I get the privilege of teaching at my church this month on the topic of the Rich Young Ruler and I see a lot of overlap to financial planning conversations I get to have with our clients at Flourish FP. As such, I wanted to share a few thoughts with the CFAN followers from this famous account in scripture.

“The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.” Matthew 13:44

This one sentence parable has been on my mind quite a bit recently. Jesus shares back-to-back parables (this and the pearl of great value) and says that the finder goes and sells all that they have as a result.

Each year our advisors love to collaborate on a group blog post around Advent/Christmas time and address what a specific topic means to us.

This year we chose, “What is Advent and how does it relate to your finances?”

It is my joy to study and discuss what generosity looks like in the life of a believer. You’ll probably notice that several of my authored articles on CFAN discuss some realm of generosity. I was speaking with another Christian advisor recently who shares this passion - seeing the joys of generosity awaken in the lives of his clients. This is typically a long process - finding joy in generosity. It isn’t something that someone just wills to happen overnight because generosity is different than giving.

Just because you have a budget does not mean that your budgeting honors Christ. Just because you use a budget does not mean that your budgeting honors Christ. Just because you use a Ramsey-approved envelope system does not mean that your budgeting honors Christ.

So how can we know? If we have a desire to honor Christ in all that we do, how do we know that we are stewarding The Lord’s resources through budgeting in a way that honors Christ? Let’s start with what is not.

As we near Christmas, our advisors at the Christian Financial Advisors Network wanted to share how they guide their families through giving and receiving during the Advent season and the faith impact that it has.

Enjoy!

Please visualize a story with me. Put yourself into the narrative as you read this story. Perhaps you are able to envision a time in your life when you have encountered something similar.

It is a Friday night and you are going to celebrate a friend’s birthday. You and several other friends are going to a high end restaurant, followed by a short walk to a new dessert store just down the street in a hopping area of town.

Have you ever known someone who is especially generous? Someone who gets excited about sacrificial giving? And after seeing their excitement and enjoyment of being generous has it made you want to grow in your own generosity?

Seeing the joy of generosity first-hand can be contagious.

But, growing in generosity is not simply just forcing yourself to give away more of your money. You can give away 50%, 60%, 70% of your income and that does not necessarily mean you are a generous person.

When the church (or any group of believers) discusses the intersection of God and money, our role is most commonly conveyed as stewardship.

In the rare instance of Christians discussing money with one another, it is almost inevitable that someone will mention, "I want to be a good steward with what I've been given."

This is absolutely a right and biblical mindset to have, but I fear it has been watered down or lost some of the substance that it is due.

The Christmas season is such a wonderful time of the year. On the surface level it’s filled with family, friends, food, rest, and gifts.

However, on a spiritual level it’s a time of preparation and celebration through, Advent, as well as the meaningful reflection on what the birth of Christ means to us.

In God's word we find wisdom. James 1:5 (ESV) says, "If any of you lacks wisdom, let him ask God, who gives generously to all without reproach, and it will be given."

His word reveals Himself leading us to worship Him, and His word reveals how He intended us to live a flourishing life. When the Bible was written there wasn't a stock market; there weren't mutual funds; there wasn't our current concept of retirement. However, we can find solid biblical wisdom to apply to our investment portfolios.

The concepts of gleaning and creating margin are themes that are periodically commanded and mentioned within the Old Testament and for good reason. But what does this mean for us Christians living according to the New Covenant through Christ?

Money is a powerful, yet dangerous tool. If stewarded well, it can be used to fund great, eternal purposes, but it can just as easily lead to false idols. Through community and accountability in our personal financial situation we can break the power of money over our lives and better direct our wealth for kingdom purposes.