Understanding the Treasure Principle with Randy Alcorn

Kingdom Advisors equips Christian financial advisors to bring their faith into their practice with the industry-recognized Certified Kingdom Advisor designation. We bring those advisors together with other industry leaders to form a vibrant network. And through that network, we give them the resources, tools, and encouragement they need to serve clients like you, helping you align your values with your financial decisions and investments.

To learn more, visit KingdomAdvisors.com. And best-selling author, Randy Alcorn, is here to talk you through them. 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. Well, it's always a blessing to have Randy Alcorn back with us. He's the author of more than 60 books on the Christian life and the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. Randy, it's great to see you again.

Hey, great to be with you, Rob. By the way, Randy has graciously contributed an article to the first edition of our new quarterly magazine, Faithful Steward. It draws from the six principles in his book, The Treasure Principle.

And Randy, we're going to unpack these here today. But first, how can grasping these six principles really help reshape our thinking and view of money? Well, I think we have to start with what's basic in the sight of God. Sometimes we look at the world around us. If we take our cues from everything around us, we just think wrongly.

We become conformed to this world instead of transformed by the reunion of our minds. When we look at scripture, you know, the first principle, God owns everything and I'm just his money manager. It all belongs to him.

That itself, if there was nothing else that if you actually believe that it will radically change your life. Because we know that if it really belongs to someone else, not to us, then we are managing their assets and we better ask them what they want us to do with it. And in the case of God, he's got a book full of answers to what to do with his money. Yeah. And that's well said, Randy. But it really puts a fine point on this idea that this is a high calling that you and I and everyone listening enjoys. And that is we are actually money managers for the King of Kings. That's a big idea.

Yeah, absolutely. And think of the trust that he is putting in us. On the one hand, it's kind of scary and almost a little bit disorienting because really God is entrusting to me the care of his assets. That is like the biggest money manager responsibility that exists is for God to entrust into our hands. And that just means we better study the word. We better get training.

We better read books and the right books, not just any books. And we better come to grips with what this means that we are God's asset managers, because that is a massive responsibility to whom much is given of him will much be required. Well, that's exactly right. And that's really this first principle. You said it. God owns everything. I'm his money manager. Unpack that for us a bit more, Randy, because that means as a household manager, I think that's the way the New Testament, the word for steward would be translated. It means I don't have any ownership rights, but I have stewardship responsibilities, right? Exactly.

And it really does radically change everything. I remember an illustration I used many years ago. I was actually first talking to kids about sexual purity. And so I asked to borrow a pencil from somebody, not too many people carrying around pencils these days, but you know, so, hey, can you have a pencil I can borrow? And so this girl in the front row hands me her pencil and I just break it in half. And it's like, Whoa, what, what, you know, and then I explained, actually, that was my pencil. I put it with her. Now, you can talk about poor stewardship of a pencil if you want to. But the point is, it belonged to me. And so that pretty much changed everything.

I didn't just take what was hers, and just break it, you know, no permission. And the point is, who does it belong to? And that's the key to everything. It belongs to God.

That's so good and so powerful. And that really, folks, is the beginning point of a biblical worldview of money management. God owns everything. I am his money manager. We're talking with Randy Alcorn today. He's the author of more than 60 books, including The Treasure Principle.

And we're talking about the six keys from The Treasure Principle. More of those just around the corner. Then after my conversation with Randy, it will be time to take your calls and questions so you can call at 800-525-7000. We'll be right back. 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.

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I'm Rob West with me today, my friend Randy Alcorn. He's the author of more than 60 books. And I will say, folks, other than God's word, the Bible, the book that has had the most transformative experience on me and shaped my view of money is his book, Money, Possessions and Eternity. It is a game changer in terms of a biblical worldview of money. But another one close behind it is the treasure principle. And we're talking about the six keys from Randy's quick read, the treasure principle. If you haven't read it, you need to. And we talked about the first principle that God owns everything and we're his money manager.

This second one, Randy, is so key. And it's that our heart always goes where we put God's money. Unpack that for us. Well, that's right there in Matthew six, 19 through 21, where we learn from Jesus where your treasure is there, your heart will be also. And we might think of it as, well, OK, wherever our heart is, our treasure will go. Well, actually, where we put our treasure is where our heart will follow.

What that means is when somebody says, OK, well, I really wish I had a heart for missions. I really wish I had a heart for the kingdom of God. Well, Jesus actually gives us a way to get a heart for the kingdom of God. It's to put our treasure there if we put our treasure there, if we give generously, if we expand the horizons of our giving, our heart will go where we're putting those treasures. So you want to have more of a heart for the kingdom of God and for world missions? Give generously to your church, to missions, to everything that will matter for eternity and your heart will follow.

Yeah, there's a connection between our hearts and our money. And if we don't understand that, we won't understand the Council of Scripture as it relates to this topic. That is a profound idea, Randy. And that leads to the why, which is this next one, and that is that we need to cultivate an eternal perspective because heaven, the new earth, not the present one, is our home. I know you've thought deeply about this and written on it extensively.

Share that one for us. Yeah, Hebrews 11 16 says we're citizens of a better country that is a heavenly one. And when the Treasure Principle first came out, I said heaven, not earth, is my home. But then I changed that in light of the theology when I wrote my big book on heaven is that the new earth will be a transformed earth and will be resurrected people on a resurrected earth for all eternity. So in a sense, actually, earth will be my home as it was for Adam and Eve, but it will be the new earth, the transformed earth.

Now, when we get that in our mind that that's really my home, that's where my citizenship is, then we will live in light of the values of that country. And we will look ahead to heaven where Jesus says store up for yourselves treasures in heaven. And instead of storing them up here where they're not going to last, we're going to store them up there. And it's not only the right thing to do, it's the smart thing to do because those are treasures that are going to last. You make this profound statement in the book, The Treasure Principle. We can't take it with us, but we can send it on ahead. And our friend Louie Giglio, pastor and teacher, I heard a sermon from him recently, and he was talking about the seven things you won't be able to do when you're in heaven.

And one of those was use money to proclaim the gospel. We have that opportunity right now. We won't have that in the future. And so we need to send it on ahead, don't we?

Absolutely. And that is, again, an amazing privilege to think that we could actually have something to do with what treasures we will enjoy in heaven. Now, people talk about what literally are those treasures. It's not going to be piles of gold and silver and all of that, but it's going to be positions of responsibility over others.

You've been faithful and little. I'll put you over much. I'll put you over five cities. I'll put you over ten cities serving people and the privilege of roles of service in God's kingdom for all eternity.

I mean, I've met so many people where what a privilege it would be to serve under them as I'm serving the Lord in eternity. I know you've recently updated your powerful book, The Law of Rewards. Any new ideas you'd want to share with us from that related to this topic? I would say more than anything else, as I redid Law of Rewards, it wasn't so much new things, but it was old things that just gripped me on a deeper level because it's been 20 years since I wrote that book. And certainly, just the fact that God is in favor of rewards. Eternal rewards, if they were our idea, that would be totally inappropriate. Who are we to think that God would reward us for anything? But the key to everything is it's God's idea.

So when somebody says, well, I don't really care about rewards. I just want to be with the Lord. And it sounds so spiritual because all I care about is being with Him, and that's wonderful.

But you know what? He cares about more than that. He also cares that we have invested our lives in what matters, what will count for eternity. And He wants to say to us, well done, my good and faithful servant. Enter into your master's happiness.

Wow. Randy, I want to talk about one more of these principles that you unpack in this book, and that is that God prospers me not to raise my standard of living, but to raise my standard of giving. You know, you and I will always spend to our level of income unless we protest to the contrary. Why is that such an important idea for us to understand? Well, we so often start with the assumption that, well, God provided it for me, so He wants me to spend it. And why do we start with that assumption as opposed to God provided it for me because He wants me to give it.

He wants me to share it. Now, of course, we keep some things, and we need money to buy food and have a house to live in and all these kinds of things. So this is not asceticism where physical things are bad or whatever. But the fact is that we need to look at it in certain ways. I have an illustration of, let's say, the FedEx guy or the UPS guy shows up, and he takes something from me, and he's going to get it into somebody else's hand. Well, what if I find out that he's been taking it home and keeping it?

Well, I look at it, and I go, wait, you don't even understand your job. God gives stuff to us, He entrusts it to us, so that we will be able to do something with it that will matter for eternity. And when God gives something, puts something into our hands, we should not begin with the assumption He just wants us to keep it for ourselves, but use it for Him and for His glory and the good of others. Boy, that is well said, and that is the big idea. That's our heart here on this program, is each day we would help you to see God as your ultimate treasure and money a tool to accomplish God's purposes. Folks, if you haven't read The Treasure Principle, pick it up wherever you buy books.

It will be a life-changing experience for you. Randy, thanks for stopping by, my friend. Hey, great to be with you, Rob.

That's Randy Alcorn, popular author and teacher. His article, Understanding the Treasure Principle, is in our new quarterly magazine, Faithful Steward. You can get your copy of this first issue and future issues when you become a FaithFi partner by giving $35 a month or more for us to reach more people with this message. You can do that at our website, faithfi.com.

Just click Give. Now, next up after the break, your calls and questions at 800-525-7000. That's 800-525-7000. I'm Rob West and you're listening to Faith and Finance, biblical wisdom for your financial decisions. and empowering them to carry biblical financial wisdom to their clients, peers, and community. For more information, visit kingdomadvisors.com.

That's kingdomadvisors.com. We are grateful for support from Crossmark Global Investments. They are a faith-based firm with a goal of offering values-based investments to help align financial choices and faith, ensuring a portfolio that reflects what matters most. Crossmark does this through investment solutions that span the capital market spectrum from large cap to small cap strategies, including equity, fixed income, and balanced 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. Hey, thanks for joining us today on Faith and Finance. Something going on in your financial life you want to talk about? Give us a call. We'll help you process it through the lens of Scripture, but help you make a practical decision, whether it's your lifestyle and your spending plan, reining in your spending, balancing that budget. Maybe it's investing for the future, given all the uncertainty.

How do you save effectively, build up that emergency fund, pay off debt, improve that credit score? Whatever it is, call right now, 800-525-7000. We've got a few lines open. First, we do want to tackle a few emails today.

These come in to us regularly. This first one comes from Cindy. She writes, I have a friend who's married to an unbeliever and her spouse sees no value in money beyond spending it. Do you have any advice for how she can make a budget and share it with her spouse so that his eyes might be open to the importance of financial stewardship? Well, I think anytime we're talking about money, we really want to back up and talk about shared values. And even though he's an unbeliever, and let's make that the priority to pray for his salvation, we want to make sure that we focus the money decisions around money being a tool to accomplish those things that are most important to us, which are really those shared values. So what financial goals are they trying to reach? I think once they can agree on where they'd like to be financially in the years ahead, it may be easier to have the other spouse stick with a budget because it's not just about a short term sacrifice, just so we can live frugally. Although that's good to do, I think the extent to which we're sacrificing in the short term, and really creating a plan so that we can accomplish our longer term objectives that really align with what's most important to us. We want to be able to leave a legacy we want to be able to give generously, we want to be able to leave something to our children's children, we want to take a trip and enjoy time together. I mean, whatever that is, we want a bigger home for our kids. Those priorities aligned with our values ultimately require a plan where we order our finances and even sacrifice or limit spending in the short term, so that we can have that longer term benefit. Now remember, when we're looking further out, the longer the perspective, the better the decision we're going to make today.

And so perhaps that's the next step is to invite her husband to sit down, take a step back. Let's not talk about the daily and weekly spending of the money. Let's talk about our shared values, what we'd like to accomplish in the future. Now, how do we create a spending plan that reflects both of us, that drives us to that outcome?

I hope that helps. Gretchen writes, should we tithe on money that we receive from an insurance payout? Well, Gretchen, it depends on the type of a settlement. If it's for lost income, such as with a life insurance death benefit, well, then that would be an increase. If it's for an automobile accident or a house fire, for example, you would not tithe on it because it's not an increase. It's actually a replacement for something you lost and previously paid for with money that you tithed on. So I think it really comes down to what is the purpose of that insurance payout. If it's simply to make you whole for a loss, then again, that is not an increase. Now, I love the principle of the tithe, though, even though we are no longer under the law of Moses. What a great way just to acknowledge God's provision, to acknowledge God's ownership of everything, and to say on the first and the best of what I receive, we're going to give as unto the Lord, starting with our local church. It's going to be proportionate and systematic, but let's not make that an ending point.

Let's make it a beginning point and then give sacrificially beyond that. Thanks for writing to us. By the way, if you have a question, send it along.

Ask Rob at faithfi.com. To Cleveland, Ohio. Lawrence, go ahead. Yes. Hello, Rob. Thank you very much for your program. Really appreciate it here.

I'd like to ask you a quick question. I have a 401 here at work. I'm 67 years old and I'd like to withdraw money to purchase a car for, say, $25,000 versus taking a loan, paying interest.

Is that something that I'm allowed to do, or do I have to talk to the plant administrator, or is that up to the administrator, or is it legal? Yeah, you can take a loan from the 401k to buy the car. Or just withdraw the money. Yeah, if you withdraw the money, it's going to be taxable.

You're over 59 and a half, so you're not going to have the penalty, but 100% of what you take out is going to be taxable, so it would be added to your taxable income for the year. And then the other piece is, which is perhaps the bigger issue, is just the opportunity cost, because now that money's not available to compound and grow for the next 20 years, between now and when the Lord calls you home. Now, you could also say, listen, I've worked my whole life, I've got plenty of assets, and we haven't gotten into the rest of your situation in terms of how you're going to cover your income in this season of life. But if you've got enough assets, and you say, listen, I just want to take this out, pay the tax on it, buy the car, well, that's fine. But we just need to factor this into, okay, what other assets do you have, and how are you going to fund your lifestyle expenses moving forward? I'd rather you do that without taking the money out of the 401k, just so we can keep as much growing for you as possible. But if you have enough in the way of assets, that may be perfectly appropriate. Does that make sense? Yeah, I don't have enough in assets. I mean, I'm going to be stretched thin. So it'd probably be better to leave the money in there, like you say, and let it grow.

I think so. And then the question is, okay, now how do we solve for the car? And do you have a car right now? I mean, the cheapest car you can own is usually the one you have right now, and you continue to drive it. You know, if it becomes cost prohibitive, and you need to buy a new one, you know, maybe you find something for $18,000, and you take a small loan out, and you try to just pay on it as quick as you can.

But I would try to preserve as much of that 401k money as possible, just because it sounds like you're going to need that. And so let's keep that money growing for you. We appreciate your call today, Lawrence.

Hopefully that gives you a few ideas. Quickly to Indiana. Hi, Cheryl, go ahead.

Hi, thank you for taking my call. My question is about my daughter is a freshman in college, and she has two CDs that are coming up to mature, one this month and one next month. But we're also looking at the fact that she may need a car and so we were wondering if, instead of rolling the CDs over to be in there for like nine more months at that highest interest rate that our credit union is offering. She would put them in together to give her enough money for a high yield money market. That way she'd be earning some decent interest. And it's my understanding then that money market would be more liquid so if she found a car that she could take that money out and purchase a car with it. Yeah, I think that's right. I mean you could even look at I mean I'm seeing banks right now paying four and a half percent, where it's completely liquid no minimums, no fees, and you know, four and a half percent is not bad now she can do better in a money market account, and with the FDIC insurance will great because yeah that absolutely be liquid, but she could do it with a high yield savings or a money market either of those would give her the safety that she's looking for with FDIC insurance, and she could get a decent hold so if it's in there for a year, you know, maybe she makes a few hundred dollars which is great.

So either of those would be a great fit but you're right, I would not roll it over into new CDs, because she may need it before it comes due. Robert, we'll see you tomorrow. Bye bye.