Having The Mind of Christ in Your Finances

This faith and finance podcast is underwritten in part by Crossmark Global Investments, a faith-based firm offering values-based investing options. They seek to help investors align their financial choices with their beliefs, ensuring their portfolio reflects what matters most.

Find out more at crossmark.com. Let's examine what it really means to have the mind of Christ. First, it's about adopting Jesus' perspective on life. As Christians, we aim to serve, speak, think, and love as He did.

And this also applies to our financial lives. A good practice is to ask, what would Jesus do in this financial situation? Through God's Word and prayer, we draw closer to Jesus' way of thinking, including how to handle money and resources. The Bible offers further insight. Isaiah 40, 13 asks, But in 1 Corinthians 2, 16, Paul quotes Isaiah and makes a profound statement. And what changed between Isaiah's time and Paul's?

Well, the answer is Jesus. Jesus bridges the gap between our limited understanding and God's perfect wisdom, helping us align our lives with His purpose. Isaiah's prophecy hints at this transformation with the words, So, if you're a believer in Jesus, you have His mind. Through the Holy Spirit, we have the ability to understand who God is and why He has us here. This understanding means we're part of His plan to love and restore the world around us.

But here's the question. Are we truly living out this truth in all areas, including our finances? It's easy to slip back into worldly minds instead of using the mind of Christ. We might try to manage money, solve problems, and plan for the future without seeking God's perspective. When we do this, we treat our finances as separate from our faith, as if God cares more about some areas than others. But God cares about our financial choices just as much as any other part of our lives. He calls us to trust Him in every aspect of life, inviting His guidance in everything, including our money. Having the mind of Christ also means growing in our relationship with God, just as Jesus is united with the Father.

In John 14-11, Jesus says, Jesus drew His wisdom and strength from His oneness with the Father. The same is true for us when we embrace the mind of Christ. Through our relationship with Him, we find wisdom and resilience and peace for making godly choices in every part of our lives, especially our finances.

Making wise financial choices isn't always easy, and financial challenges may leave you feeling anxious or uncertain. But having the mind of Christ means you're not alone. God is with you, actively working in and through you for His purposes. And when you face financial confusion or temptation, remember that God equips His children to overcome worldly thinking. As 2 Corinthians 10-5 says, we demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

So what does it look like to live with the mind of Christ in finances? First, it means aligning our attitudes and our actions with those of Christ. Second, it means relying on God's strength to do what's right as we submit our decisions to Him. And finally, having the mind of Christ gives us the power to stand firm against the influences and temptations of the world that may lead us astray. Let's remember that nobody gets everything right. We're all on a journey learning to grow with the Lord. As 1 John 1-9 reminds us, if we confess our sins, He is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. Don't be discouraged by mistakes or setbacks. Instead, let them be an opportunity to draw closer to God, seek His wisdom, and remember that you have the mind of Christ. This truth enables us to resist the world's way of thinking about money and possessions so that we can manage our resources in ways that honor Him. All right, your calls are next. 800-525-7000.

This is Faith and Finance. I'm Rob West and we're just getting started. Don't go anywhere.

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Rescue her now at indiopartners.org slash faith. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Our goal in this program to be encouraging to you, to be reverent as we approach God's word, to be hopeful, to be wise, even to provide you expert financial advice. We do that in the objective, ultimately, of helping you be that wise and faithful steward, realizing that money is not an end. It's a means to an end.

It's a tool to accomplish God's purposes. It all belongs to him. And there are real stewardship implications. I need to be faithful in a little. I need to maintain an eternal perspective. I need to hold it loosely. And I need to understand that I don't have ownership rights. I have stewardship responsibilities.

And the list goes on. But it's a game changer when we understand that and really see God as our ultimate treasure, not anything found in this word. I hope that—or world, I should say—I hope that that's your primary takeaway each day as you join us here on this broadcast. By the way, we do have some lines open today, and we would love to tackle your financial questions. So whatever's on your mind, give us a call right now. 800-525-7000. Again, that's 800-525-7000.

You can call, and our team is standing by. Call with those questions, but also call with those testimonies, because we want to hear how God has been at work in your life financially. That's an encouragement to others.

And in fact, we have one of those testimonies right now. Key is calling from Flintstone, Georgia. Key, share your story with us. Well, a couple weeks ago, I heard a lady, and she was really eerie about the Christian finance program. And so a couple years ago, me and my husband were barely getting by. We had about $40,000 in credit card debt, and I heard it on the radio. So I called, and they were—we were paying like $1,600 a month just in credit card bills. And they got us down to $925 a month, and then we were able to—of course, my mother passed away—but we were able to take some money and pay it off early, and we are currently debt-free with credit cards. Wow, that's incredible, Key. Man, I'm so thrilled to hear that.

I can imagine. Now, you were able to drop the monthly payment, so you were sitting up at around 3% or so. They dropped you down to about 2.3%, but obviously those interest rates came down quite a bit, didn't they? Yes, because the interest rates that we were paying because we had so many credit cards, it was a high rate. And my credit score wasn't good, nothing. And so when they looked it over, they dealt with the credit card people, got the interest—I guess they got it stopped or lowered, and we were able to get out, something that I never thought we would ever be able to do. Key, how does that feel to know that you're debt-free now?

It feels awesome. And I lost my mother, and she left us money, too. So that kind of helped us pay it off a little early, but that is the best decision we ever made, was to go through the Christian Credit Counseling.

Best decision. I'm so delighted for you and your husband, Key, and I'm so thankful that you took the time to share this story. What would you say—just last question—what would you say to somebody who's listening today, who's where you were when you had that $40,000 and just feels like there's not any hope for them? I would say call Christian Credit Counseling. Give them your debt. They were very nice, very understanding. See what they can do for you, because like I said, we were paying like $1,600 a month, and they knocked our payments down to $925,000. Yeah, boy, that's incredible.

We spent so much money, we could pay off early. All right, that's great. Well, Key, thank you for calling today. All the best to you and your husband, and we appreciate you being a regular listener and for sharing your story. By the way, folks, if you find yourself in that position and you'd like to connect with our friends at Christian Credit Counselors, you can do that at ChristianCreditCounselors.org, ChristianCreditCounselors.org.

If you'd rather email info at ChristianCreditCounselors.org. Thanks, Key. Let's go to Georgia. Hi, Eric. Go ahead, sir. Hey, Rob. How are you doing? Thanks for having me on. Absolutely.

Thank you. So I have a two-part question here. The first question is about my student loans. I got about $50,000 in student loan debt. I graduated in 2015, so I basically got six different loans, all with 6% interest, all consolidated into one.

And I've been making, you know, the minimum payments a little bit more, trying to knock out that interest. So my first big question is, I've been hearing rumors that, you know, after like 20 years, something like that, that you'll actually remove your student loan debt after so many years. Is that true? Not necessarily. So it really depends upon what you would qualify for. The most well-known public service loan forgiveness program, it's called, is basically there to forgive the remaining balance on direct loans for borrowers who've made 120 on-time payments.

So that's 10 years. But it's for certain employers. So it's for those who are employed by a government agency, certain nonprofits or tax-exempt organizations, other types of public service organizations. There's something similar for teachers, but again, you have to work in certain kinds of schools.

So you do have to qualify and it would come down ultimately to who your employer is. Yes, sir. Okay. Well, it doesn't look like I'm going to line up with those categories. So part two to my question is, since I do have this debt, I would say I'm a pretty generous giver weekly to just different organizations, missionaries, stuff like that. And I am paying the monthly minimum on my student loan. So is it wise for me to reduce my giving to these organizations and put more of that money towards my student loan debt or that's the one I'm struggling with?

Because I feel like I'm always trying to give and help. And then I've got the student loan debt that I've got to take out too. And I know we need to pay our debts. So it's kind of hard to decide which one.

Yeah. And both of them obviously are productive uses of God's money. And that's what it is. And so it really is up to you to align your spending decisions, your giving decisions with your values and priorities. It sounds like you have the gift of giving. It sounds like the Lord has just given you a passion to be generous.

I love that. I think it reflects his nature. You know, we were created in the image of God. He's the ultimate giver starting with his son that he gave to pay the penalty for our sins. And so I don't think we can outgive God. I would never want to tell you to stop giving. But I would affirm the idea that both of them are productive uses of money in the same way deciding to enjoy some time away with a family member, you know, can be a productive use of money.

And so money is just a tool to accomplish God's purposes. So I probably just challenge you to maybe take a week or two in your quiet time and just say, Lord, what would you have me to do? I don't think you could go wrong either way. I would also challenge you to say, if in fact you want to accelerate your student loan payoff, could that money come from somewhere else? Don't get in a binary trap of, well, it's either accelerate my student loan payoff or reduce my giving. Maybe there's a third option that involves you kind of sacrificing some other area of your financial life. Or maybe you say, as long as I'm on a reasonable payback period and I put that in maybe 10 years, then maybe you just kind of play the student loans out and continue to lean into that passion the Lord has given you for generosity.

I think any and all of those are fair game. Thanks for your call. I hope that helps.

We'll be right back. As the leading advocate for the Christian financial industry, Kingdom Advisors serves the public by promoting the integration of a biblical worldview across every aspect of the financial services industry. And we serve a growing network of thousands of Christian financial professionals, equipping and empowering them to carry biblical financial wisdom to their clients, peers, and community. For more information, visit kingdomadvisors.com.

That's kingdomadvisors.com. Faith and Finance is grateful for support from Soundmind Investing. For more than 30 years, they've offered financial wisdom for living well.

SMI provides step-by-step guidance for do-it-yourself investors, from those just getting started to those getting ready for retirement. More information, including a short video webinar on profit and peace of mind, no matter what's happening in the market, is available at soundmindinvesting.org. We're so glad you've joined us today for Faith and Finance.

I'm Rob West. You know, as I think about applying biblical wisdom to our financial decisions, there's really three big ideas that come to mind as we think about a biblical worldview of money management. The first, lordship. We must surrender to the fact that God owns everything. Psalm 24 one says, The earth is the Lord's and everything in it, the world and all who live within it.

That means we're money managers for the King of Kings. And that's number two, stewardship. We're to use God's resources to fulfill his purposes.

In Genesis 2 15, the Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work and care for it. We're to be workers and stewards. And then number three, a big idea in Scripture that just leaps off the page, generosity. Sharing releases the world's grip on us.

So when we recognize God's lordship, and we exercise our role as stewards, and then we give generously, well, I think it puts us in a place to experience God's best in this area of our lives. Back to the phones. We'll try to get to at least two more phone calls.

Sherry in Minnesota. You've been waiting very patiently. Go ahead. No problem. Thank you to you and your phenomenal staff.

Thank them too. My question is, we have a cabin and a pontoon we're selling. I'm assuming we should be tithing on that.

Is that correct? Yeah, it's a great question, Sherry. So the principle of the tithe applies to your increase. And so the question is, what is my increase whenever we sell any asset? Because an increase only happens on the sale because you have to realize something. An unrealized increase, if you were to tithe on it, now you can always give and you can't outgive God, but you don't have an increase until you actually realize it. So the moment you sell the cabin, and the moment you sell the pontoon, you don't have an increase at that point. What you have to do is you have to calculate, is the selling price higher than the purchase price?

And if it is, the difference between the two is your increase. And that's where you would apply the principle of the tithe. Now normally with a pontoon, it loses value. So you would generally sell it for less than you bought it for, but you were able to enjoy it. So there would not be an increase and there would not be a tithe. With a cabin piece of real property, typically those appreciate rather than depreciate. So you would generally have an increase. Your selling price on the cabin would likely be higher than the purchase price, and therefore the difference between the two is the portion that you would say, okay, I'm going to apply a 10% tithe to it. Does that make sense? It does.

And the funny thing, it's been in the family for probably 60 some years. So I think tithing off the top is going to be easier than trying to figure out what they paid and built and everything else. Well, and I don't think that's ever a bad idea.

No. And then also, do I tithe to my church or can I also break that up and tithe also to, you know, organizations like yours, pro-life, whatever? Yeah, it's a great question, Sherry.

Here's what I would say. You know, we're not under the law of Moses. We're under the law of Christ. New Testament giving is giving freely and sacrificially and proportionally, but I would say it should start with the local church. So my preference is we tithe to the local church because that's clear in God's word. That's our starting place. But we don't end there. We then give beyond that. Randy Alcorn, the author, calls the tithe the training wheels of giving. And he makes the point, for those of us who have seen the cross, remember when they were giving the tithe under the old covenant, they had not seen Jesus' finished work on the cross yet.

We have. And so how much more should we be giving as an overflow of gratitude for what God has done on our behalf when his son paid the ultimate price for us? And so I think to answer your question, it's ultimately between you and the Lord. This is not about checking a box. God is not an accountant. It all belongs to him.

But I would say I love the principle of the tithe, giving a tenth on your increase, and I would start with the local church, and then I would give beyond that as the Lord directs you to. Excellent. Excellent. That is super. This is better than what I thought. Thank you. You do surprise me, but you always help us. Thank you, Sheri. Lord bless you. Thanks for being on the program. Quickly to Miami. Hi, Patricia.

How can I help? Hi. Thank you for taking my call. My question is regarding credit scores. I usually check it periodically through my bank, and I had a really, you know, like a 768 credit score. Then I noticed it dropped significantly. And I was wondering why that happened. I looked at my report, and I hadn't applied for any new credit or had any late payments.

I think only one, but it was a significant decrease. The only thing I noticed was that credit cards were maybe doing inquiries, but I hadn't applied for any credit cards. So I'm wondering, you know, how can I further investigate the reason for that? And is there a way to stop credit cards from doing inquiries if that's exactly what happened?

Yeah. What you're probably seeing is a soft inquiry where credit card companies, where you already have accounts with, they're pinging your credit just to see if there's been any changes, which you give them typically permission to do in the fine print. But those soft inquiries where you're not authorizing a lender to check your credit for the purpose of evaluating whether or not to extend you credit, they do not affect your credit score. Soft inquiries.

The only credit score that's going to affect your credit score and bring it down usually between 20 and 40 points temporarily, and that will come back is when you give a third party lender permission to check your credit. And that hard inquiry is what pulls it down. So that's probably not it. Why did it go down? Well, it could be any number of reasons. Number one, it could be that what you were looking at as your score previously maybe was provided by your credit card. company or somebody else that was offering you a free look at your credit score was using a different algorithm than the one you saw most recently when you checked it.

That could be one thing. It could be that your credit mix has changed or your credit utilization. What is your credit score today? 734. Okay.

And so that's about 30 points lower. I wouldn't worry about that. I think the key is as long as you're keeping your credit utilization down, and you're paying your bills on time, and you're not out looking for credit right now, I would imagine, then you're in good shape. It's probably temporary.

It'll come right back. One thing you could do if you're concerned about somebody trying to access your credit, go ahead and freeze your credit. It's free. But apart from that, I'm not concerned about those inquiries, and I think you should be in good shape. Patricia, thanks for your call today. Lord bless you.

Well, that's going to do it for us. Before we go, let me remind you to check out the Faithfi app on our website at faithfi.com. It's the best money management app out there to get godly counsel, encouragement, great content rooted in Scripture, but also what I believe is the very best money management system as well. You know, with expenses up everywhere and high inflation, you're probably struggling like I am to stay on budget.

Well, having a plan and a system to control the flow of money is essential. The Faithfi app was built on Larry Burkett's tried and true envelope system, but in a modern, beautiful and simple interface right there in the palm of your hand. Julie and I use it every day and we wouldn't be able to stay on budget without it because whether we're taking one of our kids shopping or we're checking our vacation category or anything else in our financial lives, we know exactly where we stand with the Faithfi app. You can check it out in your app store or at faithfi.com. On behalf of our team here at Faithfi, thanks for being along with us. Come back and join us next time. May God bless you.