WithoutWax.tv by Pete Wilson | Tag Archive | money
Tag Archive - money

Money Lies

October 20, 2010 in Spiritual Growth with 43 Comments

Ever wonder what money would say if it could talk?

Well, I think money whispers all kinds of lies to us. Lies like…

“If you get more of me you’ll finally be satisfied.”

“If you make a few more of me you’ll finally have that peace that’s been eluding you all these years.”

But one of the biggest lies I think money tells us in our culture today is, “If you make more of me you’ll be more generous.”

What a crock!

This is one huge lie and yet some of you have totally bought it. You think the only reason you’re not generous is because things are too tight right now. You think “When I make more money than I’m going to give more.”

No you’re not.

One of the most reliable financial statistics that exists year after year is that lower income people give a higher percentage of their income away. The more you get the harder it is for you to be generous. If you can’t be generous when  you make $22,000 you will not be generous when you make $42,000. If you’re not generous with $42,000 you certainly won’t be generous with $142,000.

If you can’t be generous with what you have now you will never be generous with more.

Agree or disagree?

Money and Peace

June 14, 2010 in Spiritual Growth with 42 Comments

Deep down in each one of our hearts is a place that yearns for peace. We often feel

rushed

stressed

spent

restless

anxious

but what we really desire is peace.

I once heard Andy Stanley ask a question that stayed with me. He said, “Do you have money in the bank, but no peace in your heart?”

In the past few years I’ve been to some of the poorest places in the world like Haiti and India. I’ve watched  families mix mud, salt and vegetable shortening to cook over an open fire to prepare what they call a “dirt cookie.” Realizing the dirt cookies had no nutritional value they would eat them hoping they would momentarily squelch their hunger pains.

dirt cookies

And yet let me tell you something about those families. Most of them have more peace than those of you reading this blog right now.

Why?

Because there is no correlation between money and peace.

Zip.
Zero.
Nada.

Get, earn, save, and invest all of it you want… but you’ll never squeeze an ounce of peace out of it.

Motivated By Rank

March 26, 2010 in Spiritual Growth with 55 Comments

Studies are proving we’re not really driven by the idea that “money buys happiness.” Somehow I think we all knew that as we connected the dots and came to the reality that more money didn’t really give us true happiness.

So what does motivate us to buy more, spend more, flaunt more.

It turns out it’s even darker than we originally thought. A new study shows that we’re really not that concerned with whether we make $50,000 or $150,000 as long as we make more than our friends, colleagues and people we went to college with. It’s not the money we’re really after, it’ status.

According to THIS ARTICLE the higher we rank above the people in our circles the greater the sense of happiness and self-worth we tend to have.

The higher a person ranked within his age group or neighborhood, the more status he had and the happier he was regardless of how much he made in dollars (or, in the study’s case, pounds). “What we’re trying to do is understand and explain why, over 30 to 40 years, the large economic growth we have experienced hasn’t made us any happier,” says Boyce. “If absolute income matters, as we increased our income, everybody should get happier at a national level, but we don’t seem to. So what we are showing is that in terms of life satisfaction, rank is a better predictor than absolute wealth.”

In our blinded desire to to beat the person next door we have absolutely secured the reality that enough will never be enough.

We’ll always find someone…

living in a bigger house

driving a newer car

obtaining a larger bonus

I think in some ways I’ve fooled myself into thinking I’m doing “really good” because money doesn’t matter to me. However, the truth is I’ve still given “rank” too much importance in my life.

At some point I’ve got to decide. When is enough, enough?

At some point I’ve got to come to grips with the fact that my identity is not based on what I earn, what I have, or where I rank.

At some point I have to realize this game is doing immense damage to my ultimate goal of Christ being formed in me.

Anyone else struggle with this?

Show Me The Money

June 25, 2009 in Religion with 48 Comments

I had the incredible opportunity of speaking to the Lampo Group yesterday. I was absolutely blown away by the graciousness of Dave Ramsey and his entire staff.

As part of my preparation I did a little research on their organization and was extremely impressed.

-Over 750,000 families have now went through Financial Peace University.
-3.5 million listeners tune into the “Dave Ramsey Show” each week.
- In April over 1 million people participated in the “Town Hall For Hope” a live broadcast heard on the radio, seen on the Fox Business Network, and delivered to over 6,000 webcast locations across the country making it the largest syndicated webcast to date.

Clearly God is using Dave and this entire organization to do amazing things for His Kingdom. Beyond the amazing numbers you’ll find a passionate leader who cares deeply about his staff (Dave is currently using flash cards at his desk to memorize all 300 of his employees names). What other organization do you know that take an hour out of their work day to open God’s Word together?

About a year ago God prompted me to the importance of how we use our money. Brandi and I have had several recent conversations about how we could better use our money to impact more people.

My wheels got turning about a year ago when I read the total income of American churchgoers is $5.2 trillion. That’s a lot of stinking money.  It would also just take a little over 1 % of the income of American Christians to lift the poorest one billion people in the world out of extreme poverty. Furthermore while American Christians make up only 5 percent of the church worldwide, we still control about half of the global Christian wealth.

I was convicted that I would sometimes stay up late trying to figure out how I could afford this or afford that, but rarely was I compelled to spend hours strategizing about how I could more effectively fund Kingdom ventures. Getting my financial world in order is not just about me getting rich… it’s about me making an impact in this world. Money certainly doesn’t solve all of our world’s problems, but it sure can make a difference when it’s managed well.

Dave Ramsey and others like him are on a crusade to help people find a hope and freedom that could have a huge impact on the American church and the advancement of God’s love around the world.

I know money is a really, really, really personal thing, but I would love to know how you guys are doing in this area.

Have any sound financial advice that could benefit our community here?