Programs And Podcasts

“Abundance isn’t God’s provision for me to live in luxury; it’s His provision for me to help others live.”

That line from Randy Alcorn captures the heart behind a financial finish line. When God entrusts us with more, the question is not simply, “How much can I keep?” but “How much can I use for His purposes?”

Cody Hobelman, Certified Financial Planner and Certified Kingdom Advisor, joined the show today to share how that question became deeply personal in his own life. Along with his brother Keelan, Cody contributed to FaithFi’s new Field Guide, How Much Money Is Enough? But before he taught others how to set a financial finish line, he had to wrestle with it in his own context.

Early in his career, Cody’s view of money was much like that of many people. He wanted a large income, growing wealth, and the kinds of opportunities that seemed to promise happiness and success—perhaps vacation homes, financial freedom, and a comfortable lifestyle.

Those goals were not unusual. Many people begin their careers with an eye toward building, earning, and accumulating. But over time, Cody began to sense that something was missing.

After college, he returned to church and began reading Scripture for himself. What stood out to him was how often Jesus spoke about money. Those passages began to reshape the way he viewed his role in managing what God had entrusted to him.

At the end of 2016, Cody’s church went through a series on managing money biblically. At the conclusion, the congregation was invited to commit to tithing in the coming year.

After prayer and conversation with his wife, Steph, Cody decided to begin giving 10% of his income to the church in 2017.

That step mattered. It was his first move into intentional giving. He began to see that not every dollar he earned had to serve his own lifestyle. God gives resources with purpose, and giving helped Cody begin to discover that purpose.

But as he later reflected, his generosity at that stage still felt like “checking the box.” He was giving, but accumulation remained the deeper goal. Tithing became a generous layer atop a life still largely centered on earning, comparing, and building more.

He realized he was trying to serve both God and money.

In 2020, Cody’s brother Keelan invited him to consider a simple but life-altering question: “How much is enough?”

In other words, if God provided more income over the course of his career—or even in a single year—how would Cody know how much was enough to spend on his own lifestyle? And how could he create margin so that additional resources could be used for God’s purposes?

At first, Cody resisted the conversation. But he could not escape the realization that he was still at the center of his financial world.

So he and Steph accepted the challenge. They chose a number that represented a reasonable level of lifestyle spending for a season. That number became their first financial finish line.

A financial finish line is a cap on lifestyle spending. Once that line is set, anything beyond it can be directed toward generosity, debt reduction, ministry, or other God-honoring purposes.

Interestingly, Cody and Steph set their first finish line when their income was still below that number. Steph was in graduate school, Cody was early in his career, and they still had student loans. They were also hoping to buy a home.

So the finish line was not immediately restrictive. It was more future-oriented. But that decision prepared their hearts before additional income arrived.

Not long after, Steph graduated and began working full-time. Cody also received a raise. Sudd

You’re trying to stay strong—for your family, your church, your calling. But the cracks are showing, and you’re not sure what to do with them. Dave Harvey, author of The Clay Pot Conspiracy: God's Plan to Use Weakness in Leaders, flips the script: what if your weakness isn’t the problem—but the point? This conversation digs into purpose within suffering and failure, and finding real strength where you least expect it.

Show Notes and Resources

• Get Dave Harvey’s book The Clay Pot Conspiracy: God’s Plan to Use Weakness in Leaders at revdaveharvey.com

• Subscribe to Dave Harvey’s Tenacious Tuesday devotional and ongoing resources at revdaveharvey.com/Tenacious-Tuesday

• Become a monthly partner with FamilyLife Today — your gift is matched for a full year (double your impact!) 

• Thanks to the Christian Standard Bible for sponsoring this episode. Learn more at CSBible.com.
• Follow us on all social platforms: Facebook | Instagram | YouTube
• Find resources from our podcast at shop.familylife.com.
• Download FamilyLife's app!
• Help others find FamilyLife. Leave a review on Apple Podcast or Spotify.
• Check out all the FamilyLife's podcasts on the FamilyLife Podcast Network

See cru.org/us/en/about/privacy FamilyLife’s Privacy Policy

Life can be like tending a garden. What we water grows. If we spend all our time feeding worry, pleasure, and listening to the voice of our adversary, we shouldn’t be surprised when weeds take over. Today on A NEW BEGINNING, Pastor Greg Laurie helps us focus our attention carefully. The voices we listen to are like seeds. Some bring peace, others just bring pests. At some point, we’ve gotta ask: are we planting the right crop, or just giving the weeds a comfy home?

The Harvest Crusade is coming to Angel Stadium on July 11! Stay updated on all important event details. 

—

Become a Harvest Partner today and join us in knowing God and making Him known through media and large-scale evangelism, our mission of over 30 years.

Explore more resources from Pastor Greg Laurie, including daily devotionals and blogs, designed to answer your spiritual questions and equip you to walk closely with Christ.

Support the show: https://bit.ly/anbsupport

See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Chip continues this message on developing and deploying your spiritual gifts.

Broadcast Resources

• Message Notes

Additional Resources

• Take The Real You Assessment

Connect

• 888-333-6003
• Website
• Chip Ingram App
• Instagram
• Facebook
• Twitter

Partner With Us

Donate Online

• 888-333-6003

I was teaching at a national seminar on how to communicate an unchanging Christ in our rapidly changing culture. Well, at the end of a session, a pastor from Kentucky came up to tell me his story he thought really illustrated some of what I had been saying. He said, "When I was a young man, we used to have some big tent revivals in my community. Each night an invitation was given for folks to come forward if they wanted to be, well as this country preacher would always say, 'borned again.'" The pastor went on to describe how some of the deacons would actually go out into the audience and go row-to-row, and shall we say they were "encouraging" folks to make that choice. Near the back, one of the deacons came to a young man who gave him an honest and memorable response. The deacon said, "Son, do you want to be borned again?" To which the boy said, "No." The deacon pressed the point, "Why don't you want to be borned again?" The young man answered in all seriousness, "Cause I'm afraid this time I'd come out as a girl!"

I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Lost In Our Language."

Okay, first we can laugh at what that boy said. Then, when we're done laughing, let's think about what we can learn from a response like that. The preacher used words that the preacher understood, but apparently not everyone who was listening understood. It's a classic example of the problem with a language called "Christianese." It's the language we church folks speak without even thinking, and the language that folks who desperately need our message don't begin to understand.

Many of our "Christianese" words are good Bible words, but words that a lot of lost people around us just don't know. For just a moment, try to "think lost." Think to think like a lost person. Think what a person without the context of a Christian environment hears when we say words like "accept" or "receive Christ as your personal Savior." We receive packages today, not people, and when we accept someone, we treat them right. When you try to hear what a lost person hears, words like "salvation" and "saved" and "become a Christian" are either not understood or they're vastly misunderstood. Oh, and "born again."

In a world without absolutes, the word "sin" has become a word without meaning to many people, as much as the word "believe." Most people would probably say "yes" if you asked them if they believe in Jesus. And you'll know that they don't mean what the Bible means when it says, "Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." Even the word "Savior" is not one that people use much today. They're great words, but the people who need Jesus the most have no idea what they mean or have the wrong idea. That's what makes our word for today from the Word of God such a mission critical prayer for any of us who know people that we want to take to heaven with us. In Colossians 4:3-4, listen to Paul, "Pray for us that God may open a door for our message...Pray that I may proclaim it clearly as I should."

It's not enough to just transmit the Good News about Jesus. No, like good missionaries, we need to ask God to help us translate it into non-religious words that lost people can understand. If a man came running into the room you're in, shouting in say Swahili, "The room is on fire! Evacuate immediately!" you'd probably go, "Well, he sounds sincere; I think he has something important to say." But you'd have no idea what he was saying, because it wasn't in words you could understand. It's not in your language, and you might die as a result. And that's no matter how important the message and no matter how sincere the messenger.

The spiritually dying people around us hear us Christians announcing our all-important life-or-death message, often in words they don't understand. Yes, the gospel's life-or-death information that literally eternities depend on.

Dr. Gary Chapman and Dr. Shannon Warden compare family life to renovating a home — you need a good “blueprint” or plan for how you want your family to grow, and a solid foundation of godly character traits like kindness, love, forgiveness, building trust, building connection, and having fun together. Parents and kids need to be “all in” and working as a team to instill these traits into their relationships. Dr. Chapman also talks about the 5 Love Languages, and Dr. Warden shares several stories about parenting her own children.

Receive the book The DIY Guide to Building a Family That Lasts and an audio download of "Tips for Building a Healthy Family" for your donation of any amount! Plus, receive member-exclusive benefits when you make a recurring gift today. Your monthly support helps families thrive.

Get More Episode Resources 

If you enjoyed listening to Focus on the Family with Jim Daly, please give us your feedback.