Today at Master Your Money
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Today at Master Your Money

Five Decisions to True Financial Freedom: The Calling Decision

Dear Friends,

It’s snowing in Atlanta today. Again. Watching the snow and thinking about this week’s blog topic reminds me of the paper snowflakes that my children used to bring home from school. They were always so proud of their creativity and quick to ask, “Daddy, did you know that EVERY snowflake is different?!?”

In this week’s video, I reference Ephesians 4, where, in verse 1, Paul tells the Ephesians to “live a life worthy of the calling you have received.”  God made you with a unique purpose and ... << MORE >>

Five Decisions to True Financial Freedom: The Lordship Decision

Dear Friends,

Thank you for joining me on this journey called, “the five decisions to true financial freedom.”  As I mentioned last week, Jesus promises that His truth will free us. Our financial needs and questions are merely tools in the bigger toolbox that Jesus uses to reveal truth and to free our hearts. While you may believe that you only desire to be free from debt, financial confusion, or financial obligation, Jesus desires to free you from so much more!

The second decision on the journey is ... << MORE >>

Five Decisions to True Financial Freedom: The Salvation Decision

Dear Friends,

This week, we begin a new series on “The Five Decisions to True Financial Freedom.”  Scripture teaches that “the truth will set you free” (John 8:32), and I firmly believe that walking further and further into the truth of God owning it all, and allowing the implications of that truth to permeate my life, will provide ultimate financial freedom for me. I believe that it can do the same for you.
As I explain each decision in the videos over the next five weeks, I’d like to share ... << MORE >>

What do I do if I am in a crisis debt situation?

Dear Friends,

A few weeks ago, I heard a sermon about how God fights for us, and, in turn, about how we are to fight for each other. A main point of the sermon was that God fights to win our heart; He does not simply fight for a change in our behavior.

We all struggle with sin patterns in our lives. We all struggle because we have only a limited perspective. We all struggle with being subject to unintended consequences of our ... << MORE >>

What is “good debt” vs. “bad debt?”

Dear Friends,

This week’s topic, good debt and bad debt, can be confusing. I hope that the video cleared up some of your questions on the matter, but, since it is such an important and often-muddy topic, I thought I would further clarify the issues.

To begin with, let’s clear up the difference between credit and debt. Credit is the ability to borrow money; debt is actually borrowing the money. Because credit is so freely available in our society, it is easy to think we can “afford” things ... << MORE >>

What are the spiritual dangers of debt?

Dear Friends,

I am sure that you have been as affected by the images and stories coming out of Haiti this week as I have been. What amazing suffering and heartbreak. What an amazing global response. What daunting logistical challenges in getting aid to the places that need it most!

I hope that you won’t feel that my analogy is irreverent, but as I saw the pictures of US paratroopers landing on the lawn of the President’s Palace in Port Au Prince, bringing ... << MORE >>

What is a biblical view of debt?

Dear Friends,

It’s the New Year. It’s Friday. I don’t know if your start to the year has been as busy as mine, but I imagine that it has. We live in a busy culture and have multiple demands on our time and energy. I suspect that you are very happy to see a Friday come your way!

Just today, I was at a conference listening to a speaker talk about margin, or “capacity,” as he called it. He highlighted four areas of struggle for margin in our lives:  ... << MORE >>

The New Year: Forgetting What Lies Behind

Dear Friends,

The older I get, the more precious memory becomes to me. I am grateful for the 5,000 old slides and photos that we recently had converted to electronic form so that they flash on the screen of my computer when it is at rest. I am so grateful for the opportunity to remember the hard lessons of my parents’ lives as I seek to live well the life God has granted to me. I am so grateful for each year that passes during which I have a memory for even the ... << MORE >>

Christ’s poverty and our riches

Dear Friends,

Christmas is a season when we remember that this world is not our home. Not only that, but we recall that this earthly reality is only a dim reflection of the true reality beyond time and space. When Jesus came to earth as a baby in a manger, He broke into time and He broke into our very brokenness so that we could break out of this world and into eternity. In short, He turned our world upside down and inside out.
God’s economy is not our economy. On ... << MORE >>

Stewardship: Money is a Testimony

Dear Friends,
Advent is upon us. Advent means, “to come.” When Jesus put on flesh, He did so in order to reveal the Father to us. In Jesus’ conversation with Nicodemus in John 3, He tells Nicodemus that He has come to give testimony to what is heavenly:  the love of the Father. He reminds Nicodemus that, “No one has ascended to heaven but He who came down from heaven, that is, the Son of Man who is in heaven.” (v. 13, NKJV) Jesus came to earth to light the path so that we could know ... << MORE >>