{"id":301120,"date":"2006-05-24T11:00:00","date_gmt":"2006-05-24T15:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/%series%\/becoming-a-generous-giver\/"},"modified":"2025-01-09T14:57:42","modified_gmt":"2025-01-09T19:57:42","slug":"becoming-a-generous-giver","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/becoming-a-generous-giver\/","title":{"rendered":"Becoming a Generous Giver"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Ron Blue talks about the benefits of giving generously to advance God&#8217;s work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Ron Blue talks about the benefits of giving generously to advance God&#8217;s work.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":91,"featured_media":294104,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","inline_featured_image":false,"_uag_custom_page_level_css":"","episode_type":"audio","audio_file":"https:\/\/web.familylifetoday.com\/fl2006-05-24.mp3","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"00:","filesize":"11.35M","filesize_raw":"11903104","date_recorded":"2006-05-24 11:00:00","explicit":"","block":""},"categories":[2866],"tags":[4299,4710,4709],"podcast_series":[7454],"cwp_profile":[3066],"series":[2101],"class_list":["post-301120","podcast","type-podcast","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-spiritual-disciplines-essentials-faith","tag-faith","tag-giving","tag-tithe","podcast_series-generous-living","cwp_profile-ron-blue","series-familylife-today"],"acf":[],"episode_featured_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg?w=508","episode_player_image":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2023\/02\/image-scaled.jpg","download_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-download\/301120\/becoming-a-generous-giver","player_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast-player\/301120\/becoming-a-generous-giver","audio_player":null,"episode_data":{"playerMode":"light","subscribeUrls":{"apple_podcasts":{"key":"apple_podcasts","url":"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/familylife-today\/id212174303?mt=2&app=podcast","label":"Apple Podcasts","class":"apple_podcasts","icon":"apple-podcasts.png"},"google_podcasts":{"key":"google_podcasts","url":"","label":"Google Podcasts","class":"google_podcasts","icon":"google-podcasts.png"},"spotify":{"key":"spotify","url":"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/0j5UaKdQOHQCuo1bt0ebEm","label":"Spotify","class":"spotify","icon":"spotify.png"},"youtube":{"key":"youtube","url":"","label":"YouTube","class":"youtube","icon":"youtube.png"}},"rssFeedUrl":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/feed\/podcast\/familylife-today","embedCode":"<blockquote class=\"wp-embedded-content\" data-secret=\"ZhJ23y2ptH\"><a href=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/becoming-a-generous-giver\/\">Becoming a Generous Giver<\/a><\/blockquote><iframe sandbox=\"allow-scripts\" security=\"restricted\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/podcast\/familylife-today\/becoming-a-generous-giver\/embed\/#?secret=ZhJ23y2ptH\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" title=\"&#8220;Becoming a Generous Giver&#8221; &#8212; FamilyLife\u00ae - A Cru Ministry\" data-secret=\"ZhJ23y2ptH\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" class=\"wp-embedded-content\"><\/iframe><script>\n\/*! This file is auto-generated *\/\n!function(d,l){\"use strict\";l.querySelector&&d.addEventListener&&\"undefined\"!=typeof URL&&(d.wp=d.wp||{},d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage||(d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage=function(e){var t=e.data;if((t||t.secret||t.message||t.value)&&!\/[^a-zA-Z0-9]\/.test(t.secret)){for(var s,r,n,a=l.querySelectorAll('iframe[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),o=l.querySelectorAll('blockquote[data-secret=\"'+t.secret+'\"]'),c=new RegExp(\"^https?:$\",\"i\"),i=0;i<o.length;i++)o[i].style.display=\"none\";for(i=0;i<a.length;i++)s=a[i],e.source===s.contentWindow&&(s.removeAttribute(\"style\"),\"height\"===t.message?(1e3<(r=parseInt(t.value,10))?r=1e3:~~r<200&&(r=200),s.height=r):\"link\"===t.message&&(r=new URL(s.getAttribute(\"src\")),n=new URL(t.value),c.test(n.protocol))&&n.host===r.host&&l.activeElement===s&&(d.top.location.href=t.value))}},d.addEventListener(\"message\",d.wp.receiveEmbedMessage,!1),l.addEventListener(\"DOMContentLoaded\",function(){for(var e,t,s=l.querySelectorAll(\"iframe.wp-embedded-content\"),r=0;r<s.length;r++)(t=(e=s[r]).getAttribute(\"data-secret\"))||(t=Math.random().toString(36).substring(2,12),e.src+=\"#?secret=\"+t,e.setAttribute(\"data-secret\",t)),e.contentWindow.postMessage({message:\"ready\",secret:t},\"*\")},!1)))}(window,document);\n\/\/# sourceURL=https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-includes\/js\/wp-embed.min.js\n<\/script>\n"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/1001\/2024\/09\/FLT-Podcast-Cover-2-508x508-3.jpg",508,508,false]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"kfairris@familylife.com","author_link":"https:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/author\/kfairrisfamilylife-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"Ron Blue talks about the benefits of giving generously to advance God's work.","meta_box":{"show_notes":"","transcript_url":"https:\/\/transcript.familylifetoday.com\/fl2006-05-24.pdf","transcript_content":"<p>Ron:\u00a0Even the idea of borrowing money \u2013 sometimes that's a test.\u00a0 In the business world, I was taught that call OPM, Other People's Money.\u00a0 You use other people's money to build.\u00a0 That's called leverage, and you can get a greater return when you do that.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Money is a tool that we use to live, but it can also be a test of what's in our heart.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0So one of the greatest tests for me was to stop borrowing.\u00a0 It was a bigger test than it was to give and to trust God, then, to provide what I really needed rather than what the world told me that I needed.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0This is FamilyLife Today for Wednesday, May 24th.\u00a0 Our host is the president of FamilyLife, Dennis Rainey, and I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 Borrowing is just one test we face when it comes to money.\u00a0 Do we think about borrowing the way the Bible thinks about it or the way the world thinks about it?\u00a0 We're going to talk about that and some of the other tests related to money on today's program.<\/p>\n<p>And welcome to FamilyLife Today, thanks for joining us.\u00a0 You have raised and launched your six children at this point in life, right?<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Figuratively speaking, yes.\u00a0 Some of the launches boomeranged.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0I understand.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0You know, you kind of have to relaunch them again.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Came back to the launching pad for a second shot.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0They didn't stay there long, though, because we had that all figured out.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Would you say that you accomplished the objective of raising generous children?<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0That's a really good question, and I guess doing a quick inventory of our six children, I would say, for the most part, they're pretty generous.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Do you want to give it a number, like, three out of six, and then we'll start guessing.<\/p>\n<p>[laughter]<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0We actually sought to teach them the value of giving when they were little, even when we gave them an allowance.\u00a0 We'd give them their allowance in coins, and they were supposed to put one set of coins in the giving envelope, another in the saving envelope, and another in the spending envelope.\u00a0 We didn't do the best job in the world at that, but we learned that from a good friend of FamilyLife, Ron Blue, who joins us on FamilyLife Today.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0I'm delighted to be here also.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Ron, you taught a biblical perspective on handling money, because Barbara and I really benefited from your ministry.\u00a0 And, of course, many of our listeners will know Ron from his business in Atlanta.\u00a0 He was the founder of Ronald Blue and Company; went on to manage a number of associates who worked with him for, what, Ron, 20-25 years?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Twenty-five years, yes.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Twenty-five years \u2013 he's a board member of Campus Crusade for Christ.\u00a0 So, in essence, Bob, you need to salute.\u00a0 He's your boss.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Sir, Mr. Blue, Sir.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Make sure you get fired, Bob, speaking of money.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0I'll be kind.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Ron has written a number of books about money and giving and wealth.\u00a0 One of them we feature in our Homebuilders couples series called \"Mastering Money in Your Marriage.\"\u00a0 It's sold almost 100,000 copies, and a book we want to talk about today called \"Generous Living, Finding Contentment Through Giving.\"\u00a0 Now, Ron, would you say you were a generous young couple as you and your wife, Judy, started out your marriage together and your family?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Absolutely not.\u00a0 I started out our marriage with one objective, and that was to be successful, and giving was not on the radar screen nor was anything to do with the church or godly living at all.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Accumulating was the goal, right?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Oh, absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0And giving is antithetical to accumulating, or so it seems.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0It sure seems that way.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0And so most folks would think \"Why would I give when I want to acquire,\" right?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Absolutely, and there's really only five things you can do with money, and giving is one of them, and it's the first one to go whenever there's a budget crunch.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0The five things are spend it, save it, give it, invest it?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Save and invest it, I would put in the same category.\u00a0 Pay your taxes and pay your debt are the other two.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Okay, all right, that's good.\u00a0 And you're saying when money gets tight, the first thing to go is giving.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Because it's always optional.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0But even when money wasn't tight for you, giving wasn't even on the list?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0No, because you realize that if I give a dollar, you know, I\u2019m out a dollar.\u00a0 Maybe I can reduce my taxes, but I'm still out 50 cents, 75 cents.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0If I had come to you in that time \u2013 you've been married for five years, and I had said, \"Ron, do you think of yourself as a generous person?\"\u00a0 Would you have said, \"Oh, yes.\"<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0I'd probably said I have a good heart, but now I'm speaking from the basis of about 30 years of experience, and I can tell you, I was not generous.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0So your analysis at the time was, \"I'm probably as goodhearted as anybody else?\"<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0I'm as good as the next guy, right.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0It's dangerous to compare yourself with just the herd, though, isn't it?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0It is, yes, very much so.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0You speak of this coin that I'm holding, and I happen to be holding a Canadian dollar \u2013 and the reason I'm holding a currency other than an American dollar is because I wanted to make a point of it.\u00a0 You speak of money in terms of something beyond just being a coin; that there are really three things that you say it is.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Right.\u00a0 Money \u2013 it is a tool, and it really is only a tool.\u00a0 When money owns us, it's no longer a tool, it's a god.\u00a0 But if I look at it as I own the money rather than the money owning me, then it becomes a tool to be used.\u00a0 So when I trade money, for example, for a vacation, it's really not the hotel and eating out and so forth.\u00a0 I'm creating an experience, I am using money as a tool to do something else.<\/p>\n<p>When I buy a home, I am using money as a tool to do something, to create a lifestyle, to create an environment.\u00a0 When I pay tuition to college, I'm using money as a tool to educate my children and give them an opportunity.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0And when you give, you're using money as a tool to further God's work.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Well, it's interesting that you express it in that way, because I'm sitting here thinking, really, nobody wants money.\u00a0 I mean, that big stack of paper or a big jarful of metal coin \u2013 that really isn't what you're after.\u00a0 It's what that coin and that dollar can do.\u00a0 It's what you'll buy with it.\u00a0 It really is a tool.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0I think there's three things that drive people \u2013 all of us, innately.\u00a0 One is this need for security.\u00a0 I need to feel secure, I need to feel significant, and I need to feel successful.\u00a0 And when we see money, we look at money as being the tool to accomplish all three of those, because I can buy significance, I can buy security, and I can buy success.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Or at least you think you can, right?<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0And the way the world looks at it is a person who is good at earning money and gathering money and accumulating money, he is successful, or she is successful.\u00a0 I had a businessman one time share with me \u2013 he said, \"It occurred to me that I didn't need to be a world-class earner of money.\u00a0 I needed to set my goal to be a world-class giver of money.\"\u00a0 And you think about the culture we live in, we don't applaud the person who is that world-class giver and celebrate their giving.\u00a0 We typically admire the person who is the world-class earner, who accomplishes and achieves and has the big home and drives the expensive cars.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0You know, God gave me an opportunity just this past March, to see a world-class giver, and I take my son, my oldest boy, who is about 30 now, out for breakfast once a week.\u00a0 He still lives in Atlanta, and he still wants to meet with Dad, and so Dad wants to meet with him.\u00a0 So we go to Chik-fil-A, and we go to the same Chik-fil-A, and every time I walk into this Chik-fil-A, there is this Hispanic lady who would wait on us, and she always waited on us, and she always greeted us with a smile and just a radiant look to her face.<\/p>\n<p>We'd been doing this for months and even years, and so I was walking out of the Chik-fil-A, and I thought, \"You know, you tip waiters and waitresses at the restaurant, but you never do at a fast-food restaurant,\" and I said, \"This lady has been great to me.\"\u00a0 So I reached in my pocket, and I pulled out a $20 bill, and I was getting ready to go back, and it was like the Holy Spirit spoke to me and said, \"You cheapskate,\" because I had a lot of 20s in my billfold.\u00a0 So I pulled out five $20 bills, $100, folded it over, went to the counter, and I said, \"Can you take this?\"\u00a0 And very graciously, she said \"Yes.\"<\/p>\n<p>So I gave it to her.\u00a0 About a month or so later I was back in there \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Now, wait a second, you gave her a $100 tip?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0I gave her $100 tip.\u00a0 It was one of those things \u2013 I mean \u2013 and when I gave it to her, I said, \"God has blessed me so abundantly, and you have blessed me, and I just want you to have this.\"\u00a0 She didn't know how much it was, but it was $100.\u00a0 So when I was back in there about a month later, she came over \u2013 my son wasn't there yet, and she came over to the table, and was waiting on him.\u00a0 She came over, and she told me her story.\u00a0 She is a lady, a single mom, she is working at Chik-fil-A in order to put five children through college.\u00a0 She immigrated to America to give them an opportunity.\u00a0 So she's showing up there at 5:00 in the morning to work so she can put her kids through college.\u00a0 And she said, \"And I'm so proud of my kids.\"\u00a0 She said, \"They have turned out so well.\"\u00a0 And then she said, \"You know, when you gave me the $100,\" she said, \"I needed a set of tires, and so I was very, very thankful.\u00a0 But I got home that night, and one of my high school children came home and shared with me that there had been an apartment fire near where we live, and there had been several families that had lost everything.\"\u00a0 And she said, \"I knew that there was a better use for that $100.\"\u00a0 So she said, \"We gave it to a family that had lost everything.\"<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Wow.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0And I immediately said, \"You know, I gave out of my abundance.\u00a0 She gave out of her poverty.\u00a0 She needed the $100, I didn't need the $100.\"\u00a0 There were two things about it \u2013 one was that she was able to receive with grace in order to give.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Unbelievable.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0And I think the key to giving is to understand where it comes from.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0You've already confessed here, Ron, that you weren't generous starting out in your marriage, and yet I'm listening to this story of you making a gift to a young lady who is struggling to put her family through college.\u00a0 Where did you learn that kind of thinking, that kind of conviction that would cause you to roll up five $20 bills and put it in the hand of another person?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Well, you've got to confess, though, Dennis, I still don't consider myself generous.\u00a0 I'm kind of like my friend, Hugh McClellan, who \u2013 he says he gives 70 percent of his income away.\u00a0 But he said, \"Believe me,\" he said, \"that's not costing me much, because he has so much.\"\u00a0 So I don't feel generous.\u00a0 The $100, it's not an insignificant amount of money, I don't want to denigrate that.\u00a0 My own giving has come more out of teaching and preaching and talking and counseling where it's my own conviction now.\u00a0 But, again, I would say I am not a naturally generous person.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Any conviction, I've found in my own life, has come about with me ultimately stepping out in faith and being obedient at that baby step initial opportunity.\u00a0 One of the things you teach about money is that it is a tool, but it can also be a test.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Absolutely.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Do you remember early in your marriage when you and Judy were tested around generosity that ultimately \u2013 where you passed the test \u2013 or maybe you failed it, and it was through the failure that you ultimately developed a conviction that generosity needed to be a part of your family's value system?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Well, not only generosity, but even the idea of borrowing money.\u00a0 Sometimes that's a test.\u00a0 You know, and in the business world, I was taught to call OPM, Other People's Money.\u00a0 You use other people's money to build.\u00a0 That's called leverage, and you can get a greater return when you do that.<\/p>\n<p>So one of the greatest tests for me was to stop borrowing.\u00a0 It was a bigger test than it was to give and to trust God, then, to provide what I really needed rather than what the world told me that I needed.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0You're saying to stop borrowing to build you business.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Not only build my business but to make an investment or to buy that car or to buy the furniture, to buy a bigger home.\u00a0 There are lots of reasons that people borrow money, or lots of uses for borrowed money, and to say, you know what?\u00a0 I'm not going to do that anymore.\u00a0 I'm going to trust that God knows what I need, and I'm not going to borrow any more.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0But you look around today, and you know this \u2013 the consumer debt continues to increase year in and year out.\u00a0 People who maybe 10 years ago, it was a mortgage only \u2013 now it's a mortgage and a couple of cars and some credit cards, and then I'm watching it be the rule as opposed to the exception, that the college education is a borrowed asset as well.\u00a0 We are hooked on OPM, aren't we?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Oh, yeah.\u00a0 I was doing a radio program years ago.\u00a0 It was a live call-in show, and I had a person call me, and he said God had called him to the mission field and that he was going to go to seminary to prepare to go to foreign missions.\u00a0 He said, \"Here is my question.\"\u00a0 He said, \"About the only way I can afford to go to seminary is to do student debt\" \u2013 borrowing.\u00a0 \"What do you think about that?\"\u00a0 And here I had a test of faith, because I knew what my conviction was, and so I said something to him that I'd never said to anybody.\u00a0 I said, \"You know what?\"\u00a0 And I remembered E.B. Hill speaking many times to Campus Crusade events and listening to E.B. Hill about when he went to college and how he was funded, and so I said to this guy, I said, \"You know what? Do you believe God has called you?\"\u00a0 He said, \"Yes.\"\u00a0 I said, \"Well, then, God will provide the resources.\u00a0 If you've got the money to go to school for a week, go for a week, and if God doesn't provide for week number two, stop.\"\u00a0 That was pretty gutsy advice.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Yes.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0And, frankly, I forgot about it.\u00a0 About six years later I got a letter from this guy, and he said, \"You remember?\"\u00a0 And I did remember.\u00a0 He said, \"Let me tell you how God provided.\"\u00a0 He said, \"I've just finished school.\u00a0 I don't owe a penny, and God provided,\" and he went through the litany of boom, boom, boom, boom, boom.\u00a0 He said, \"I'm done, I don't owe any money, and I\u2019m going to the mission field.\"\u00a0 That's a test of faith.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Ron, that's a great story, and I just had something happen to me that I have to tell this story, because it's really kind of a fun one.\u00a0 I had a young man I was mentoring a number of years ago, and I'm not in a ministry like yours.\u00a0 Mentoring around finances, it wouldn't necessarily be a strength of mine.\u00a0 I'm not in the financial advisory business like you were.\u00a0 But this young man came to me one day, and he said to me, \"Dennis, I think I know the answer to this question, but I'm going to ask you, anyway.\"\u00a0 I'd been mentoring him for a couple of years.\u00a0 He said, \"Our consumer debt is out of hand, and I just bought a car, and our house has a mortgage that's too high.\u00a0 What should I do?\"<\/p>\n<p>Well, Ron, I didn't have to be fully trained by you and read all your books to know what to tell him.\u00a0 I said, \"Well, the first thing you need to do is you and your wife need to pull out your credit cards and a pair of scissors and just have yourself a field day cutting up those credit cards and then go to work paying off that consumer debt, and it was a bunch.\u00a0 It was \u2013 I think it was $30,000 or $40,000.\u00a0 So it wasn't a small chunk of change.<\/p>\n<p>And I gave him some other pieces of advice, which he left there that day kind of smiling and yet, at the same time, grimacing that he had some tough choices ahead of him.\u00a0 Well, I just got an e-mail from him last week, and he wrote me back.\u00a0 He said, \"My wife and I were just talking, and we were just thinking about your ministry, and we would really like to support your ministry, and we want to become monthly donors.\"\u00a0 He said, \"Would you please put me on the mailing list?\"<\/p>\n<p>And, you know \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0And he said, \"You can charge it to my credit card.\"<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0No, he didn't say that, but what you're really talking about here is extremely practical when it comes to giving.\u00a0 Some people would say, \"Well, you guys ran a bunny trail when it comes to debt.\"\u00a0 Huh-uh.\u00a0 For a lot of young couples today debt is keeping them from being able to give.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Yeah, how are you going to be a generous liver if you owe your soul to the company store, right?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Right, and I want to challenge you.\u00a0 This is your radio program, but I get to challenge you on something.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Okay.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Okay?\u00a0 You said \"I don't know much about finances,\" but I want to tell you something.\u00a0 I believe that you know as much about finances as some of the most sophisticated financial advisors there are, and I'll tell you the reason for that.\u00a0 There are over 2,350 verses in Scripture that deal with money and money management.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0I have studied Solomon, who had a little wealth.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0He had a little wealth.\u00a0 And God's Word has more to say about money that will never, ever change.\u00a0 I was testifying before a congressional subcommittee a number of years ago, and the senator asked me, he said, \"What would you tell the American family about their finances?\"\u00a0 And I thought, \"When I tell him what I'm going to tell him, he's going to laugh,\" because it was so old-fashioned.\u00a0 But I said, \"Well, Senator, I would tell the American family, number one, spend less than you earn, live within your income; number two, avoid the use of debt; number three, have liquidity or flexibility built into your financial planning; and, four, set long-term goals so you have some idea about how you're managing your money and what you're managing your money for \u2013 those are four biblical principles.<\/p>\n<p>And when I looked up, he was picking up his pen.\u00a0 He said, \"Well, let me get that down.\"\u00a0 And he wrote them down and repeated them back to me.\u00a0 And he said to me, he said, \"Well, you know, it seems to me that that would work at any income level.\"<\/p>\n<p>[laughter]<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Do you think?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0And I said, \"You're right, Senator, including the United States government.\"<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Kind of stung him back there, didn't you?<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Well, but, think about it \u2013 those are four biblical principles that will work under any political structure, any equipment, anyplace that you live in the world and at any time period.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0And they are spend less than you make, and then avoid the use of debt \u2026<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Right, the Bible says \"The borrower is the lender's slave.\"\u00a0 There are no exceptions to that.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0You said something about liquidity.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Liquidity \u2013 emergency.\u00a0 Consider the ant \u2013 you know who sets aside some in the summertime so that they have it in the wintertime.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0Good to have a little store, a little reserve.\u00a0 And then the last thing you said was long-term goals.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0Set some long-term goals so that you say, \"I know where I'm going.\"\u00a0 Paul said, \"I press on toward the upward call.\"\u00a0 He knew where he was headed and financially we need to know where we're headed.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0And in case our listeners don't know where Ron got that, from the bestseller of all time, the Bible.<\/p>\n<p>Ron:\u00a0That's exactly right.<\/p>\n<p>Dennis:\u00a0Exactly, and, you know, what we're talking about here is a biblical perspective of money and wealth, and there is a great need today for young families as well as older families to really go back to the Scriptures and consider how the Bible speaks of money, how we should view it, and how we should use it for God's glory, because if God has entrusted you with a little or with a lot, you are to be a steward of it regardless.<\/p>\n<p>Bob:\u00a0And, you know, there are some folks who I think God has uniquely gifted or equipped as givers.\u00a0 I mean, the Bible talks about the spiritual gift of giving, and there are some people who God has just wired them to be generous, and yet all of us are called to be generous, whether we're gifted or wired in that direction or not.\u00a0 And that's why I think any of us can benefit from reading a book like the one you've written, \"Generous Living,\" or I'm thinking of Randy Alcorn's book, \"The Treasure Principle,\" which has been read by a lot of folks.<\/p>\n<p>We all need to refresh our thinking, to renew our mind on this issue of money and possessions, materialism, stuff, and giving and generosity.\u00a0 Why God warns us about some things and commends us for others.<\/p>\n<p>We've got copies of Ron's book, \"Generous Living,\" in our FamilyLife Resource Center.\u00a0 Any of our listeners who would like to get a copy can go to our website at FamilyLife.com.\u00a0 There's a \"Go\" button in the middle of the screen, and you can click on that button.\u00a0 That will take you right to the page where you can get more information about Ron's book.\u00a0 We also have copies of \"The Treasure Principle,\" by Randy Alcorn.\u00a0 That's in our FamilyLife Resource Center as well.<\/p>\n<p>Again, go to our website, FamilyLife.com.\u00a0 There's a red \"Go\" button in the middle of the screen.\u00a0 Click on that, and it will take you right to the page where you can order copies of these resources or get more information about them online.\u00a0 If you are interested in getting both books, we can send you at no additional cost the CD audio of our conversation with Ron Blue.\u00a0 There's more information about that on our website.\u00a0 Or call 1-800-FLTODAY if you have any questions or you'd like to place your order by phone \u2013 1-800-358-6329.\u00a0 That's 1-800-F-as-in-family, L-as-in-life, and then the word TODAY.<\/p>\n<p>You know, as we're talking about this subject this week, a lot of listeners have been generous in their support of FamilyLife Today.\u00a0 We depend on the generosity of folks to continue this program on this station and on stations all across the country, and we have heard from many of our listeners this month who have been contacting us to make a donation.\u00a0 Many of them motivated by the fact that we have a matching gift that's available to us in May.\u00a0 Each dollar we receive in donations from listeners is being matched on a dollar-for-dollar basis by some friends of the ministry who have agreed to match up to a total of $375,000, and it's been very encouraging to see that we have listeners who value this program, want to keep it on their station and other stations all across the country.\u00a0 They have contacted us either by phone or by going to our website this month, and their donations, again, are being matched dollar for dollar.<\/p>\n<p>I don't think we have exceeded the amount that's in the matching gift yet, and we're hoping here in the closing days of May that our listeners will join with us and help us take full advantage of this matching gift opportunity.\u00a0 Again, you can do that by making a donation online or by calling 1-800-FLTODAY.\u00a0 Thanks to those of you who have already been generous with us this month, and those of you who can still make a donation, we appreciate you doing that.\u00a0 We look forward to hearing from you.<\/p>\n<p>Tomorrow we want to talk more about money and materialism and generosity and stuff and how we're supposed to think biblically about all of those subjects.\u00a0 Ron Blue is going to be back with us tomorrow.\u00a0 I hope you can be back as well.<\/p>\n<p>I want to thank our engineer today, Keith Lynch, and our entire broadcast production team.\u00a0 On behalf of our host, Dennis Rainey, I'm Bob Lepine.\u00a0 We'll see you next time for another edition of FamilyLife Today.<\/p>\n<p>FamilyLife Today is a production of FamilyLife of Little Rock, Arkansas, a ministry of Campus Crusade for Christ.<\/p>\n<p>__________________________________________________________________<\/p>\n<p>We are so happy to provide these transcripts to you.\u00a0 However, there is a cost to transcribe, create, and produce them for our website.\u00a0 If you\u2019ve benefited from the broadcast transcripts, would\u00a0 you consider <a href=\"http:\/\/wp-stage.familylife.com\/www\/site\/c.dnJHKLNnFoG\/b.3782043\/k.384D\/Support_Us.htm\">donating today<\/a> to help defray the costs?<\/p>\n<p>Copyright \u00a9 FamilyLife.\u00a0 All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<p><a 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