Author Archives: josephmcole

About josephmcole

I'm a husband and father who loves to read, think, and write fresh ideas for living life. Currently, I serve as Lead Pastor at Tabernacle of Praise and freelance as a copywriter.

The Monster in the BackYard

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Financial success is a difficult destination to reach. Happiness is an elusive state of being. Why is it so darn hard to have one, if not both of these?

There’s a silent, deadly monster roaming in your backyard eating your money and mauling your happiness. It’s time to face it and kill it. The monster is GREED.

No–wait! That can’t be! I’m not GREEDY. I’m broke. I don’t have a million dollar penthouse. I don’t own ten factories that I outsourced to foreign countries at the expense of hard working American citizens. That can’t be me!!

Yup…I hear you. That’s exactly what I said. To be fair, let’s review the symptoms of greed and see how we all fair. Here’s an excert from an article in Christianity Today (Robert C. Roberts, April 8, 1996, pp 29-33):

A sure sign of greed (the disordered desire for wealth) is that your wanting things always outruns your having them. Greed is the successful businessperson who tells you, without blinking, that he is on the bring of poverty. It is the middle-class couple who says they cannot afford to have another child. It is “upward mobility,” the climb that ends not in satisfaction and peace, but in exhaustion, disappointment, and emptiness. “Sweet is the sleep of (poor) laborers whether they eat little or much; but the surfeit of the rich will not let them sleep,” says the Preacher (Eccles. 5:12). Greed in its advanced stages will not let us rest content.

 

Jesus connects greed with anxiety: “Be on your guard against all kinds of greed . . . Do not worry about your life . . .” (Luke 12:13-34). Anxiety about our “security” drives us into a pattern of acquiring more and more, but the acquiring of more also leads to anxiety…

This article hit me hard. I have a good job, yet I complain about being broke and in poverty. I am a middle-class person who has said every now and then that I couldn’t possibly afford another child. If I had put lotion on every time I wrung my hands in anxiety, I would be baby-silk smooth.

To truly be successful and happy, we’ve got to kill this monster in our hearts.

Let me know what you think of this article! Is it right or way off?

How to Own Everything You Want!

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Got stuff on your wish list? A new coffee table? A new app for your phone? A fully-loaded, hybrid car that parks itself, perhaps?

You not only need this things. You DESERVE them! They’re really already yours, you know. By rights, you should have them in your possession right now.

But wait–

They’re not in your possession. Oh, the rub of capitalism! If only those greedy, annoying, lavish-living CEO’s didn’t want all their money up front, you’d have exactly what rightly belongs to you. With FREE SHIPPING!

What if there was a way to get what’s yours RIGHT NOW? Like the Staples Easy Button, you could just press it and–POOF!–all that’s yours is now safely in your possession. Like a sci-fi spaceship officer you could instantly “beam” all of the stuff you’re darling heart has attached itself to right into your hands.

Well…A way does exist! And it’s even better than an Easy Button. Every time you use it, rewards will start finding their way to you. With a flick of the wrist, you’ll wrestle what belongs to you right out of the grubby paws of those corporate money-mongers. Then, friends that you’ve never met before will alert you to more of your stuff that those materialistic trolls are hoarding away from you in their troll caves they call “warehouses.” (Just make sure to unblock these important announcements in your spam filter.)

Yup. All you need, my friend, is a credit card.

Visa is watching out for you. And if you’re a good customer, Mastercard will let you apply for a new card with even MORE benefits! You’ll fly more, wear better clothes, look sexier (cash is for old, wrinkled ladies), eat better, and feel better!

Just fill out my offer and SEND. IT. NOW!

There’s one small thing you may need to know, though. After you get all of this stuff, you won’t own a thing. To do that, you’d have to buy it. Oh, and with your own money.

Duh.

American Child Owes $43, 874 in Debt!

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This is it, folks. The verdict is out. We are in WAY over our heads. According to ehow.com’s Beth Winston, “The Federal Reserve reported in March 2010 that total U.S. household debt, including mortgages and credit cards, was at $13.5 trillion.”

That’s $43,874 for each man, woman, AND child residing in the United States of indebted Americans!

Is there any way out of this?

There is hope! The greatest book of all time happens to contain the best financial wisdom one can find. Yesterday, while listening to a Messianic podcast called Torah Talk, I was encouraged by a story the hosts discussed. It was the story of the widow in debt. Find it in 2 Kings 4:1-7.

The wife of a man from the company of the prophets cried out to Elisha, “Your servant my husband is dead, and you know that he revered the LORD. But now his creditor is coming to take my two boys as his slaves.”

Elisha replied to her, “How can I help you? Tell me, what do you have in your house?”

“Your servant has nothing there at all,” she said, “except a small jar of olive oil.”

Elisha said, “Go around and ask all your neighbors for empty jars. Don’t ask for just a few. Then go inside and shut the door behind you and your sons. Pour oil into all the jars, and as each is filled, put it to one side.”

She left him and shut the door behind her and her sons. They brought the jars to her and she kept pouring. When all the jars were full, she said to her son, “Bring me another one.”

But he replied, “There is not a jar left.” Then the oil stopped flowing.

She went and told the man of God, and he said, “Go, sell the oil and pay your debts. You and your sons can live on what is left.”

Here is what the Lord is saying to all of us Americans in debt:

  1. Find a man or woman of God who knows finances. The widow had a problem. Instead of hiding her head in the sand hoping for it to go away, she went after someone who could help her.
  2. Use what you have. You’ve got more assets at your disposal than you think. That nack you have for persuading people is great for sales. That deft way you put cute, little trinkets together could sell a ton on Etsy.com. Computer enthusiast? Plenty of ‘em out there need servicing. Got a way with words? Start a blog and monetize it. Stop whining about what you don’t have and put what you do have to work.
  3. Get others involved. Go borrow some jars. Other people in your life would be happy to help you become a success if you would give them the chance.
  4. Pour it ALL out. Let all of your oil out. Give your 110% to whatever plan you have to get out of debt. Give your all at work. Hold nothing back.

If we learn the lessons in this story well, we’ll be on our way to financial freedom. There is hope because God is looking out for the little guy.

God Speaks Out on Debt

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Debt is never a fun thing to talk about, but I wanted to start this year of blogging on a subject that has the potential to help a lot of people–including myself. So, today I’m bringing you what God has to say about debt and borrowing. Since He’s got a lot to say, I’ve picked a few passages to talk about here.

Prov 22:7 “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”

This is a no-brainer. We all know that those with money rule the world. But wait! God reveals to us the secret as to why. The rich don’t rule because of their net worth, but because of the debt they own. Even a poor person is free…if they have no debt.

Psalm 37:21 “The wicked borrow and do not repay, but the righteous give generously.”

The second passage is just a fact of life. We’ve all been stiffed by people who’ve borrowed things and didn’t return them. Choosing not to pay back what one owes is sin; it makes them “wicked.”

But “righteous” people give generously. Are “righteous” people always able to pay? Not necessarily. The difference is their attitude. Wicked people hate giving money to anyone, whether it’s a debt or charity. Righteous people know the world is not all about them, and so they pay with what they have without grumbling. Paying the bills can be a happy time when you are generous.

Check out this sampling of Exodus 22:

Exodus 22:14 “If anyone borrows an animal from their neighbor and it is injured or dies while the owner is not present, they must make restitution.”

 

Exodus 22:25-27 “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, 27 because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.”

God cares about how we treat other people’s property, including their money that we’re borrowing. In Exodus, God spoke about debt in the currency of the day–livestock. Today, he would say that if anyone got a loan for a car, then destroyed the car in a wreck, they still have to pay for the car. It’s just right.

But God is also compassionate. If a needy person must take a loan, God warns the lender to be kind, or else God Himself will avenge the poor borrower.

God requires that men pay their debts. He warns against borrowing money. But He also admonishes us all to value life over money, so that we’ll be compassionate with each other. If you are in debt, as I am, this is the year to cling to the mercy and grace of God. If He watches over borrowers, He is certainly looking after all of us!

In the days to come, I’m going to show you some sure-fire ways to get out of debt from some of the leading financial experts. Don’t miss it!

Why the National Debt and Your Debt Are Linked

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In our current situation in America, we find ourselves in a financial world of hurt. Yesterday, I was speaking to a man in my congregation who is extremely concerned about his families financial stability. He had just landed a dream job at a nearby factory, but shortly thereafter was laid off. He told me, “We were just about to the point where we were out of the hole and able to start saving. Now, I don’t know what we’re going to do.”

I don’t think this is late breaking news for you, but we are in a financial recession in the US of A, and my friend isn’t the only one feeling the pain. I’ve heard lots of talk over the past year as to why all of this happened. Most people (especially Occupy Wallstreet types) want to blame greedy, faceless coporate CEO’s and bankers for our country’s fiscal blight. But I think there is a simpler, economic reason.

Don’t get me wrong. I think greed is definitely in the mix, but it’s not the greed of corporate America that’s really killing us. We’ll talk about that in next week’s blog posts. Right now, let’s start with an easy to understand, more objective issue. If you want to know why we are in the place that we are in right now, I can give you one word.

Debt.

And lots of it.

Debt is the killer of good economies. Personal economies, national economies, global economies–they’re all the same to this monster. Republican presidential candidate Jon Huntsman even called our national debt a “national security problem” in a speech to Darla Moore School of Business students in South Carolina.

When you have 15 trillion in debt, when you have 80, 90 percent debt to GDP as a ratio, that’s not a debt problem that’s a national security problem…

While I don’t know enough about the man to recommend him to you for a vote, I do think he’s on to something here. Debt is a security issue for the nation and for individuals. The two are linked.

A recent report from Reuters.com explains that recessions “occur when firms and households are forced to reduce their excess debt by cutting consumption and investment.” When you’re in debt, you can’t go out and buy the latest, fancy things. Thus, the economy fails.

Debt is the rock hanging over your head waiting to fall while you juggle through life’s demands. All it takes is one medical emergency…one car wreck…one layoff…one termination–and the rock falls! Perhaps that is why Proverbs tells us to get serious about getting out from under this rock (chapter 6:1, 2-5).

My son, if you have put up security for your neighbor, if you have shaken hands in pledge for a stranger…So do this, my son, to free yourself, since you have fallen into your neighbor’s hands: Go—to the point of exhaustion—and give your neighbor no rest! Allow no sleep to your eyes, no slumber to your eyelids. Free yourself, like a gazelle from the hand of the hunter, like a bird from the snare of the fowler.

This year, my friends, lets make every effort to free ourselves from this killer called debt! To start off, tomorrow I’ll give you a run down of what God has to say about debt.