Hey everybody, welcome to our podcast this week. I appreciate you stopping by. We’re not trying to sell you anything or get anything from you. We simply want to help make your life better.
We talk about business, money, and Christianity. We’re a financial podcast from a faith perspective. The Bible is the foundation of all truth—that’s what we stand on—and those truths apply directly to business and financial matters. So I want to encourage you to stay with me through this short podcast, because if you pick up even one or two things, it could drastically change your life.
What I want to talk about today is this: every single person is doing something.
Here in America, we use the term “couch potato.” That refers to somebody who lays on the couch all day long, probably watching TV and eating potato chips. They have no productivity in their life. But even that is still doing something. It may not be productive, and it may not be healthy, but it is still an action producing a result.
What we do—based on what we believe—is what matters, because it determines what we receive.
Let me say that again because it’s an important thought.
What we do is always connected to what we believe. Every person believes something, and those beliefs shape our actions. Our actions produce the outcome of our lives. That is what ultimately determines what we receive.
There’s a verse in the Bible that says, “A curse without a cause shall not come.” In other words, destruction does not just randomly happen. Something leads up to it.
Another place in Scripture says, “Pride goes before destruction.” So when you see destruction, you will usually find pride somewhere nearby. A person becomes fixed in their own thinking and their own way of doing things. They refuse good counsel. They stop growing. Everything becomes centered around themselves.
But the Bible says, “As a man soweth, so shall he reap.”
So what are we sowing? What are we putting out into the world? What is coming out of our lives?
Well, what we believe dictates what we do.
All throughout the Bible—even going back to the very beginning—God repeatedly says, “Listen to Me. Hearken diligently. Pay attention to Me.” Different verses say it in different ways, but the message is consistent:
Listen to Me. Meditate on what I say. Apply it to your life. Then do what I say.
And the result is blessing.
There is a success formula outlined in Scripture: what we listen to, what we meditate on, what we do, and ultimately what we receive.
Now when bad news comes, or difficult seasons come, it becomes harder to stay focused.
At the time of this recording, we just had our primary elections here in California. And honestly, California keeps doing stupid things over and over again. It happened across the board again this election cycle. I’m sure corruption was involved because California politics are well known for that.
But situations like that can easily ruin your day if you allow them to. You cannot let them control your thinking.
You think on what God says. You meditate on truth. You do what God says. And then you receive the outcome that follows His principles.
Actions typically produce motivation and strategy.
Motivation produces strategy.
You get excited about something, and then you start figuring out how to make it work. But it does not usually happen in reverse.
People do not sit around doing absolutely nothing and suddenly become motivated and strategic. No, it works the other way around.
We start doing something, and in the process of doing it, we become more motivated. We begin developing strategies. We build systems. We learn as we move.
Think back to when you first started your business.
You began putting pieces together to make it work. Maybe you were still working another job while trying to launch this new thing on the side. You started taking action—creating plans, building systems, making connections, figuring things out.
And as you moved forward, your motivation increased because now you wanted it to succeed badly enough to change your life.
The action itself produced more motivation. The action produced more strategy.
That brings us into another reality:
Growth without pain is impossible.
What was painful when we started building a business or pursuing a dream?
Usually, we didn’t have enough money. We put in huge amounts of effort while receiving very little in return. Many of us kept another job just so we could afford to continue building. There was a difficult transition period where it cost us more than it gave back.
It consumed our time. If we had a spouse or children, we probably felt guilty at times because we were trying to build a better future while simultaneously sacrificing time in the present.
But eventually, the motivation and excitement pushed us into a new level.
The same principle continues throughout life.
Once we start building wealth, growing a business, or increasing in responsibility, we eventually reach a plateau.
It’s similar to losing weight. You drop down to a certain number, and then suddenly it feels impossible to break through. You work and work and work, and eventually you push through to the next level.
Business and finances work the same way.
We reach a place where things are functioning. Life becomes stable. Comfortable. Predictable.
But deep down, we know there’s another level available to us.
The problem is that the next level no longer carries the excitement of starting something brand new. At this stage, we already have something working, and many people become trapped there.
They think: “I don’t want to risk what I already have.” “I don’t want to go through that painful process again.”
There’s a statement I’ve used many times—I wasn’t the original source of it—but it’s true:
There comes a point where you are too big to be small, but too small to be big.
You know you need to expand. You know you need another level. But breaking through requires effort, discomfort, sacrifice, and risk—just like it did in the beginning.
Most people are no longer motivated enough to push through that process again.
Some people are. Those are usually the people who go on to build truly large businesses and accomplish extraordinary things. They are willing to endure whatever it takes to get there.
But most people get stuck in the middle.
And this doesn’t only apply to businesses. It can apply to your household finances, your career, your relationships, your ministry—every area of life.
You’re making enough money to survive. You’d like to make more. You’d like to do more. But you’re uncomfortable risking your current stability.
You’re too small to become big, but too big to go backward.
And right there—in that uncomfortable middle space—is where many people fail.
The excitement is gone, but the next breakthrough still requires courage.
So we have to recognize how this process works in our lives. We have to embrace the next uncomfortable step if we want to reach the next level.
Every significant move forward places us in uncomfortable territory.
I remember the first time I went to Africa.
I live in the United States. I had been to Canada before, which honestly feels very similar to the United States. I had also been to Mexico, but I had simply walked across the border into Tijuana. Neither experience felt especially foreign.
But this was my first real international trip.
We were flying into Nairobi, Kenya. As the pilot announced that we were beginning our descent, something suddenly hit me:
“What in the world am I doing here?”
We landed, and immediately everything felt different from America.
The plane parked far away from the terminal, and we had to walk across the tarmac. You don’t really do that in the United States. There were guards standing around with AK-47s, watching everything.
I remember thinking, “Oh my goodness… what am I doing?”
Then we went through customs and immigration, and eventually met the people who were hosting us. They were incredibly kind and welcoming.
But then they put me in the back of a truck—in the bed of the truck.
In America, riding in the back of a truck is illegal in many places. It definitely isn’t comfortable. I remember thinking, “What is this? I usually ride inside the vehicle.”
Then we left the airport.
We went through roundabouts. Turned this direction. Turned another direction. And eventually we were driving through pitch-black darkness with no streetlights.
At that moment I realized: I don’t really know these people. I only know one American with me, and I’ve only known him for about a year. What am I doing here?
It was extremely uncomfortable.
But today, I’ve been to Kenya, Malawi, Uganda, Zambia, South Africa, India, Bangladesh, Russia, Poland, Bulgaria, and many other countries around the world. I’ve even traveled to several Islamic countries.
What changed?
I learned how to function at the next level.
The first step was uncomfortable because everything familiar was left behind. But once I adapted, that new level stopped feeling intimidating.
The same thing happens with business. The same thing happens with money. The same thing happens with growth.
Every increase requires transition.
So wherever you are today, if you’re trying to figure out your next step, understand this:
The next level is not easy to reach.
But there is ease on the other side of the transition.
Don’t get stuck where you are. Keep growing. Keep stretching. Keep moving forward so you can fulfill everything God has placed in your life.
I appreciate you joining us today. This is Business, Money & Christianity—a financial podcast from a faith perspective.
Click like, leave a comment, and share this with your friends if it helped you.
I’ll see you next week.
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