Why Do I Struggle to Use My Talents to Earn More Money?

I'm going to say something hard today. I don't know how else to say it. Bearing your God given gifts is a sin.Yes, Ralph's calling sin a sin because you've got skills, you've got passions, you've got talents that come naturally. But here's the sin part. If you keep them hidden, nobody is blessed. And the worst part, this is the part I really want you to hear right now.If you don't use the talents that God has given you, in my humble opinion, you're telling God his gift wasn't worth using as he Culture tells us a lie. Culture tells us to be grateful for your job, but keep those hobbies on the side. Play it safe. Let me just tell you something right now.Jesus was not a safe player. He never called us to bury our talents under a bushel basket. He called us to use them and he called us to multiply him.And here's the truth most people don't want to say out loud. Playing it safe with your gifts isn't humility. A lot of people think, oh, I'm just being humble, Ralph. Guess what? It's not.It's actually disobedience. So stick with me today because we're about to expose the lie that your talents aren't valuable enough to earn.I'm going to show you how you can turn those into something that God intended for you. And I'm going to do that on today's show.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. Welcome back to Financially Confident Christian. I'm Ralph. I am so happy that you've chosen to join me on this roller coaster ride we had yesterday.Every day I come and I bring you a show helping you break the shame of financial struggles and walk in confidence. And we're continuing in our series Breaking Financial Chains.Now, if you missed yesterday's show, if you missed it, then you don't have no idea what I'm talking about. What I was talking about being on that roller coaster of irregular income and how to stop living in fear.So if you missed that show, I'm going to encourage you to go check it out. You can do all of our shows@financiallyconfidentchristian.com.well, we're continuing in our struggles of income today and we're going to talk about why do I struggle so hard to use my talents to earn more money? And I really thought that was a great topic for today because so many people Struggle with this.They know they've got these God given gifts, they've got these God given talents. Maybe you love cooking. Listen, I'm not one of those people, but maybe you love cooking, maybe you love to write. Maybe you love to be organized.You like to help people organize. Maybe you have the heart of a teacher. Or maybe, like me, you like to create. And you've had friends say this to you, say, ralph, you know what?You're so good at this, but are you making money from it? And as you think about that, you're like, oh, that seems so out of reach, Ralph.And those fear, those thoughts, those negative thoughts creep into your head. You start to think to yourself, hey, nobody would pay me for this. I'm a good cook, but man, nobody's gonna pay me for that.I'm a good writer, but who's gonna pay me for that? Yes, I can teach people, but how to make money doing that, Ralph, I'm not skilled enough. The culture tells me that's too risky. So what do you do?So many of us do this, we just bury our gifts, we put them away. But you know what I'm going to worry about? I'm going to focus on my main job. Culture tells me I got to focus on that main job.I can't put myself out there. The problem with that, and this is a truly sinister problem, you've got this untapped potential. You've got missed provision.God gave you these talents for a purpose. And for so many people, it's the reason they feel stuck and they feel mired down in this financial cycle of shame.But here's something I want you to hear, and this is a very bold statement I'm making today. Playing it safe isn't safe. I want to say that one more time because you want to hear. You got to hear this. Playing it safe isn't safe.And here's where the sin part comes in. And I'm not judging. Let me be very clear about that. I'm not judging you, but I truly believe this. It's disobedience.See, playing it safe if you're not using the talents. God gave you talents for a reason. He gave you gifts. He gave you skills for a reason. If you're not using them, you're being disobedient to God.You're saying to God, that's nice, but I don't need those. Lord, think about the parable of the towns in Matthew 25:14, 30. But that servant had buried his gift. And when the master returned, what did he do.He scolded him. He condemned him. He didn't praise him. Why do you think that's in the Bible? Why do you think Jesus talked about this? Because God gave you talents.He wants you to use them. He wants you to use them to glorify him. He wants you to use them to build the kingdom. He wants you to enrich your life with those things.Because when you do, your, you enrich other people's lives. Let's look at some more scripture. This is from Matthew, chapter 25, verse 29. And I love this scripture.I think this one is the thing that we can set our hearts on today. Again, Matthew 25, verse 29. For whoever has will be given more, and they will have an abundance.Whoever does not have even what they have will be taken from them. And that's a little piercing, isn't it? You're probably sitting there right now going, ralph, man, you're being a little dark today. Yes, I am.God did not give you talents to hide them. God gave you talents to use them. He gave you talents to multiply them and to bless others.It just frustrates me when I see talented people who are scared, who live in fear, who don't want to put those talents out. God gave those to you. If you don't use them, you're being disobedient. Being disobedient is a sin. And here's the controversial part of this.When you refuse to use your talents to earn an impact, what are you really doing? You're burying God's trust. This isn't greed. So many people think, well, if I use this talent, Ralph, it's just greed. I'm trying to get more money.That's not at all what it is. See, culture wants to tell you that because they don't want you to be different. They don't want you to stand out. They don't want you to excel.This isn't about being greedy. It's about stewarding what God has given you. And money is just one of the ways that God multiplies your gifts. It's not all about the money either.But think about how those gifts can impact somebody. Think about how those gifts can enrich somebody else's lives. So now you're asking, what can we do?Well, here's the thing I'm going to tell you right now, the thing you absolutely got to do. So many people say this, someday I'll do that, Ralph. You know, when I got time, when I retire, I'll do do those things.Stop waiting for Someday and do it right now. If you're sitting there right now listening to my voice or you're watching me, do it today.Take those talents that God has given you and put them to work. Put them to work and bless other people. Stop saying you're not good enough. You are good enough.You're a blessed child of God and the talents he's given you will make a difference in this world. You just have to have the right, the strata. You just have to take the chance and go do it. And that's my big encouragement for today.Take one God given gift and put it to work. Not tomorrow, not next week. Do it today. There are people that will be impacted by you making this decision. So here's my one action item for today.And it's going to be pretty straightforward today. Start by calling out the lie. This is exactly what you're living in. You're living in a lie. Write down that fear that's holding you back.What is that fear? I'm not good enough. Nobody will pay me for this. Write those things down. Write them down 10 times if you have to.And then take that piece of paper, fold it up and burn it. Because you need to start by calling out the lie. And then move on to the second step. And that's list your talents.List those things that come naturally to you. What do people thank you for? Those are your talents. So many people will tell you, Ralph, you're really good at this.Sally, you're really good at that. Then I'm just going to encourage you to choose one. Don't overthink this. Just pick one and take that bold step. Take that bold step today.Tell three people you're offering it. Post a message online. Create a sample record, a demo. You can do this. Don't allow your talents to go wasted and living in fear.And maybe you still got a little twinge of fear. Well, just ask God for courage. Pray for courage. Ask God to multiply your effort. Ask him to open up those doors.Ask him to give you boldness, because he'll give it to you. He gave you those talents. He gave you those abilities for a reason. Let's pray together.Father God, thank you for the talents and the abilities you've given us. And Lord, we just ask you right now that you forgive us when we bury them out of fear, when we bury them out of doubt.Lord, give us courage to step out in faith. Give us courage to step and to multiply what you've entrusted to us.Lord, open our eyes to opportunities to use our skills for your glory and for the provision of our families, Lord, make us faithful stewards. Not hiding, not, not living in fear, Lord, but boldly building on the talents and the gifts that you've given us.And we ask this in complete confidence, knowing that you will make it work, Lord, in Jesus name, amen. Hiding your talents isn't humility. I want to go back to what I said a little while ago, and I might get some hate mail over this, but that's okay.Hiding your talents is disobedience. God gave you gifts for a reason. Yes, they can provide, yes, they can bless. But they're only going to do that if you use them.So I'm going to encourage you again, take that bold step today. And as you're taking that bold step today, maybe you know somebody who has a talent.Maybe you know somebody that's a great cook or somebody that's a talented teacher or a writer or an organizer. I'm gonna encourage you to share the show with them today.This might be the little nudge they need to help them start to use those talents that God has given them. Just point them right to our website. You can send them an email. You can send them a text. Hey, pick up the phone. Send them a handwritten note.Just write down financiallyconfidentchristian.com and send it to them. Because, listen, they may have the very talent that God is going to use to bless you and to bless others all over this world.And while you're at our website, I want to give you a free copy of my book. I just finished writing my third book. It was really a labor of love, and it's called how to Become a Financially Confident Christian.And you can grab a free copy. You can download it right from our website.Just go to financiallyconfidentchristian.com/becoming I'm going to give you that one more time because I want you to get this book. I want you to really get into it. It will change your financial point of view. Again, that's financially confident Christian.Now, tomorrow on the show, we're going to tackle giving. A lot of people say, Ralph, here you go again, talking about giving. But I truly believe this with every ounce of my being.Generosity feels risky, but it can actually bring you peace. And tomorrow on the show, I'm going to show you exactly how to make generosity bring you peace and build the kingdom of the Lord.And remember this, your talents aren't accidents. This isn't some happenstance thing. They're assignments. And it's time to put them to work. You can do this. I believe in you.And more importantly than anything else, don't even worry about me. God believes in you. Believe in him. Stay financially savvy. Go out there and be a financially confident Christian. God bless you.And you have a great day.