“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.

I love the topic that my CFAN Colleague, Anil “Neil” Chacko, discussed last month, What Does The Bible Say About Work And Retirement?

He used the scripture Genesis 3:17, “The Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to work it and keep it.”

Work was set up for us to do, since the beginning of time. God gave each of us a role to play.

In my early years, I viewed work as a punishment. I felt that it was unfair that I had chores to do. I felt that it was a punishment for being a child, subject to my parents’ whims and commands, rather than the contribution toward the good of the family that it was.

As I got older, however, my views changed on work. I began to earn money from my labor, and this changed everything. I began to see the importance of work in everyday life, as a requirement to earn money and pay for the things that were important to me.

The beginning of a new calendar year commonly conjures up thoughts of new beginnings and fresh starts. That’s why many people make New Year’s resolutions—those lofty goals that often fall by the wayside by Valentine’s Day. A Forbes survey found that improved finances is one of the top five New Year’s Resolutions that people make, with a third of people ages 26 to 57 naming it.

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?”

As we progress into the final quarter of the year, it tends to beg the question, “What are the tax advantaged year-end giving opportunities?”

As Christians, we want to make sure we’re maintaining a generous heart but also taking advantage of what the tax code has to offer.

As Christians, we know the Bible has much to say about wealth. Over and over again, we read warnings about the perils of greed and the power money can all-to-easily have on our hearts.

Through our work with many Christians over the years, we know all too well the profound internal struggle wealth can present.

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.

Life Insurance is one of the topics that is particularly sensitive to me.

Why, you might ask? And that would be a very fair question.

Isn’t life insurance necessary?

As Christians, one of our core beliefs is that the Holy Bible is the infallible Word of God.

Many Christians tend to view their money through the lens of stewardship, meaning that God is the ultimate owner of everything and we are just managing it for him. We even have two different blog posts on stewardship on this site, this one by Kaysi Gordon and this one by Chris Wells.

When we think of stewardship, we usually think of budgeting, managing debt, or even passing our wealth to the next generation. But what about taxes? When was the last time taxes came to mind when you were considering your stewardship journey?

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.

(Disclosure: This is not legal advice. For legal advice, please consult an attorney.)

When it comes to stewardship most of us automatically think about spending money and investing only. However, stewardship involves every aspect of your personal finances and even includes areas outside of personal finance.

Debt is a topic that has been coming up in conversations quite a bit recently.

My church body has been studying the topic this quarter in a series called: “Managing for the Master: Till He Comes”.

As a Christian financial advisor, I have been excited that this real world topic of debt, along with other financial topics, are being taught from a Biblical perspective. We know that money is important to the heart of God because there are over 2,300 verses pertaining to money in the Bible.

I run a Bible study at my church where we explore what God’s word has to say about finances and managing money.

Inevitably, as the study progresses, one of the most common questions I get is “What does the Bible say about how we should live? Does Jesus want us to sell all that we have and give the money to the poor?”

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!

It’s not uncommon to find tension between different passages of scripture in the Bible. Though it can sometimes feel confusing, this is part of the beauty of the Christian life.

Following Jesus isn’t about following a set of rules, but about giving our lives to the one who laid down His life for us. One of these tensions that we find in Scripture are the many warnings about the dangers of pursuing wealth, but also encouragement to save for the future and to build wealth. This blog post will explore this tension.

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.

Giving is always one of the most highlighted topics where faith and finance intersect. Often one of the biggest questions among Christians is, “How Much Should I Be Giving?”. It’s a tough one to answer because: it depends. But, this is a question that you should absolutely be able to answer for yourself as a steward of what God’s entrusted to you.

Stewardship is a topic that is very dear to my heart. As I’ve studied more on the subject, I first have to ask the question: What is stewardship?