How Can I Give Gifts with Purpose, Not Just Pressure?

Hey, let me ask you a question. Do birthdays or holidays ever fill you with dread? Not because you don't want to give the gift, but because you feel pressure to spend way too much.Like no matter how tight your budget is, you're expected to match a certain price tag. But what if gift giving didn't have to be so stressful? What if it could really be joyful again? Today we're breaking free from that gift giving guilt.Let's talk about how to give with purpose, not not pressure.

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.

Hey there and welcome back to your daily Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph and I am so glad you're here joining me today. I just want to thank you for giving me just a little bit of your time each day.This is the show where we ask that big question, how can I become a financially confident Christian? And we continue on our series beyond the Budget. Finding financial freedom through intentional living.That's what we're talking about during this 30 day series. I hope you've been following along because we are really knocking it out of the park.Now yesterday, if you missed it, we talked about how to learn new skills that could save you thousands of dollars and more importantly, build you up emotionally and spiritually. So if you missed it, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out. Today we're going to talk about giving from the heart. Here's a familiar feeling.You get invited to a birthday party or maybe a graduation party. Hey there a lot of those going on right now or a baby shower perhaps.And instead of feeling excited, all of a sudden you feel this not in your stomach. You start thinking, I really want to give Ralph. Truly I do. But suddenly you start to compare. Hey, what did they give our daughter last year?What will people think of this gift? Hey, am I going to look like I'm super cheap?So you swipe that card, you stretch your budget and then later you just feel regret, you feel guilt, you feel stress. And if we're being honest with ourselves, a lot of times we feel some resentment.And the worst part of all of that, something that's supposed to give you joy and, and enjoy this party or this birthday or this celebration, it just steals the joy from giving. And see, here's the thing you gotta understand. Culture has trained us to believe this lie. And this is a big bold face lie.Listen to what I'm saying to you. Culture has trained us to Believe this. The more you spend, the more you love. It's just nonsense. But so many of us buy into that cultural belief.The more you spend, the more you love. But scripture tells us a very different story. Get into the Word. Let's look at Second Corinthians, chapter 9, verse 7. It says this.Each of you should give what you have decided in your heart to give. Not reluctantly or under compulsion. Why is that? Well, here's what it says. For God loves a cheerful giver.You make that decision in your heart to give, not out of reluctance or not a, oh, you must do this. God doesn't ask for pressured giving.Now this particular scripture I think is talking about tithing and all things to the church, but it goes along that same thought process of being a cheerful giver. The Lord invites us to give with joy. He invites us to give with intention.And bigger than all of those things, Joy and intention are big, but the biggest one is give with freedom. Let's look at Proverbs, chapter 15, verse 17. It says this. Better a small serving of vegetables with love than. Than a fattened calf with hatred.Think about that for a second. What? We were talking about that gift.If you're reluctantly saying, I got you this gift, but man, I really spent more than I should have, but you spent that on my kids, so I got to spend it on yours. You're better off not doing that.Because the truth is this a thoughtful gift, even a small one, given in love, given in peace, is worth more than most of the expensive presents given in that tension, that feeling of oh, compulsion. Because here's a truth bomb that I'm going to lay on you right now. Giving isn't about price. It's not about price. It's the value.That's the cost of this. It's about purpose. So now you're asking Ralph, what can we do? We have these societal or these expectations of what we're supposed to do.What do we do? Well, here's what we do. We flip the script.Instead of chasing those price tags, we gotta start thinking about prioritizing thoughtful, meaningful and, and yes, creative giving. We give from our values what is important to us, what we think is meaningful, not from pressure.So here's your one action step for this is what I want you to do today. I want you to identify your next gift occasion. Maybe you've got a sister whose birthday's coming up. Or maybe your parents anniversary is coming up.Maybe there's that graduation or holiday. Hey, we're only about six months out from the holiday. So start thinking about that or, or maybe a baby shower.And I just want you to think about that next gift occasion and I you to write it down. So that's the first step. Second thing I want you to do is start brainstorming some non material gift ideas.I'm going to give you some of those things right now. One of the things I think we can really do a lot with is giving the gift of an experience. Think about this for a second.Maybe you've got that birthday coming up and you thought, you know what, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to have my sister and her husband over for dinner. Make them dinner, maybe take a walk, have a, have a movie or game night.Maybe you give the gift of service. Hey, maybe you've got a sister or a brother who just had a little baby. Maybe your your gift is to offer them to babysit.I remember one particularly when I was younger, it was a tight time around Christmas I gave each of my family members a gift certificate to wash and wax their car. Maybe you can offer to run an errand. Hey, here's a lost art a lot of people don't think about. Maybe you can do it with your words.Write a letter, record a prayer, share a memory. And if you missed the show a couple days ago we talked about secondhand stuff. Well, maybe you can find a vintage book or a meaningful keepsake.A hand me down with a story.I've seen some great gifts where somebody took a photo, had it framed and put something that was a keepsake and that was more valuable than anything the person could buy. And here's the last one. And a lot of people don't think about this one. Your time. See time is valuable. Simply spend some intentional time together.Turn the phone off, get away from distractions. So once you've decided what it is, you've decided that non material thing, then you know, you might want to spend a little bit of money.So I'm going to encourage you to set a realistic budget. Decide that in advance. What are you going to spend? Could be 10 bucks, it could be 0 bucks. Hey. And it doesn't really matter.It depends on what you're doing. And then I want you to just focus on the thought. Stop comparing, stop feeling guilty. Don't let that price tag define the value.Let the love behind it, the meaningfulness, what you put into it. Speak louder than the price tag.And see, this helps you because it frees you from that financial guilt and that, that peer pressure that societal, well, you better get me something nice because they got us something nice. It also deeply encourages creativity and it really makes you think about love based giving.Exactly what the scripture said, not out of compulsion, but out of love. And it really does strengthen relationships with the people around you. It strengthens your budget.And hey, if you're like me, it reduces that anxiety during those gift giving seasons. And listen, it's only about six months away from Christmas, so this is a great time to start planning those intentional gifts now.Well, how about we pray together? Father God, we just thank you for the greatest gift of all and that was your son Jesus who gave everything for us.So Lord, we ask that you would forgive us when we make gift giving about pressure, Lord, and comparison or guilt.Forgive us for those thoughts and teach us to give with cheerful hearts, Lord, to see the beauty in just those small gestures, the time and the thoughts to love well, Lord, and to give wisely.And we just ask that you would help us align our giving with our values, Lord, and with our budget, so it reflects your heart, these crazy expectations of the world. Lord, we ask that you would make us creative, make us generous and make us joyful, just like you. And we ask this in confidence in Jesus name.Amen, friend. A meaningful gift doesn't have to cost much, but it can mean absolutely everything to the person you're giving it to.So today I just want to challenge you. Choose your next gift based on purpose. On purpose. Intentionality, not pressure. You're not just saving money, you're building stronger relationships.You're living with peace and you're doing exactly what you set out to do. You're becoming a financially confident Christian.And if today's episode has impacted you, I want to encourage you to share it with somebody else or share the show. You can go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com hey, send a text message, send an email, say, listen, I found this great daily show.You should go check it out. And while you're there, grab a copy of my free book. It's called Mastering Your Finances.Absolutely free to you, but it is impactful to your financial life. You can get that by going to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/master and tomorrow we're going to talk about decluttering.Yes, it's going to be spring cleaning in the summer and how that can reduce your stress and bring peace to your heart and more importantly, peace to your wallet. Until then, stay faithful, stay wise, stay confident, stay confident in yourself. And let's all go out there and be financially confident Christians.You can do this. I have confidence in you. Have confidence in yourself. Stay financially savvy. God bless you and you have a great day today.

Thank you for joining us today on the Financially Confident Christian show, where we're breaking the cycle of financial shame with confidence and faith. If you found value in this episode, a simple click to subscribe means you'll be invited right back for our next conversation.And remember, financial challenges don't have to be overwhelming. Just Ask Ralph this show is a production of Ask Ralph Media and is supported by Saggio Accounting Plus.The information shared in this episode is based on data available as of the date of release. Saggio Accounting plus and Ask Ralph Media, Inc. Are under no obligation to update this content if circumstances change.Please note that applying this information to your personal situation requires careful consideration. This episode is not intended to serve as financial, tax or legal advice.Always consult your trusted tax advisor or attorney before taking action based on anything we've discussed.