if so, why? And then secondly, you can ask, Am I in the right mix of investments for me to protect this money, but also to grow it modestly, so I can continue to take out the 18,000 a year for the rest of my life. And I think that's a very appropriate conversation for you to have with your advisor. Does that make sense?

Yes, sir, it does very much so. And I appreciate the help. You're very welcome, Sue. Hey, may the Lord bless you. And thanks for being on the program today. We're delighted to have you with us.

We're going to take another break here in just a moment. We also have other lines open today in our final segment, we'd love to tackle your question or hear your testimony. Maybe God's been at work in your financial life, you'd like to share that with our listeners as an encouragement today. Call us right now at 800-525-7000.

That's 800-525-7000. By the way, if you'd like to connect with an advisor, you know, we talk often here about investment advisors, often we talk about financial planning issues. So many of these issues require a trusted financial professional. And I would go a step beyond that to say, a competent financial professional who shares your values as a Christ follower. Well, that's the CKA designation, Certified Kingdom Advisor. And you can find a CKA in your city when you go to faithfi.com and click find a professional that's faithfi.com.

We'll be right back. Every day we hear life changing stories from listeners just like you who see money and possessions as tools to invite more people into God's kingdom. Instead of chasing wealth, you've chosen to embrace God as your source of love and provision. At FaithFi, we're passionate about meeting people where they live and work through our national radio program, app, resources and website to influence widespread positive change in our culture. Please consider becoming a monthly partner at faithfi.com slash give. We are grateful for support from sound mind investing in the faith and finance program. For more than 30 years, they've been helping Christians reach their financial goals with step by step guidance for investors at every stage from those just getting started to those getting ready for retirement. Through scriptural principles and practical suggestions, SMI offers financial wisdom for living well. More information, including the short video webinar on profit and peace of mind no matter what's happening in the market is available at soundmindinvesting.org. Great to have you with us today on faith and finance. It's our final segment. We're taking your calls and questions today on anything financial, helping you apply the wisdom from God's word, the principles and passages that we see on money.

By the way, there's 2300 of them to your financial decisions very practically. And so if you have a question today, we actually do have some lines open now we didn't earlier in the broadcast. If you've got a call right now, you can get right through 805257,000 will probably have room for two or three more questions before we round out the broadcast today. Again, 805257,000 you can call right now.

Let's go to Texas. Hi, Lourdes. How can I help you? Hello, thank you so much for taking my call. I really value your advice. Thank you.

So I thought to give you a call on this. So my husband and I, we purchased, we've been funding a long term care insurance since 2008. It was when we were in our 50s.

Now we are in our 70s. And in fact, next year I start taking my required minimum distribution out of my IRA. We have received an option by the long term care company, based on a lawsuit that that some members presented against them and they settle on that lawsuit and based on that one of the options. They are giving us is having a paid up policy for one and a half times of what we've already paid into the policy. And if we do that, we no longer would have to continue paying into it, which the payments right now are in around $500 a quarter.

And it says clearly that they will continue to go up as you know they they increase it on a on an annual basis we receive a notification of increase and then we have to decrease the benefits and so forth in order to to manage the policy itself as a benefit. So the reason of my calls I think we've accumulated my husband and I have accumulated a little over a million dollars in retirement money. We currently we receive pensions, and we receive social security. And with that, we find that, you know, we can we can make a living.

I mean, we're doing okay. And so we also get a little bit of our retirement account, and we use that for travel, I mean, you know, with the extra money that we use for travel and that kind of stuff. So, my husband thinks and he is still a little concerned about going with the paid up policy because he said well that's not going to be enough. And I am always the half full kind of thinker right. So I say, hey, you know, what if we never use it, then that would be money wasted whereas we can self fund, because we didn't have the money saved up.

So, I like to hear your opinion on this. Well, you know, these things always require reviewing kind of the fine print to make sure I understand what's being offered and what the options are. And so I'd be hesitant to give you a definitive answer here. I think it might be worth engaging with an advisor to help you look over what's being offered and look at that in light of your overall retirement planning picture.

But I would concur with you. I mean, typically we say long term care insurance is a good idea for those with assets between $200,000 and $2 million. Because if you're under $200,000, you're probably going to rely on Medicaid. If you're over $2 million, you can essentially self-insure and you don't need this extra expense. Because typically, you know, 70% of Americans 65 and older will need long term care at some point. But typically the the average day is less than three years, you know, so although it can be very expensive, I mean, full nursing care can run 10,000 a month or more, you know, you don't typically use it for 5, 10, 15 years, even though, you know, it can erode your assets.

And so that's where this is helpful. I think the other challenge with these policies is along side the rising cost of health care, these policies are increasingly, you know, going up in expense. I mean, these premiums, even though they have to do it in the aggregate, they can't do it for one policyholder, they're seeing dramatic increases on an annual basis. And so by you not taking the paid up option, you're opening yourself up to pretty significant increases along the way. So I guess I would want to understand, you know, what is the one and a half times what you've already paid in? What does that give you in terms of additional benefit?

And is that enough? Because to your point, it's one piece of a bigger pie, you've got the paid up policy, which now you can take away the risk of that being increasingly more burdensome on your monthly expenses, because you no longer, you know, you wouldn't have increasing premiums moving forward, which would be very likely. And you know that you'd have at least something from that policy to kick in and contribute to long term care alongside your other assets, which are continuing to grow and currently stand at a million dollars.

So that feels like again, without knowing all the details, that that makes some sense to me, just as we look at the overall picture and the unknowns, but what are your thoughts on that? Yeah, that's exactly the way that I'm looking at it, the amount that the paid up amount would be a little less than 50,000, which is not a lot. I mean, it'll probably, you know, at the rate, it'll probably cover a couple years if that again, I'm thinking that there is a good likelihood that neither of us will need it. And again, there is a possibility that we would, but we have the money.

And we also have a couple of very good daughters that already told us that they would take care of a lot. So, you know, again, my thought is that, and I also told my husband, the amount that we would be paying, we could establish, set that money aside and put it into an account ourselves in that way. We will really be self funding without risking the money by, you know, doing what everybody would desire, just, you know, going to sleep and not wake up, wake up in heaven. I agree. And I think, again, you may be not only self funding to the extent of what you're currently paying, but you're self funding to the extent of what you might be paying down the road.

And there's every reason to expect these premiums will continue to grow. So I'm on board generally with what you're thinking here. And I align I think with your thoughts, perhaps the other piece of your husband's still real apprehensive, you know, maybe take some time to visit with an advisor. If you don't have one, you could reach out to a Certified Kingdom advisor there in Texas, on our website, faithfi.com, click find a professional, and you could just pay for their time to do a deeper analysis on the options that you have, and then run some scenarios on what would it cost you?

And how would you fund, you know, a three year stay for each of you in long term care, and actually maybe give him some added peace of mind by running some scenarios that he can actually see as opposed to just hypothetical. So anyway, hopefully that helps you appreciate you being on the program, Lourdes. Thank you for your kind remarks, you and your husband sound like wonderful folks. A big thanks to my team today, Taylor Stanrich. We're grateful for Pat Montague, Adam Suddath, and Devin Patrick. Couldn't do it without those fine folks and everybody here at Faithfi that makes this ministry happen every day. By the way, if you want to support our work, we'd be grateful. Just go to faithfi.com and click give. That's faithfi.com and click give. We'll see you tomorrow. Bye bye. Faith and Finance is provided by Faithfi and listeners like you.