Hey, welcome to our broadcast this week. Thank you once again for joining us, whether you’re with us on the day this is posted or you’re watching at a later time. We truly appreciate it.
We’d invite you to like, subscribe, and leave a comment to help get the algorithms moving. But this is Business, Money, and Christianity — a financial podcast from a faith perspective. While we’re not here to preach the gospel directly, everything we talk about flows from a biblical, Christian worldview, because God created us to be successful.
Today I want to talk about managing life — managing expectations, pressures, and the flow of everyday realities. In a Christian context, I often say that we must prepare our lives for hardship. When life hits us — and it will — we need to be able to maintain a Christian vantage point and operate according to what the Bible teaches. The same principle applies to business and money.
We all understand that income flows toward us, business opportunities come toward us, but expenses also flow out. We live in the middle of this constant dynamic. Because of that, we have to manage what’s coming in so we can handle what’s going out.
If you want to call it a management crisis, there are keys that make it work. I often go back to the biblical story of Joseph — way back when Egypt was the most powerful nation on earth. Joseph was sold into slavery by his brothers. He had a vision, he had a dream, and he shared it.
That story tells us a lot about people with dreams in business and in life. There will always be people who don’t like your dream. Joseph is a powerful example: even after sharing his dream and being sold into slavery, everywhere he went, he rose to the top.
Isn’t that what you and I want? To rise to the top — to be, as the Bible says, above only and not beneath, the head and not the tail. So how do we do that?
If we look at Joseph’s life, we see that he always sought to make others better. When he was in Potiphar’s house and Potiphar’s wife tempted him, he refused and said, “How can I do this? I would be violating my master.” He didn’t operate from self-centeredness. He didn’t see himself as the center of the universe. He consistently looked beyond himself to help others succeed.
If we do that with our clients and customers — if our objective is to truly serve them, to give them real value for their money in whatever goods or services we provide — we will rise to the top. That’s a spiritual law, a biblical principle, and it’s also a natural law.
So how do we apply this? We have to manage what’s in front of us and keep our eyes on the objective.
The reality of life is that stuff happens — all day long. And we have to learn how to manage the flow. Whether we’re talking about business, personal finances, or family life, it’s easy to feel lost in the chaos: tasks, to-do lists, opportunities, distractions, shiny objects pulling our attention away from long-term goals.
There’s an internal management that has to take place so we keep things in perspective.
I remember working with someone who had a solid business plan. The plan was good. But they loved spending time with older, successful businesspeople — long lunches, coffee meetings, just sitting around talking. The problem was that those people had already reached their success point. They had money, time, and freedom.
This person hadn’t built their business to that point yet. They needed to be present. And the distractions created conflict: “Hey, come have breakfast.” “Come grab coffee.” And the answer had to be, “I’d love to, but I need to be here.”
Distractions will always try to pull us off course. Tasks have to get done. When I worked in finance, our business had two core functions: writing loans and handling delinquency — collecting from people who didn’t pay. There were two sides to the equation, and that applies to life as well.
If we want to get ahead, there are really two strategies: make more money or cut losses. The beauty of growth is that you can outgrow your problems.
In finance, we had to keep our delinquency rate under 3% of our loan portfolio. There were two ways to do that: get delinquent customers to pay, or grow the loan base so delinquency shrank as a percentage. The same principle applies to life and business. If we outgrow our problems, they become smaller.
We live in the middle of what I’ll call chaos — many moving parts that are loosely connected. We are the management point. Whether it’s family or business, multiple dynamics are in motion, and we have to bring them together.
The best way to do that is to have a long-term objective and to prioritize people — especially clients. If I solve a client’s problem, they’ll come back. That’s business.
We also have to manage our day wisely. Some things aren’t worth our time. Delegate them. Hand them off to someone whose time costs less. Other things must be handled immediately, because if they grow, they’ll create bigger problems later.
One habit I strongly encourage is planning the next day the night before. Ask yourself: What absolutely must get done? Those are top priorities. Other things can wait if necessary. Focus first on the tasks that move you toward your long-term objective.
If you can get your highest priorities done before noon, they’re off your mental radar, and the rest of the day becomes far more productive.
Back in my finance days, everything was paper — stacks of folders everywhere. Tasks often became the objective, instead of the objective driving the tasks. Filing, organizing, stacking papers — necessary, yes, but not money-making.
So I would bring in temporary workers. They loved filing. They were paid less. They cleared the backlog, and my employees stayed focused on what made us money: growing the loan base and collecting delinquency.
So ask yourself: do you know what actually makes you money? What makes your family prosper? Are you focused on that?
I see many people get a little extra money and immediately spend it, without preparing for the lean season that inevitably comes. Priorities matter.
So I encourage you — and this is biblical — order your day. Wake up with intention. Do the highest priorities first. Keep employees focused on value-producing work. Become valuable to your clients.
That’s what Joseph did. He spent much of his life in slavery and prison before becoming second in command of Egypt, under Pharaoh. He got there because he always looked out for others.
If you’re an employee, make your boss look good. Become valuable. Promotion doesn’t come from the east or the west — it comes from the Lord.
Joseph never burned out or collapsed under pressure because he stayed focused on the dream God gave him and consistently put others first. God honored that.
It’s a hard concept for many people, because most live as if they’re the center of the universe. But when you work and live in a godly way, God promotes you.
I hope you got something out of this podcast. I look forward to seeing you next week. God bless you, and may the Lord richly bless your business.
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