God's Plan or Your Wallet: Which One Rules Your Investments?

You work really hard, don't you? You're managing your money well, you're taking those steps, you're making smart financial choices.But sometimes when you look at it, even with all that growth, let me ask you, does it feel a little disconnected from your true purpose? Like, what if investing could actually do more than just grow your balance?What if it could really serve your calling, you know, your God given mission? On today's show, we're going to get into how your money can truly work for your mission and not just the market.This is Financially Confident Christian, your daily dose of gospel, grounded insight and faith driven tips to help you break the cycle of financial shame with confidence. Hello there. Welcome back to Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph and it is truly an honor to be with you again today.As you know, this show is all about answering that big question, how can I become a financially confident Christian? And we're continuing in our series beyond the Budget, Finding Financial Freedom through Intentional Living.Every episode in this series is all about being intentional. Now yesterday we talked about stewarding money. We talked about stewarding your time and stewarding your talents.Well, today I'm going to get a little more controversial. We're going to be talking about aligning your investments with your God given calling.And let me just tell you right now, I've done shows about this in the past and sometimes I get some hate mail. But I really want to get into aligning your investments with God's calling because I want to start with a basic preposition.I'm assuming you're investing, you're planning for retirement, you're watching your savings grow, you've set aside that emergency fund, you're starting to see things really start to click. But then you start thinking, wait a minute, is this just about me? Is it just about me? What is this all about?Yeah, maybe you're giving the church, you're supporting ministries, but your investments, they just feel disconnected from your faith. And see, when there's this disconnection, it creates this inner tension. And listen, your finances could be doing great.You might be setting the market on fire with your investments. Your retirement is growing greatly. But there's this inner tension. And you might be saying, why, Ralph? Why is there this inner tension?Because I feel it too. I'm listening to you right now, Ralph. And I feel it because here's the truth. You were made for more than just growing wealth.And I want you to hear that today. Today's show was all about that. Because you were made for more than just growing wealth. You were made to invest in eternity.See, here's the thing I want you to understand Today, dollars are tools, and every dollar is a tool. It's not just for growth. It's not just all about you. But if you're really going to live in God's will for your life.One of the things I pray about every day is, lord, just help me to live in your will today. But if you're really going to live in God's will, you've got to start using your money as a tool, not just for growth, but for God's glory.I want to share with you today the parable of the towns. A lot of people are firmly aware of this, but I thought this was so appropriate for today.If you open up your bibles, it's in Matthew, chapter 25, verses 14 to 30. And it says this. And I'm going to tie in why this makes sense to me and why I think all this connects today. And here's what it says again.It will be like a man going on a journey. He called his servants and entrusted his wealth to them. To one, he gave five bags of gold.To another, he gave two bags, and to another one bag, each according to his ability. Now, that's going to be important here in a moment. But each according to his ability. Then he went on his journey.The man who had received five bags of gold went at once and put his money to work and gained five bags more. So also the one with two bags of gold gained two more.But the man who received one bag, he went off, dug a hole in the ground, and hid his master's money well. After a long time, the master of those servants returned and settled accounts with them. The man who had received five bags brought the other five.Master, he said, listen, you entrusted me with five bags of gold. See, I've gained five more. And his master replied, well done, good and faithful servant. You've been faithful with a few things.I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master's happiness. Then the man who had received one bag came. Master, he said, I know you're a hard man.So I was afraid and I went out and hid your gold in the ground. See, here is what belongs to you. His master replied, you wicked, lazy servant. Well, let me just ask you a very appointed question.You know, I skipped around a little bit in that because I just wanted to get to the point of that. The person that had five invested five. The person who had two, two invested two. But the one who just had one, he Buried it in a hole.And what did this? What. What did the master say, you wicked, lazy servant? Well, ask yourself, what's the separation between the wise and the fearful?The wise invested that that was. They invested what they were entrusted. And a lot of people miss this point. And I think this is so appropriate for today's discussion.It wasn't just about the personal gain. It was to honor the Master. See, a lot of people read the parable of the towns and say, oh, God, saying to be fruitful and do with my work.But read it more carefully. It was all about honoring the Master. And see, I think we can learn from that today. The key is, don't just grow money, grow your mission.Let investments fuel Kingdom Impact. Maybe you're thinking right now, Ralph, man, you. You nailed it. You are right on point today. But how can I make that happen, Ralph?Well, the simple answer is this. Align your investments with your calling. Let money serve a purpose, not just produce profit.Now, I'm going to say something really bold, but I mean this with all of my heart. If you are a Christian, if you profess the Christian faith, then you should be investing in things that are appropriate for Christians.What I mean by that is don't invest in companies that put sin on the front page of their investment prospectus. A lot of people don't like to hear that. Oh, Ralph, but this one's doing so great in the market. This one's doing so great here. I don't care.Look at your purpose.Well, let me get a little bit more linear and what I think you can do to really get us past this point of really understanding where your investment should go. The first thing I need you to do is to create a practical plan. You got to start by defining your calling or your purpose.Take a moment today, maybe after you get done listening to this show, and ask yourself, and this is where you can really get creative. Ask yourself this really tough question. What mission really fires me up? Ask yourself, what am I called to build? What am I called to serve?What am I called to support? Or what am I called to create? And then ask yourself, how could my money actually help advance that mission? What are your passions? What fires you up?What are you being called to build, serve, support, or create? And how could you put your money to work to. To actually advance that mission? And for today, I want you to just write that down and get clear on it.Be specific about it. And once you do that, I want to encourage you to research one value line investment. Listen, I'm not telling you to go overhaul everything you have.That would be insanity to try to do it once. I think you should consider doing that over time.When somebody comes to meet with me, they say Ralph, I know you're a Christian guy, I know you, you think good on Christian investments. And I said yeah, here's a deal. I could teach you how to be a very wealthy scoundrel.I've got 30 years of experience showing people how to make their money work for them. But does it reach to your purpose? So first of all, define what that purpose is for you find that mission.So second thing, research one value line investment that ties into your values. And just one, maybe you want to consider some faith based mutual funds or exchange traded funds that really align with your Christian values.Well, what does that mean? You're going to have to look under the hood. You're going to have to go see what these companies are really investing in.A lot of people just say oh my, my broker selected this Ralph. It's a great investment and yeah, it's giving you great returns. But what does that business support?Maybe you want to look at some socially responsible investing, some ethical funds or hey, here's a great one. I'm all about small business people.See how you can invest in local Christian owned businesses or maybe just work with some charitable donor advised funds. But get yourself an education, start to look at what tools are out there to help you define that specific mission.And then test these companies and see are they meeting that mission. So what is your passion? Number two, research how you can do that. And then I'm just going to encourage you to take one small step.Now listen, I'm not telling you to go sell all your investments and put them all into one particular thing. I'm not saying that at all. I'm saying just take one small step. Don't overthink it.You know, maybe this could be something like opening a new investment account for mission aligned giving. Maybe you really want to work on that.Or maybe allocating a small portion of our portfolio to kingdom driven funds or enrolling in a course to sharpen your God given mission. Or one of my personal favorites, supporting a ministry you believe in with strategic investment. Not just these little handoff gifts.I mean really pour your heart and your money into it. Now we started off talking about that disconnect.We start talking about that tension with inside of you and I really think this helps you because it's going to bridge that gap between faith and finances. One of the key things that I hear from people, it's One of the reasons I started the show was Ralph. I feel like I'm disconnected.My faith and my finances are on completely different pages. Well, that's a problem because they should be on the same page.And see, by doing this step today, you're going to turn investing into worship and you're going to bring joy and purpose to your planning. And let me just tell you right now, it really helps you steward well what God has given you to create that eternal impact.Remember, it's not just about you. It's not just about your wallet. It's about that eternal impact and growth for the kingdom. Well, let's take a moment and pray together. Okay?Heavenly Father, I just thank you for the incredible callings you've placed on each of our lives and for all the resources you've generally entrusted with us. Forgive us, Lord, for sometimes viewing money through such a selfish or limited lens.We just ask that you would show us how to invest wisely, Lord, in ways that truly build your kingdom. Not just our own portfolios, Lord, not just our own wallets.Help us to be faithful stewards, Lord, multiplying what you've been given to us for your glory. Give us courage to take action, Lord, even if it's just one small step today. And we ask this in confidence in Jesus name, Amen. Friend.Investing with purpose genuinely changes everything. I want you to trust me on that. If you have a purpose, a God given mission purpose, it will change everything.It'll transform your money into ministry and turns that growth. And I want you to see that growth. But I want you to see that growth turn into impact. So I just challenge you today, friend.Don't just chase the return. Chase that alignment with your values. Take just one small step to align your money with your mission.One of the things I'm going to encourage you to do is share the show today. Share my show in general, share this episode and say, hey, Ralph was talking about aligning my faith in my investments.You know, it's something that you might want to think about because I've been thinking about it too. I'm also going to encourage you to grab a free copy of my book. It'll only be a couple more days and it's going to be available.It's called Mastering Your Finances. It's a free book. It's about 47 pages, but it is super impactful for helping you put all those money mastery tips together.You can get that by going to financially confidentchristian.com master now tomorrow we're going to be talking about a powerful reflection on redefining wealth. I'm going to surprise a little bit tomorrow, so I hope you can tune in.We're going to talk about how relationships and community, yes, those things actually bring the deepest financial peace. So don't miss it. One of the other things I want to mention today is I just launched a new show. It's a weekly show.It's called Truth Unveiled with Ralph. And I'm going to go a little deeper each week and talk about not just money, but things that really impact you on your faith walk.I'll put a link to it in the show notes, but you can find it at truth unveiled with Ralph.com we just released the first episode. We'll be releasing one every Sunday, so I'm going to encourage you to check it out.Well, let's all go out today and be financially confident Christians. Let's live wisely, let's give faithfully, and let's always think about investing for eternity. You can absolutely do this.I've got so much confidence in you and I want you to have confidence in yourself. Stay financially savvy. God bless you and you have a great day.