July 18, 2025 • 12 mins
Are you really managing your time and talents as well as your cash? Today, we're diving into the nitty-gritty of stewardship beyond just dollars and cents. It’s all about balancing that chaotic calendar and putting those dusty skills to good use. We're chatting about how sometimes financial stress isn’t just about money but can be tied to how well we use our time and talents. So, grab your favorite drink, sit back, and let’s get into how we can all live more intentionally and purposefully, because you definitely don’t want to miss out on the good stuff life has to offer! It all starts with asking: Am I stewarding my time and talents as wisely as my money?
Check out the full podcast episode here
Let’s talk about the crazy world of managing our time and talents, right? So, we kick things off by diving deep into the idea that budgeting isn’t just about pennies in your pocket. We’ve all been there - working hard, sticking to a budget, but then our calendars look like a tornado hit them! Ever feel like you're sprinting through life but at the end of the day, you’re just flat-out exhausted? Yeah, me too! It turns out that financial stress isn’t always about cash flow; sometimes it’s more about how we juggle our time and the gifts we’ve got tucked away, collecting dust. Life’s too short to let our talents go to waste, am I right? By the end of this episode, we’re on a mission to figure out how to be better stewards of not just our finances, but our 24 hours and the skills we’ve been blessed with. We wrap up with some actionable steps to audit our time and reclaim those hidden talents. Time to get intentional and live fully, my friends!
Chapters:
- 00:10 - Exploring Holistic Stewardship
- 01:58 - Stewardship Beyond Money
- 04:03 - Understanding Your Gifts and Time Management
- 05:53 - Assessing Your Talents and Time Management
- 10:13 - Rediscovering Your Gifts and Purpose
- 11:20 - Wrapping Up the Week: Investing for Purpose
Takeaways:
- Being financially savvy isn't just about your cash flow, it's about your time too.
- We all have unique talents that often get buried under our chaotic schedules, right?
- Stewardship means managing not only money but also the gifts and time we've been given.
- Taking a mini audit of our time could unlock new paths to fulfillment and purpose.
Links referenced in this episode:
Companies mentioned in this episode:
- Saggio Accounting Plus
- Ask Ralph Media
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WATCH NOW ON RUMBLE (OUR VIDEO VERSION)
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(01:47):
You've worked hard to budgetwell, you give faithfully. But your
calendar, well, that's justpure chaos. Your talents, they're
just gathering dust. But whatif stewardship isn't just about what's
in your wallet, but aboutwhat's in your schedule and your
skill set? Well, I encourageyou to stick with me today because
we're going to explore thebigger picture of living wisely and
(02:10):
more importantly, living fully.
This is Financially ConfidentChristian, your daily dose of gospel,
grounded insight and faithdriven tips to help you break the
cycle of financial shame with confidence.
Welcome back to yourFinancially Confident Christian.
I'm Ralph and I'm grateful tobe with you again today. This is
(02:30):
the show where we help youanswer that simple but life changing
question. And that's how can Ibecome a financially confident Christian?
Now we're in week four of ourseries beyond the Budget. We're finding
financial freedom throughintentional living. And if you missed
yesterday's show, wediscovered how generosity. That's
right, generosity multipliesfreedom. If you missed it, I'm going
(02:51):
to encourage you to go checkit out. And today we're going to
expand that conversation andwe're going to answer this question.
Are you stewarding your timeand your talent as wisely as your
money? It's a great question,isn't it? Well, let me ask you this.
Do you ever feel exhausted? Imean truly just exhausted, beat tired,
(03:12):
whatever those terms are thatyou use. But when you think about
it, you also feel strangelyunproductive. You feel busy, you're
very busy, but you're notfulfilled. Yeah, you've got skills.
Maybe you love to write, ormaybe you love to cook, or maybe
you love to fix things, ormaybe you're just a born leader.
(03:34):
But those gifts just begetting buried under daily demands.
They're just getting forgotabout. And let's be honest with ourselves
for a minute. Sometimesfinancial stress isn't a money problem.
Wow, that's a news flash. Butit's true. Sometimes financial stress
(03:56):
isn't a money problem. It's atime problem. Or even bigger than
that. Ready for this one? Orit's a calling problem. When our
God given resources like timeand talents go unused or mismanaged.
A lot of people do that. Itcreates friction in every area of
(04:17):
life. Here's the thing, andyou're probably not going to hear
this anywhere else.Stewardship is not just about money.
If it was about money, hey,this would be an easy thing to learn.
Hey, I've mastered this,Ralph. I'm good at managing My money.
I'm a good steward of money.It's so much bigger than that. It's
(04:39):
about your time. It's aboutyour energy, and ready for this one.
It's about the gifts God hasplaced inside of you. Well, let's
look to the Word for someguidance. Let's open up the book
of Ephesians, chapter 5,verses 15 and 16. It says this. Be
very careful then how youlive. Not as unwise, but as wise.
(05:01):
Making the most of everyopportunity because the days are
evil. I use that on the showrepeatedly because one of the things
you have to come to gripswith, you don't get time back as
much as you'd like to try.Hey, when I talk to older people,
(05:22):
I'm getting to that agemyself. But when I talk to older
people, the main thing theytell me, they don't. They don't tell
me about, oh, Rapha, I wish Ihad made more money. I wish I had
worked more hours. I wish Ihad done this. I wish I had done
that. No, the very main thingthey say, I wish I had better manage
my time. And if you can't gettime back, how you use it matters.
(05:49):
Let's look again at thescripture. Let's look at first Peter,
chapter 4, verse 10. It saysthis. Each of you should use whatever
gift you have received toserve others as faithful stewards.
Hey, there's that steward wordagain. Of God's grace in its various
forms. It's crystal clear. Thegifts that God has given you. Hey,
(06:12):
and we all have gifts. Maybeyou're listening right now. You're
like, ralph, I don't have anygifts. I disagree with you. There
are gifts. Maybe you haven'ttaken the time because you're so
busy with the, quote, busynessof life, that you haven't really
prayed about them, that youhaven't really thought about what
those gifts are. But thosegifts are meant to be used. They're
(06:33):
not meant to be put under abushel basket. They're not meant
to be stored off for somefuture date. The thing you need to
understand is God has givenyou gifts and he wants you to use
them. He wants you to multiplythem. And that applies to money,
but it also applies to yourminutes and your ministries. So now
(06:58):
you're like, great, Ralph.Okay, you say I have gifts. You say
I have talents. What do we do?Well, the first thing you've got
to do, you got to slow downand take an inventory. Like I said
a few minutes ago, maybeyou're this person, Ralph. I don't
even know what my talents are.But one of the things I'm going to
encourage you to do today isprayerfully assess how we're spending
(07:19):
our time. Like I said, you'renever going to get that time back.
And once you look at that,look at how you're using or hey,
a lot of people guilty of thismyself are just ignoring your talents.
And then just realign one areathis week with intentionality and
impact. So let's talk aboutyour action step for today. I want
(07:43):
you to do what I call a timemini audit. I just want you to track
your time in 30 minute chunks.I just want you to take the day.
Listen, I do it in myaccounting practice all the time.
Take the day and just trackwhere you're spending your time.
No guilt, no shame, justawareness. Hey, I spent a half an
hour at the gym, I spent ahalf an hour the Death scroll on
(08:03):
YouTube or on TikTok orsomething like that. But just track
your time because you want tosee where your time is going. And
then I just want you to reallydo some brainstorming and think about
what you're good at. What arethe things you're really good at
that you're not using? I'mgonna give you a couple examples.
Maybe you're good at writing,maybe you're good at hospitality.
(08:23):
Hey, maybe you're one of thosepeople that can organize. We talked
about how to declutter ourlives the other day. Maybe you're
a teacher, maybe you're anencourager. Hey, maybe you're a builder,
you're good with your hands.Or maybe like a lot of people, you're
good at creating. So I justwant you to write it down. Write
down your talents, write downthe things that are passion for you.
(08:45):
And then I just want you toplan one alignment. See if it's a
time issue. If you did thatmini audit and you're like, Ralph,
I didn't realize how much timeI spend endlessly scrolling or how
much time I spend watching tv.But I'm not using my talents. Well
then obviously cut back onthose time wasters. Maybe you're
(09:08):
just beat, tired, you don'thave time to function. Well, maybe
you need to reinvest that timein rest or maybe service or hey,
maybe you need to grow yourtalents. And then if it's not a time
issue, maybe, hey, Ralph, I'vegot these talents, I just don't use
them. Well, offer it to yourchurch. The church is looking for
(09:31):
people who have talents, whocan bring talents to help out with
other people in the community,maybe use your talents to bless a
friend, if you like to write,help them, maybe write them a note.
That's one of the things wedon't see a lot of anymore, just
people writing notes. And thenbecause this is a finance show, answer
this question. Maybe you usethat talent to generate income. So
(09:56):
understand where your time isgoing, brainstorm on what your talents
are and then decide, hey, am Inot using my talents because I don't
have enough time? Will lookfor ways to find more time, eliminate
stuff that's not getting youto your talents, to your core purpose
in life. And then I'm justgoing to encourage you to use those
talents and because all ofthis is going to increase self awareness
(10:19):
until you do that audit. And Idid it just recently and I was amazed
how many time wasters I have.And that will bring new joy and fulfillment
to your life because you'regoing to realize, hey, wait a minute,
I'm wasting so much time onthis screen, just scrolling and scrolling
and scrolling. And when youreally do this and you start to brainstorm
(10:40):
your talents, it's going tobring fresh energy. Hey, and even
maybe more income. Hey, thatcould help the bottom line. But bigger
than all those things, largerthan all that, it really does honor
God with every resource thathe's given you. Let's pray together.
Father God, we just thank youfor the incredible gifts of time
(11:02):
and the unique talents you'veplaced in each one of us, Lord. And
we confess that sometimes wetruly do waste time or we neglect
the gifts you've placed insideof us. So Lord, we would just ask
you to help us see clearly howyou want us to serve, Lord. Teach
us to manage our time withwisdom and to use our talents boldly.
(11:22):
In love, Lord. May our dailychoices reflect your purposes for
our lives and may our work andrest bring you glory. And we ask
this with confidence in Jesusname. Amen, friend. And I want you
to hear this today. Someonelistening right now. Maybe it's you.
You're listening right now.You're like, ralph, I need some encouragement
(11:44):
today. Been battling with yourfinances and it feels like it's just
an uphill battle. I want youto know you're more than your budget.
God entrusted you with time,with talents and with influence.
So today I just want toencourage you, track your time, rediscover
one gift and ask, how can Isteward this better starting today?
(12:10):
Because here's the truth.You're moving towards holistic freedom.
Freedom. That's spiritualfreedom. That's financial and more
importantly, freedom. That ispurposeful. And while we're talking
about purposeful, I would loveit if you would share this show with
somebody else. Just grab yourphone, grab your email and just send
a quick message to somebodyand say, hey, I listen to this daily
(12:32):
show. It's called FinanciallyConfident Christian. And it really
helps me, you know, break thatcycle of financial shame. And I'm
learning new things every dayand I'm really enjoying the empowerment
and and I really think youwould love this too. Just send them
tofinanciallyconfidentchristian.com and
I also want to encourage youto go grab a copy of my book. Hey,
I'm only going to offer thisfor a few more days. It's called
(12:54):
Mastering Your Finances. It'sa quick book, but it is super impactful
to improving your financialsituation. The best way to get that
is to go tofinanciallyconfidentchristian.com/master now.
Tomorrow we're going to bewrapping up the week with a powerful
episode on Investing forPurpose. I'm going to get a little
controversial tomorrow, so beready to join me because I'm going
(13:16):
to be talking about investingfor purpose, not just return. See,
the world will tell you, hey,go get those high returns. Go get
those, those huge returns. I'mgoing to kind of flip the script
a little bit tomorrow so youdon't want to miss that. And until
then, I just want to encourageyou today. Stay focused, stay faithful.
Let's all go out there and bethose financially confident Christians.
(13:38):
You can do this. I haveconfidence in you. Have confidence
in yourself. Stay financiallysavvy. God bless you and you have
a great day today.
Thank you for joining us todayon the Financially Confident Christian
show, where we're breaking thecycle of financial shame with confidence
and faith. If you found valuein this episode, a simple click to
subscribe means you'll beinvited right back for our next conversation.
(14:01):
And remember, financialchallenges don't have to be overwhelming.
Just Ask Ralph. This show is aproduction of Ask Ralph Media and
is supported by SaggioAccounting Plus. The information
shared in this episode isbased on data available as of the
date of release. SaggioAccounting plus and Ask Ralph Media,
Inc. are under no obligationto update this content if circumstances
(14:23):
change. Please note thatapplying this information to your
personal situation requirescareful consideration. This episode
is not intended intended toserve as financial, tax or legal
advice. Always consult yourtrusted tax advisor or attorney before
taking action based onanything we've discussed.
You've worked hard to budgetwell, you give faithfully. But your
calendar, well, that's justpure chaos. Your talents, they're
just gathering dust. But whatif stewardship isn't just about what's
in your wallet, but aboutwhat's in your schedule and your
skill set? Well, I encourageyou to stick with me today because
we're going to explore thebigger picture of living wisely and
(02:10):
more importantly, living fully.
This is Financially ConfidentChristian, your daily dose of gospel,
grounded insight and faithdriven tips to help you break the
cycle of financial shame with confidence.
Welcome back to yourFinancially Confident Christian.
I'm Ralph and I'm grateful tobe with you again today. This is
(02:30):
the show where we help youanswer that simple but life changing
question. And that's how can Ibecome a financially confident Christian?
Now we're in week four of ourseries beyond the Budget. We're finding
financial freedom throughintentional living. And if you missed
yesterday's show, wediscovered how generosity. That's
right, generosity multipliesfreedom. If you missed it, I'm going
(02:51):
to encourage you to go checkit out. And today we're going to
expand that conversation andwe're going to answer this question.
Are you stewarding your timeand your talent as wisely as your
money? It's a great question,isn't it? Well, let me ask you this.
Do you ever feel exhausted? Imean truly just exhausted, beat tired,
(03:12):
whatever those terms are thatyou use. But when you think about
it, you also feel strangelyunproductive. You feel busy, you're
very busy, but you're notfulfilled. Yeah, you've got skills.
Maybe you love to write, ormaybe you love to cook, or maybe
you love to fix things, ormaybe you're just a born leader.
(03:34):
But those gifts just begetting buried under daily demands.
They're just getting forgotabout. And let's be honest with ourselves
for a minute. Sometimesfinancial stress isn't a money problem.
Wow, that's a news flash. Butit's true. Sometimes financial stress
(03:56):
isn't a money problem. It's atime problem. Or even bigger than
that. Ready for this one? Orit's a calling problem. When our
God given resources like timeand talents go unused or mismanaged.
A lot of people do that. Itcreates friction in every area of
(04:17):
life. Here's the thing, andyou're probably not going to hear
this anywhere else.Stewardship is not just about money.
If it was about money, hey,this would be an easy thing to learn.
Hey, I've mastered this,Ralph. I'm good at managing My money.
I'm a good steward of money.It's so much bigger than that. It's
(04:39):
about your time. It's aboutyour energy, and ready for this one.
It's about the gifts God hasplaced inside of you. Well, let's
look to the Word for someguidance. Let's open up the book
of Ephesians, chapter 5,verses 15 and 16. It says this. Be
very careful then how youlive. Not as unwise, but as wise.
(05:01):
Making the most of everyopportunity because the days are
evil. I use that on the showrepeatedly because one of the things
you have to come to gripswith, you don't get time back as
much as you'd like to try.Hey, when I talk to older people,
(05:22):
I'm getting to that agemyself. But when I talk to older
people, the main thing theytell me, they don't. They don't tell
me about, oh, Rapha, I wish Ihad made more money. I wish I had
worked more hours. I wish Ihad done this. I wish I had done
that. No, the very main thingthey say, I wish I had better manage
my time. And if you can't gettime back, how you use it matters.
(05:49):
Let's look again at thescripture. Let's look at first Peter,
chapter 4, verse 10. It saysthis. Each of you should use whatever
gift you have received toserve others as faithful stewards.
Hey, there's that steward wordagain. Of God's grace in its various
forms. It's crystal clear. Thegifts that God has given you. Hey,
(06:12):
and we all have gifts. Maybeyou're listening right now. You're
like, ralph, I don't have anygifts. I disagree with you. There
are gifts. Maybe you haven'ttaken the time because you're so
busy with the, quote, busynessof life, that you haven't really
prayed about them, that youhaven't really thought about what
those gifts are. But thosegifts are meant to be used. They're
(06:33):
not meant to be put under abushel basket. They're not meant
to be stored off for somefuture date. The thing you need to
understand is God has givenyou gifts and he wants you to use
them. He wants you to multiplythem. And that applies to money,
but it also applies to yourminutes and your ministries. So now
(06:58):
you're like, great, Ralph.Okay, you say I have gifts. You say
I have talents. What do we do?Well, the first thing you've got
to do, you got to slow downand take an inventory. Like I said
a few minutes ago, maybeyou're this person, Ralph. I don't
even know what my talents are.But one of the things I'm going to
encourage you to do today isprayerfully assess how we're spending
(07:19):
our time. Like I said, you'renever going to get that time back.
And once you look at that,look at how you're using or hey,
a lot of people guilty of thismyself are just ignoring your talents.
And then just realign one areathis week with intentionality and
impact. So let's talk aboutyour action step for today. I want
(07:43):
you to do what I call a timemini audit. I just want you to track
your time in 30 minute chunks.I just want you to take the day.
Listen, I do it in myaccounting practice all the time.
Take the day and just trackwhere you're spending your time.
No guilt, no shame, justawareness. Hey, I spent a half an
hour at the gym, I spent ahalf an hour the Death scroll on
(08:03):
YouTube or on TikTok orsomething like that. But just track
your time because you want tosee where your time is going. And
then I just want you to reallydo some brainstorming and think about
what you're good at. What arethe things you're really good at
that you're not using? I'mgonna give you a couple examples.
Maybe you're good at writing,maybe you're good at hospitality.
(08:23):
Hey, maybe you're one of thosepeople that can organize. We talked
about how to declutter ourlives the other day. Maybe you're
a teacher, maybe you're anencourager. Hey, maybe you're a builder,
you're good with your hands.Or maybe like a lot of people, you're
good at creating. So I justwant you to write it down. Write
down your talents, write downthe things that are passion for you.
(08:45):
And then I just want you toplan one alignment. See if it's a
time issue. If you did thatmini audit and you're like, Ralph,
I didn't realize how much timeI spend endlessly scrolling or how
much time I spend watching tv.But I'm not using my talents. Well
then obviously cut back onthose time wasters. Maybe you're
(09:08):
just beat, tired, you don'thave time to function. Well, maybe
you need to reinvest that timein rest or maybe service or hey,
maybe you need to grow yourtalents. And then if it's not a time
issue, maybe, hey, Ralph, I'vegot these talents, I just don't use
them. Well, offer it to yourchurch. The church is looking for
(09:31):
people who have talents, whocan bring talents to help out with
other people in the community,maybe use your talents to bless a
friend, if you like to write,help them, maybe write them a note.
That's one of the things wedon't see a lot of anymore, just
people writing notes. And thenbecause this is a finance show, answer
this question. Maybe you usethat talent to generate income. So
(09:56):
understand where your time isgoing, brainstorm on what your talents
are and then decide, hey, am Inot using my talents because I don't
have enough time? Will lookfor ways to find more time, eliminate
stuff that's not getting youto your talents, to your core purpose
in life. And then I'm justgoing to encourage you to use those
talents and because all ofthis is going to increase self awareness
(10:19):
until you do that audit. And Idid it just recently and I was amazed
how many time wasters I have.And that will bring new joy and fulfillment
to your life because you'regoing to realize, hey, wait a minute,
I'm wasting so much time onthis screen, just scrolling and scrolling
and scrolling. And when youreally do this and you start to brainstorm
(10:40):
your talents, it's going tobring fresh energy. Hey, and even
maybe more income. Hey, thatcould help the bottom line. But bigger
than all those things, largerthan all that, it really does honor
God with every resource thathe's given you. Let's pray together.
Father God, we just thank youfor the incredible gifts of time
(11:02):
and the unique talents you'veplaced in each one of us, Lord. And
we confess that sometimes wetruly do waste time or we neglect
the gifts you've placed insideof us. So Lord, we would just ask
you to help us see clearly howyou want us to serve, Lord. Teach
us to manage our time withwisdom and to use our talents boldly.
(11:22):
In love, Lord. May our dailychoices reflect your purposes for
our lives and may our work andrest bring you glory. And we ask
this with confidence in Jesusname. Amen, friend. And I want you
to hear this today. Someonelistening right now. Maybe it's you.
You're listening right now.You're like, ralph, I need some encouragement
(11:44):
today. Been battling with yourfinances and it feels like it's just
an uphill battle. I want youto know you're more than your budget.
God entrusted you with time,with talents and with influence.
So today I just want toencourage you, track your time, rediscover
one gift and ask, how can Isteward this better starting today?
(12:10):
Because here's the truth.You're moving towards holistic freedom.
Freedom. That's spiritualfreedom. That's financial and more
importantly, freedom. That ispurposeful. And while we're talking
about purposeful, I would loveit if you would share this show with
somebody else. Just grab yourphone, grab your email and just send
a quick message to somebodyand say, hey, I listen to this daily
(12:32):
show. It's called FinanciallyConfident Christian. And it really
helps me, you know, break thatcycle of financial shame. And I'm
learning new things every dayand I'm really enjoying the empowerment
and and I really think youwould love this too. Just send them
tofinanciallyconfidentchristian.com and
I also want to encourage youto go grab a copy of my book. Hey,
I'm only going to offer thisfor a few more days. It's called
(12:54):
Mastering Your Finances. It'sa quick book, but it is super impactful
to improving your financialsituation. The best way to get that
is to go tofinanciallyconfidentchristian.com/master now.
Tomorrow we're going to bewrapping up the week with a powerful
episode on Investing forPurpose. I'm going to get a little
controversial tomorrow, so beready to join me because I'm going
(13:16):
to be talking about investingfor purpose, not just return. See,
the world will tell you, hey,go get those high returns. Go get
those, those huge returns. I'mgoing to kind of flip the script
a little bit tomorrow so youdon't want to miss that. And until
then, I just want to encourageyou today. Stay focused, stay faithful.
Let's all go out there and bethose financially confident Christians.
(13:38):
You can do this. I haveconfidence in you. Have confidence
in yourself. Stay financiallysavvy. God bless you and you have
a great day today.
Thank you for joining us todayon the Financially Confident Christian
show, where we're breaking thecycle of financial shame with confidence
and faith. If you found valuein this episode, a simple click to
subscribe means you'll beinvited right back for our next conversation.
(14:01):
And remember, financialchallenges don't have to be overwhelming.
Just Ask Ralph. This show is aproduction of Ask Ralph Media and
is supported by SaggioAccounting Plus. The information
shared in this episode isbased on data available as of the
date of release. SaggioAccounting plus and Ask Ralph Media,
Inc. are under no obligationto update this content if circumstances
(14:23):
change. Please note thatapplying this information to your
personal situation requirescareful consideration. This episode
is not intended intended toserve as financial, tax or legal
advice. Always consult yourtrusted tax advisor or attorney before
taking action based onanything we've discussed.
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