I wanted to impress people with this dream. We all want to be known for something, right? I wanted people in my hometown to think of me when they thought of the big shiny city of New York.

Well, after choosing to really submit to Jesus and follow Him wholeheartedly in the early stages of college, I realized I couldn’t keep consuming myself with this dream. It would never fulfill me.

Fast-forward to today, I’m living in Manhattan and I am full-on pursuing that “dream job.” I never thought it would really happen. However, I realized I could take this interest of mine and use it as a gateway to Him. I could be a light in this dark industry and show people that it doesn’t have to consume or control you. Well, that’s much easier said than done.

Right before Christmas break, an acquaintance texted me asking how New York is. We briefly talked about what was going on in our lives and in the midst of it, he said something along the lines of, “I don’t really care what I do for money. I’ll figure that out when I get there but all that matters is loving people and that’s my priority.” That is something simple, I know. Of course we’re supposed to love God and our neighbors. But for some reason that night, what he said hit me hard.

I began to realize how easy it was going to be for me to seek my identity in a job title. It sounds so “cool” for people to know me as the writer or the New Yorker or the fashion girl—or whatever. It’s hard in the city especially. You meet new people and their first question is about what you “do.” There’s a lot of pressure there to say something that will impress them.

There is a quote from Brennan Manning that reads, “Define yourself as one radically loved by God. This is your true self, every other identity is an illusion.” My identity is not in my job title. It is not found in the city I’m living in. And it certainly is not found in others’ perspective of me. I am a child of the King. That’s my main title. All the rest is just details of where we live out our calling, to love God and to love His people. Paul refers to himself in scripture as “One beloved by God.”

Why would it be so crazy to respond to questions about what I do by saying, “I am one beloved by God.”

One evening back when I was doing ministry in Ohio, prior to moving to the city, I was at a high school football game with a girl I had grown fairly close to. She turned to me and said, “Megan, my mom always asks me what you do. I kind of laughed and was like, ‘I don’t even know. She’s just a girl who lives life. A cool girl who lives a cool life.’”

This may sound funny, but I have not forgotten those words she said to me that night. That high school girl saw me hang around her school and with girls her age, fairly younger than me, and she knew I was doing it all because of one thing, Jesus. I had never received such satisfaction from how someone described me as she had that night. And there was nothing attached to that description. No fancy job, no big city and no impressive title. I could be making a paycheck literally anywhere for all they knew.

We all want to impress others with what our resumes say, where we went to school or what profession we have. But I have been so humbly reminded that if that’s how we define ourselves, that’s making it about us. Are we compelled by the fact that He loves us? That is the most important thing. Not what we do, but that He loves us! What’s so true is that we so often have to be reminded of lessons we’ve already learned. Just like the other night, it was like learning this truth all over again. This is not my story, it is His. My friends, let’s not forget who we are or whose we are. That is our identity. The rest is just the details.

It didn’t take long for my thoughts to overcome my faith. The questions came all at once: What am I supposed to do now? How am I going to pay the bills? How long will this last? Am I going to end up homeless? Admittedly, the last question tilts toward the dramatic, but you get the point. These are big questions that lack simple answers.

Initially, my response to unemployment was to hide. I avoided telling people I lost my job and kept a low profile. I didn’t even tell my parents. I started applying for jobs, assuming I would rebound quickly and nobody would need to know this happened.

I had these expectations of God swooping in and rescuing me quickly, providing a job that was far beyond what I could have hoped or imagined. Instead, there was silence. I told myself not to freak out. I just needed to persevere. Give it another month. Something great is on the horizon.

It wasn’t.

I applied for jobs every day, expecting my skills, experiences, and connections to come through. Any day, any minute this would all be over. In reality, there were a lot of no’s coming in creative ways. I felt alone and abandoned. My mind became consumed with second-guessing every decision I made that might have avoided this situation. I was filled with regret. Sitting in confusion, I began to fall into depression. I found myself repeatedly asking a four-word question: where are you, God?

Eighty-eight days into unemployment I somehow found myself watching the sunrise while standing on the shore of the Atlantic Ocean. As I looked out over the horizon, the breakers were crashing over my feet. I remembered words from a Psalm I learned a while back.

“Deep calls to deep, in the roar of your waterfalls, all your waves and breakers have swept over me.” (Psalm 42:7)

My troubles crashed over me like never-ending waves. The trials I faced seemed to get deeper. I felt as though I was drowning. I felt the words of Psalm 42:11

“Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God.” (Psalm 42:11)

Here the psalmist is in this gut-wrenching fight with himself. He’s battling against his own discouragement while rebuking himself for being discouraged in the first place. With the breakers of life sweeping over me, I felt hope rising as I began to remember who God is and what He has done. Over these months, God was not meeting my expectations. This prompted the question; will I follow Jesus when I don’t understand Him?

I faced that question head on. Though I was still confused, angry, and feeling as though the darkness would never subside, I walked away from the ocean feeling hopeful. I felt the desperation for a job lessen as my longing for God increased. I was determined to let these next few days be a reset as my heart was turning toward God with an eagerness that had been lost.

Later that evening, I opened my journal for the first time in a while. For me, the magic of a journal comes when it forces contemplation and interaction with God. My negative self-talk looks different on paper than in my head. When I write, I can hear God’s voice gently turning my heart from the lies and leading me toward truth.

I listed the ways God was showing up for my family during this season. He was meeting our needs in extraordinary ways. I thought back to previous seasons where I desperately needed God to come through and remembered He always has. This is why I put my hope in Him.

Journal writing tends to lead me toward prayer. When I see the words on the pages, I find myself wanting to say more to God than I write. There were some tough prayer walks that week and the weeks ahead. God becomes easier to see the more honest we get, so I poured out my soul. I lamented how I felt this was unfair, and I didn’t understand why He hadn’t come through. I shared how hard it was to constantly be rejected all while feeling like I should be projecting more faith.

I forced myself to text a few people who I knew would offer support. It was a hard thing to do, yet it turned out exactly as you’d expect. I received love, encouragement, wisdom, and more. I didn’t have to walk through this alone anymore.

Today, those 137 days of unemployment are behind me. God met me in my confusion, darkness, and questioning. He was not deterred by the mess, and what a mess it was. In my journal, I have Psalm 121 written out. It was, is, and will forever be my guide.

“I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” (Psalm 121:1-2)

God will not always offer answers, but He will offer His presence. He is our help. We do not walk through these seasons alone. He stands on the shore with us, hand in hand, inviting us to put our hope in Him and follow in obedience, one step at a time. 

Here are five financial tips from Bible characters that are still applicable today.

5. Solomon: Prioritize Wisdom Over Wealth

Solomon is famously known for his unparalleled wisdom, but his financial acumen is equally impressive. In the Book of Proverbs, Solomon emphasizes that wisdom is far more valuable than wealth. He writes, “Better to have little with godliness than to be rich and dishonest” (Proverbs 16:8). This verse reminds us that true financial genius involves prioritizing integrity and wisdom over the mere accumulation of riches. In today’s world, this translates to making ethical financial decisions and valuing long-term benefits over short-term gains.

4. The Servant Who Invested the Talents: Take Calculated Risks

In Jesus’ parable of the talents, a master entrusts his servants with money before going on a journey. The first two servants invest their talents and double their amounts, while the third buries his out of fear. When the master returns, he praises the first two servants as “good and faithful” but rebukes the third as “wicked and slothful” (Matthew 25:14-30). This story highlights the importance of taking calculated risks with your finances. While investment involves risk, it is often necessary for growth. The lesson here is to avoid letting fear paralyze you and to seek opportunities that can yield fruitful returns.

3. Joseph: Prepare for the Future

Joseph, sold into slavery by his brothers, rises to become Pharaoh’s right-hand man in Egypt. During seven years of plenty, Joseph stores surplus grain, which saves Egypt during the subsequent seven years of famine (Genesis 41). Joseph’s foresight and prudent planning underscore the importance of saving and preparing for future uncertainties. In modern terms, this means building an emergency fund and investing in insurance to safeguard against unexpected financial hardships.

2. The Proverbs 31 Woman: Manage Your Resources Wisely

The Proverbs 31 woman is often celebrated for her virtuous character, but she also provides an excellent example of financial management. She engages in trade, invests in a vineyard, and ensures her household’s needs are met (Proverbs 31:16-18). Her diligence and entrepreneurial spirit illustrate the importance of managing resources wisely and diversifying income streams. Today, this might mean budgeting effectively, exploring investment opportunities, and seeking additional sources of income.

1. Zacchaeus: Use Wealth for Good

Zacchaeus, a tax collector, encounters Jesus and undergoes a profound transformation. He pledges to give half of his possessions to the poor and repay those he has wronged four times over (Luke 19:8). Zacchaeus’s story teaches us about the redemptive power of using wealth for good. It reminds us that financial success should not come at the expense of others and that true prosperity involves generosity and restitution. Modern application of this principle includes charitable giving and engaging in socially responsible investing.

I have. I used to hate my job so much I would pray for swine flu so I could have a legitimate reason not to go into the office. I complained about my coworkers to whoever would listen and left passive aggressive comments on social media about office politics. Looking back, I’m confident I stayed in the wrong position for way too long, but I never knew when to quit. How do we know when it’s time to find a new job or when to double down and reinvest in finding contentment where we are?

After leaving my job, I began consulting with people in this exact phase of life to help guide them as they decided on making a transition into a more meaningful job the way I did. Without fail the following four guidelines have helped me and many others find clarity around when to stay and when to hand in your resignation.

Decide whether or not your values are being violated.

Your core values are the principles and ideals you hold most essential to life. They are the CliffsNotes of your personal ethics and what you believe is key to your ability to show up with excitement, ready to engage in any aspect of life.

For example, you might believe collaboration is important and if you’re not working alongside someone else, the project isn’t worth doing. Or maybe you highly regard authenticity, and love moments when people are being vulnerable. Whatever your values are, they must be honored in your current job or you will eventually burn out and quit. The internal conflict of daily pouring energy into anything that violates what you most hold dear will lead you to long-term job dissatisfaction.

If you’re not sure of your core values, a great way to identify them is to ask yourself three questions:

• Where do I continually experience conflict or disappointment in my job and in my personal relationships?
• When I think of the person I most respect, which three qualities does this person have that I most admire?
• When was the last time I really had fun and experienced a deep sense of meaning at work?

Look for five to seven principles to guide you. If your organization cannot better uphold the values you’ve identified, it’s time to start tidying up your resume.

Explore how closely your job honors God’s unique purpose for your life.

If your job passes the core values test, but you still feel unhappy in your position, your discontentment might be a sign that God is telling you to move closer to your calling. That was my situation. I was well compensated and empowered to work with integrity and the constant change I so deeply valued, however I had this perpetual sense that I was in the wrong place. It felt like the skills God had given me weren’t being used, and I could feel my talents atrophying while I climbed up the ladder getting accolades for things I was good but not great at doing. I simply wasn’t living the purpose I was meant to live.

And God has a harsh rebuke for those of us who do not put the gifts we have been given to use for His good purpose. In the Parable of the Talents in Matthew 25 we see three servants given talents of gold by their master and asked to steward these talents until the master’s return. The first two apply the talents, making a small return on their investment, much to the master’s delight. Well, done good and faithful servant. But the third, the one who played it safe burying the master’s gold underground to avoid risk—maybe choosing a great salary, medical benefits and a 401K over fulfilling his life purpose—he was thrown into utter darkness.

If you don’t know your true talents or have not yet unlocked your life’s calling, ask, seek and knock until you find it. It’s that important. Yes, we live under grace, but we will be asked what we have done with the gifts we have been given. A good place to start is by following Andy Crouch’s advice in Culture Making to look for the intersection of grace and the cross in your life. By this, Crouch means that special cross-section where you experience a divine multiplication of your effort and where you feel a special burden for the world’s pain. This rare intersection might be a clue to your calling. Work with a mentor or coach to help you refine and flesh out your talents so you can move out of your rut of complacency and begin to live a meaningful life.

Address the other places of frustration or pain in your life such as family, church and community.

Still discontent? Maybe your job isn’t the problem at all. Maybe it’s you. Often work frustrations can be an easy target for displaced disappointment in other domains of our lives. Dissatisfaction in our dating lives can lead us to feel annoyed by happily married coworkers. Spiritual apathy from being burned by our last church community can lead to disenchantment with the institutional vibe of a corporate gig. Don’t mistake fleeting work annoyances for long-term discontentment when you have legitimate unresolved issues elsewhere in your life. Focus on whole-life health. Reconcile broken relationships, kick destructive personal habits and reconnect to God before you jump ship from a good job temporarily gone bad.

Determine if there is realistic hope for a different outcome.

If your values are in alignment, you are working according to your life purpose and the rest of your life is humming but you still feel miserable going into work each day, it’s time to call it. Henry Cloud’s Necessary Endings gives helpful criteria for when to say ultimately goodbye. He recommends cutting 1) anything that is good but not great and takes resources or energy from something with more promise, 2) anything sick that will not get well and 3) anything that is already dead and taking up space. This brutal process he calls pruning can be hard, but it’s nothing compared to the ongoing misery that comes from a job that is slowly killing you.

If you’re unhappy in your job, it might not just be you. Use these guidelines to help you discover if there are insurmountable issues behind the irritation. If there are, address those problems and move toward a more fulfilling life. Remember, God has a plan for you and His purpose is always good.

A new study by TransUnion revealed that Gen Z between the ages of 22 to 24 made an average of $45,493 in 2023. A decade ago, millennials at the same age were making $51,825 (adjusted for inflation). That puts Gen Z’s debt-to-income ratio slightly higher than millennials, coming in at 16.05% compared to 11.76%.

So what’s led to the difference?

TransUnion says this is likely because Gen Z has come of age during a high-inflation economy. Most elder Gen Zers entered the job market in June 2022, right as inflation hit a new peak and the consumer price index increased by 9.1%. Inflation has remained fairly high since then, and there’s no signs of it coming down anytime soon.

It’s no wonder that 14% of Gen Z feels “extremely stressed out” about their financial situation, compared with 8% of millennials a decade ago. That’s almost the exact opposite of those who feel “extremely confident” in their finances, with 8% of Gen Z saying so now and 13% of millennials in 2013.

It certainly doesn’t help that Gen Z is relying more on credit cards than their millennial counterparts at their age. According to the report, 84% of 22-24 year olds had at least one general-purpose credit card in 2023, compared to only 61% of 22-24 year olds in in 2013.

“It’s no surprise that in this economic climate, one in which the cost of living is significantly higher relative to a decade ago, younger consumers are increasingly turning to credit products to bridge their financial needs,” said Jason Laky, executive vice president and head of financial services at TransUnion. “This is a demographic that is younger and newer to the workforce and accordingly, is likely commanding a lower salary at an earlier point in their career. As long as inflation remains elevated and the cost of goods remains so as well, balances across products such as credit cards, personal loans and auto are likely to continue to grow.”

Maybe regretful, ashamed, dirty, totally undeserving of an honorable man’s affections.

Sure.

But definitely not pure.

Here’s a little backstory: I had made many commitments to make drastic changes to my life before this day, but those empty words often resulted in nothing. I continued living my life the only way that I knew how.

I jumped from relationship to relationship because I was insecure and dependent. If I even felt that a relationship was on the rocks, I would make sure I had someone else waiting in the background. Sad, right? My heart was a torn-up piece of cloth and I kept trying to patch it with the wrong things.

There was one specific day when I found out that my on-and-off again boyfriend of three years was dating someone new. I had given everything to him and that physical and emotional connection meant double the heartbreak. It crushed me. My mind ran wild and my heart physically hurt for months.

But instead of healing in a healthy way, I decided to heal my broken heart by seeking more attention. I drank a lot and made bad decisions. I forced myself to date people who were never a good fit in the first place, because “I just wanted to be happy.”

However, it made me feel the exact opposite. I often went home crying, depressed and broken after a night out. I asked myself: “Why do I keep going back to this lifestyle if it makes me so unhappy?” I couldn’t answer that. And yet, I still ensured that I had someone on speed dial to keep me company, just in case the feeling of brokenness began creeping back up on me. And it always did. It always does, doesn’t it? I was a wretched mess who couldn’t stand on my own two feet without fake love and empty affection.

But God.

I gave my life to Jesus when I was 19. I have loved Him and failed Him ever since that day, but He still loves me endlessly. If I’m honest, my surrender to Him was initially more of a moment of “nothing else is working, so I might as well try this.” But God is good and gave grace despite my selfishness. And after I surrendered it all to Him – the filth, the despair, the loneliness—knew something was about to be different.

My desires were different. God was changing my present. And little did I know, He was drastically changing my future the moment that He led me to buy that ring.

I knew something new was coming. I was so ready and excited to destroy the life that made me feel undeserving and shameful and turn it into a distant memory.

After I purchased the ring that day, I got into my car and I shut the door. As soon as I placed it on my finger, I began to cry. I broke down into an overwhelming sob which led to a full-on ugly cry. I couldn’t have even prepared myself for the beautiful emotions I felt or the thoughts that ran through my mind.

I kept hearing this verse: “If anyone is in Christ, He is a new creation. Old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)

And in that moment, I felt a lot of things. But more than anything, I felt free.

Free from the obligation to be someone I never really wanted to be.

Free from allowing myself to feel used, just because I was lonely.

Free from permitting someone who called only when he “felt like it” to define every ounce of my worth.

Free from seeking attention and praise for my looks or my body.

Free from the desire to give myself up to anyone, especially who wouldn’t walk a mile for me—let alone 500.

I was free from the life that was so far from what was intended for me.

And that life is also so, so far from what is intended for you.

You are more than your mistakes. You are loved, precious and worthy. Whatever it is that you are dependent on or in bondage to, God is offering you a fresh start.

You may be married now and bear the burden of guilt for your past decisions. Or you are in the midst of living out these mistakes today, seeking a way out without any direction. Either way: You are loved. You may not have deserved a second chance, but you are offered one. And today you have the choice to choose Him—over yourself—and begin afresh.

I’ve been married to my husband, Jesse, for five years now. He and I fought really hard to remain pure until we were finally married. And it was so worth it. Some people mocked it, but I didn’t mind. I was secure in the belief that God created intimacy for my husband and him alone. I was content in waiting (even when it got really stinking hard).

Jesse loved God enough, and loved me enough, actively to show me that his priority was my heart and not my body. I had never been offered that kind of respect before. I had never even tried to earn it.

The closeness in our relationship was unmatched because we spent time talking and learning about one another rather than leaning on intimacy as a crutch.

He displayed an unconditional love for me that I had never once received in my life. He made me feel really, truly loved. He would have walked 500 miles for me without a second thought. And he made me feel like I was worth waiting for.

My story was no longer one of shame, but one of redemption. It’s a story of ashes to beauty because of forgiveness and love.

It’s never too late to start over. God moves in us. God heals us day after day from the brokenness we cause for ourselves. He fills our lives with a fullness that we can’t even fathom without Him. And He loves you enough to set you on a new path.

Lindsey Maestas lives in Albuquerque. She writes for the faith-based lifestyle blog, Sparrows and Lily.

Fortunately, with the rise of the gig economy and the accessibility of online platforms, many of those side gigs are pretty lucrative, too. There are countless opportunities to earn extra cash — and we’re not just talking a few bucks. Side gigs can help bring in anywhere between $400-1000 more each month, if you’re willing to put in the work.

So, if you’re looking to add an extra $1,000 to your monthly income, here are ten side hustles worth considering:

10. Freelance Writing

If you have a way with words, freelance writing can be a lucrative side hustle. Many websites and publications are constantly in need of content creators for articles, blog posts, copywriting, even social media content. Websites like Upwork, Freelancer and Fiverr allow you to showcase your writing skills and connect with clients looking for talented writers. With  a decent amount of dedication and a strong portfolio, you can easily earn $1,000 (or more) per month.

9. Virtual Assistance

2020 changed the way everything works, and that’s especially true for businesses. As many businesses continue to operate fully or partially online, the demand for virtual assistants has grown tremendously. Tasks such as email management, social media scheduling and customer support can all be handled remotely. Websites like Flex Jobs and Zirtual connect virtual assistants with employers seeking assistance, offering flexible hours and competitive pay. It’s a win-win for everyone.

8. Online Tutoring

If you excel in a particular subject or skill, you may want to consider becoming an online tutor. With the rise of remote learning, there’s a growing demand for tutors to help students with every subject you can think of, from traditional academic subjects to exciting new skills like learning an instrument. Check out websites like Tutor.com and VIPKid to connect with students and earn a substantial hourly rate. Be prepared to actually back up your knowledge, though.

7. Social Media Management

Are you a pro at Instagram, TikTok or Facebook? You’d be surprised at how many businesses struggle with managing social media accounts. Many businesses are willing to pay for social media managers to create and curate content, engage with followers and/or analyze analytics. With the right skills and creativity, you can build a thriving social media management business and earn a steady income. Depending on your flexibility, you can manage multiple accounts at once, increasing your take-home pay exponentially.

6. Graphic Design

Maybe writing isn’t your forte, but you have a knack for design. If that’s the case, consider offering your services as a freelance graphic designer. From logos and branding to web design and illustrations, there’s no shortage of opportunities for talented designers. Websites like 99designs and Dribbble give you the space you to showcase your portfolio and connect with clients looking for design work.

5. Photography

Even though smartphones have given nearly everyone access to a camera, some people really struggle with taking great photos. But if you’ve got a creative eye, consider freelancing your photography. You can start a side hustle and offer your services for photoshoots, weddings, engagements or myriad other events. Additionally, stock photography websites like Shutterstock, Adobe Stock and Getty Images allow you to upload your photos and earn royalties every time they’re downloaded.

4. E-commerce

Thanks to platforms like Shopify, Etsy and eBay, it’s never been so easy to start an online store and sell products. Whether you’re crafty and creative or have a knack for spotting trends, e-commerce can be a profitable side hustle. From handmade crafts to drop-shipped goods, there are countless opportunities to turn a profit online.

3. Pet Sitting/Dog Walking

If you’re an animal lover, why not get paid to spend time with furry friends? Pet sitting and dog walking are popular side hustles that allow you to earn money while enjoying the company of pets. Websites like Rover and Wag! connect pet owners with reliable sitters and walkers, offering flexibility and competitive pay. Plus, you get to spend your time surrounded by adorable animals WHILE making money. Need we say more?

2. Fitness Coaching

Are you passionate about health and fitness? Consider becoming a fitness coach or personal trainer. Whether you prefer one-on-one sessions or group classes, there’s a growing demand for fitness professionals to help others achieve their wellness goals. It’s a great way for you to get your exercise in while encouraging others to do the same. And now more than ever, there are multiple ways you can get into fitness coaching. You can offer virtual coaching sessions, create workout programs, or even host fitness retreats to earn extra income.

1. Blogging/Vlogging

There’s a common joke that “everyone is an influencer these days,” but there’s a good reason behind it. Bloggers and vloggers are able to create content about topics they’re passionate about while raking in some serious cash. Whether it’s travel, fashion, food, or finance, there’s an audience for almost every niche. You can grow your audience, monetize your content through ads and sponsorships, and turn your passion into a profitable side hustle. Through advertising, sponsored posts and affiliate deals, you could make up to $5,000 a month, if not more.

Whether you’re a writer, designer, tutor or animal lover, there’s a side hustle out there that’s perfect for you. By leveraging your skills, passions, and the power of the internet, you can increase your income and achieve your financial goals. Just make sure you don’t burn yourself out.

According to a new poll, 6 in 10 Gen Zers plan to be their own boss by the time they’re 30, and 63% have already taken steps towards starting their own business. Jobs in food and drink (22%), entertainment (19%) and fashion (18%) are the most appealing sectors for Gen Z adults.

Of course, every generation has some sort of entrepreneurial spirit, but Gen Z seems to be the most ambitious overall. Comparatively, only a third of millennials (37%) said they would like to start their own business or side hustle at some point.

For Gen Z, the desire to start and own their business stems from personal reasons over professional ones. Thirty-eight percent of Gen Z said they wanted to start a business to follow a passion, while 35% said they wanted to do it to experience more personal growth. Additionally, 16% said helping out their local community was also a driving factor.

“Being your own boss can give you freedom, but it also requires a huge amount of hard work, passion and dedication,” said Deepak Soni, director of small business insurance for AXA, said. “It’s fantastic to see there’s a new wave of would-be entrepreneurs who are relying on enthusiasm to compensate for their lack of entrepreneurial experience.”

Side hustles, which can easily develop into full-time businesses, can be difficult to get started. The first step is figuring out what you want to invest your time, money and resources in. For more tips on getting your side hustle or career started, check out RELEVANT’s guide to maintaining a side hustle here.

According to a recent survey, 25 percent of Gen Z adults said they need to speak with a therapist to get help dealing with the stress of tax season. Additionally, 54% said filing taxes has either brought them to tears before, or they expect it to this year.

A majority of Gen Z’s stress stems from unpreparedness, with 62% of first-time filers saying they don’t even know where to get their W-2s or 1099s. Gen Z in particular has grown up with easy-to-access services, and the complexity of tax filing season — which on average can take up to nine hours — is exhausting for these young adults.

“People in these generations are used to products and services that make their lives easier,” Lindsay Bryan-Podvin, a financial therapist at Mind Money Balance, said. “Need food? Three taps and dinner is on the way. Want new music to listen to? A curated playlist is already on your music player.

“Taxes feel tedious and stressful,” she continued. “Worst of all, the consequences are pretty high!”

Almost half of the members of Gen Z surveyed were unsure of the tax deadline (hint: it’s April 15). There’s still a window of time to get things done, and while therapy can help, there are other resources available that can help even more. For example, the IRS website has an Interactive Tax Assistant tool that addresses questions specific to your individual tax circumstances, as well as a thorough FAQ page.

As debt becomes widely accepted as commonplace, I’m increasingly aware of conversations among Christians where “debt” and “sin” seem to be synonymous. This has dangerous implications, and we need to put it to rest before it can spread any further.

Christian Debt Myths

If you’ve spent any amount of time immersed in church culture, you probably have some level of familiarity with the many Christian-based debt-relief studies. You may even know people who claim, quote and practice their financial ideals as if they were gospel truth.

Although some of the practical tips from these studies can be helpful, they can also have the added side-effect of causing people to equate debt with sin. For example, one of Dave Ramsey’s blog posts entitled “The Seven Deadly Debt Sins” reads, “Going into debt is the symptom of a larger problem. You don’t spend excessive money on ‘stuff’ unless you have a void somewhere in your life that you are trying to fill.”

Now, on one hand, this could very well be true. Sometimes our sin can lead to indebtedness that we should never have taken on. But on the other hand, this kind of discussion makes it very easy to jump from a truth of potential, like “sin can get you into debt,” to the myth that getting into debt is always sinful.

Sometimes, people cite verses like Proverbs 22:7 to justify this belief: “The rich rule over the poor, and the borrower is slave to the lender.”

But none of the verses about debt in the Bible say that being in debt is a sin.

Debt in Itself Is Not Evil

Debt, in itself, is not an evil thing. In fact, debt can allow us access and opportunities that we might not have had otherwise. Whether student loans helped make it possible for someone to go to college, or microloans helped make it possible for a family in a developing nation to earn an income, the concept of lending and owing is not inherently sinful.

Sometimes, getting a loan may be exactly what we feel led to do. Being approved for a loan might actually be one method of God’s provision in our lives.

That being said, as followers of Christ, we are called to examine our hearts and minds for what’s really going on, asking the Holy Spirit to show us if our desires come from God’s will or from our sin. When considering whether or not to go into debt (or, in many cases for millennials, more debt), it is vital that we check ourselves first and then follow the leading of the Holy Spirit.

For example, I once took out a loan to buy a house that I’d been praying about. Then I took out another loan to buy furniture because the stuff I had didn’t “look right” in my new house. Both of these decisions involved loans and taking on debt, but I am convinced that the home loan was not sin while the furniture loan absolutely was.

Having Debt Isn’t Sin

Even if sin led you into debt, having debt doesn’t make you sinful. Think about it: gluttony can make people obese, and gluttony is a sin. But if obese people start eating with moderation, they are no longer gluttons—even though it may take years to lose weight. The gluttony—not the obesity—is the sin.

In the same way, perhaps some of our choices to get into debt were sinful—we gave into greed or selfishness for a moment and spent money we didn’t have to get what we didn’t need. But that doesn’t mean the debt we still have from that poor decision is constant sin hanging over our heads.

The second we choose to let the Lord of our lives also be the Lord of our finances, we’ve broken the power of financial sin—even if we still have tons of debt, or even if we’re about to amass more. The sin of it all doesn’t come from the debt—it comes from making choices based on what we want instead of making choices based on God’s guidance in our lives.

Getting Out of Debt Can Be an Idol

One of the unexpected consequences of equating debt with sin is that—for those of us who are trying to live faithfully—we can become obsessed with getting out of debt.

Some financial experts advocate doing everything you can to get out of debt as quickly as possible—examples include selling whatever you can, taking on a second job and foregoing any of life’s unnecessary pleasures until you’re free. Basically, retool your entire life so your top priority—the thing you cater everything else to—is debt freedom.

I think that can cross over into idolatry. It assumes that nothing in a person’s life is more important than getting out of debt, which isn’t always true. We shouldn’t allow a single-minded focus on getting out of debt as quickly as possible to deter us from being generous, spending quality time with community or serving in the Kingdom of God.

Similarly, sticking so strictly to a budget could mean you start to look to it for your (financial) salvation. If money isn’t adding up, you adjust to make it work, or you get another job to pay it down faster, or you forego date night with your spouse this month. Instead of trusting God’s provision, instead of seeking His way of solving this problem or looking to Him for wisdom or intervention, we can start taking it all on ourselves and our budget.

We should strive to be financially wise and responsible, but when we become our own saviors, we miss out on letting God show us what He can do.

Glorify God in Your Debt

I am not advocating for undisciplined spending or irresponsibility in paying back loans. If we take Scripture’s word seriously that we’re supposed to glorify God in everything we have and do, that means rethinking some of our rash spending and being trustworthy to repay that which was loaned to us.

What I am suggesting is that we live our lives as Christ-followers—people who seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance in everything, including financial decisions, and trust God’s provision more than we trust our own. If we do that, then everything else—debt included—will be exactly where it needs to be: submitted to God for the sake of His glory.

We are living in an era of artisanal boom. As a backlash against cheap, mass-produced products, many young consumers are embracing this resurgence in craftsmanship. You’ve probably seen them: In urban areas that have large millennial populations, it’s not uncommon to encounter everything from artisan coffee shops and boutique clothing stores to small art galleries or storefronts selling custom furniture.

There’s always been a market for quality, handmade items, but thanks to online hubs like Etsy and Pinterest, the trend has found a new kind of exposure that has fueled a small boom in craftspeople who sell their work to consumers they could never before reach. According to some research, the “Maker Movement” (described by USA Today as “a growing army of hackers, designers, artists and entrepreneurs”) pumps nearly $29 billion into U.S. economy annually.

The movement has grown so big, it has even become the subject of parody (like this segment about $65 artisanal lightbulbs from Portlandia) and the target of imitation, with big brands attempting to cash in on the trend (even McDonald’s has tried to sell an “artisan” burger).

There’s only one “downside” to the popularity of products made from quality materials and employ skilled workers and artists to make them: They are expensive.

An Uncomfortable Tension

There are no shortage of Bible verses that warn of the trappings of wealth and command followers of Christ to carry themselves with humility. We are told that in the kingdom of God, the last shall be first and the first shall be last. That we are to spend our time reaching out to “the least of these” and caring for the poor.

For many, this has been applied as a warning against the type of conspicuous consumption that measures social status and personal success on what kind of luxury items a person owns. As Peter says in 1 Peter 3:3-4: “Your beauty should not come from outward adornment, such as elaborate hairstyles and the wearing of gold jewelry or fine clothes. Rather, it should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”

What message does it send if Christians—people called to serve the poor—spend obsessive amounts of money on designer items and expensive non-essential goods when there are so many needs in the world? In many ways, spending as little money as possible on yourself seems like an noble mindset.

But is there a danger to making frugality the ultimate consumerism virtue?

The answer isn’t as simple as it might seem.

Hidden Costs

Everything we spend our money on helps perpetuate the system that helped to produce it. If we purchase a $6 T-shirt we only plan to wear one time that was made under unethical working conditions, then we are helping fund the factory where it was made.

If we purchase a $300 bag made by an artisan leather worker who carefully monitors where their materials are sourced from, then we are supporting the business. And, most of the time, more expensive, quality items are expected to last longer—meaning they will only have to be purchased once, unlike cheap items that can break or fall apart, and need to be replaced again and again.

Though some cases seem relatively cut and dry, the same example, when pulled out to further extremes, can get more complicated: Is it more ethical to buy a cheap, essentially disposable wrist watch or a Rolex that costs $10,000?

The cheap watch may have been produced in a factory that uses dangerous environmental practices, treats employees unfairly and puts no effort into original design or creative expression. The Rolex is made by a company that operates more like a nonprofit than a business, and uses parts of its revenue to support charities, assist the blind, provide jobs for craftsmen and fund schools that teach the art of watchmaking. 

Obviously, it’s an extreme example (and we’re not suggesting everyone should go out and buy a Rolex). But it underscores a deeper conflict: In order to make purchases that support our values, we must be willing to be conscious, thoughtful consumers—even if it means spending more on quality items. There’s a line between excess and restraint; flashiness and durability. But finding that line may require inward reflection, conviction and knowledge of the products we buy.

What Should We Buy?

The reality is, there are many people who simply can not afford to purchase clothing, food and consumer goods outside of their budget. Millions struggle to be able to provide their families with basics needs like food, warm clothing and shelter. It’s completely understandable that those with limited means would choose the most economical choices. It can literally be a matter of necessity.

But for those who can afford to spend more—the type of consumers who regularly throw down $5 for a cup of coffee—being informed about our spending choices can help us support the kind of values that provide people with quality jobs and produce culturally significant art. 

This doesn’t mean we should simply adorn ourselves in the latest luxury clothing items and spend money we don’t have on expensive things. If we are buying things so that we maintain a certain image or show off how much money we have to spend, it may be time examine our motives. However, we should also be just as concerned about being conscious consumer as we are about conspicuous consumption.

That’s why being informed about our purchases is so important.

Companies like Shinola—which makes high-end watches, bicycles and more—provide careers in areas of Detroit devastated by the economic crash. Krochet Kids sells clothes, bags and hats made by impoverished women in Uganda and Peru who are given an income to support their families and communities. Everlane sells quality, fashionable clothing while providing customers with information about the factories where their clothes were made, vetting locations so that they all meet high ethical standards. Amish-made furniture is notoriously expensive—but that doesn’t mean it’s overpriced. Much of it was made by woodworkers who’ve poured countless hours into every piece, utilizing techniques perfected over generations.

By putting ethics over (or at least at the same level as) price in the list of purchasing priorities, we can at least ensure that the priorities are in balance.

Ultimately, purchasing decisions shouldn’t always come down to the cheapest option if it is within your means to spend more.

Instead of only seeing the things we buy as simply products we own, we should also view them as representations of our convictions. At that point, it’s no longer just about us as the last stop in the consumption process—it’s about investing in products that are a reflection of what we really value.

If you’re in your twenties and single, the odds are people ask you all the time, “Are you dating anybody? Do you like anybody? Know anybody?” And people are well meaning, but the subliminal message is, “When are you going to get married and actually start life like the rest of us?”

But life doesn’t start when you get married. It starts the second you fold your story into the larger story of the Kingdom of God, and follow Jesus forward. And Jesus was single! So was Paul, the leading theologian in the New Testament. And both of these men saw singleness as a gift.

If you’re wrestling with whether you should (or should not) pursue marriage, you might want to know that there’s an entire chapter in the New Testament about singleness. It’s in Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians, chapter 7. And embedded in this chapter are a few questions that every person should ask before they even think about getting married:

1. Will Marriage Help Me or Hold Me Back From God’s Calling on My Life?

For followers of Jesus, the point to singleness isn’t freedom from responsibility; it’s freedom for more responsibility. To Paul, the point of singleness is to serve God in ways you can’t if you’re married.

Paul writes, “A married man is concerned about the affairs of this world—how he can please his wife—and his interests are divided … I am saying this for your own good, not to restrict you, but that you may live in a right way in undivided devotion to the Lord.”

All healthy marriages are centered around a calling, a mission, a job, a task. The point of marriage isn’t marriage itself. There’s an urgency to life—to see the Kingdom come to bear on our world.

That’s why you need to ask these questions: What has God put in your heart? What are you called to? What’s your mission in life? And ideally you should ask these questions before you get married, because you have to be on the same page.

What has God put in front of you? And will marriage help you do that, or make it harder? If God’s calling you to live for the Gospel in Libya, where you could face torture and even death, then maybe marriage isn’t a smart idea. I’m not sure you should drag a family into that. But if God’s called you to, say, live for the Gospel in your city, then maybe marriage will fuel you. I couldn’t do what I do without my wife. I need her wisdom, her insight, her help.

If marriage pulls you away from God’s calling on your life, then slow down. You may be on the wrong trajectory.

2. Is Now the Right Time?

At one point in the chapter, Paul says, “Because of the present crisis, I think that is good for a man to remain as he is … those who marry will face many troubles in this life, and I want to spare you.”

This is really hard to interpret because we’re not sure what the “present crisis” is, but something in Paul’s world was unnerving.

There are times when it’s really not a good idea to get involved with someone, much less get married.

If you’re in the middle of a “crisis.” If you live in Syria right now.

If you’re in college. You can get married in college. I did. It’s not sin, it’s just hard. You will start off dirt poor and unsure of what’s coming.

If you’re new in your career and you’re working a hundred hours a week, just trying to keep your head above water. It’s probably not a smart time to plunge into marriage.

You’re free to get married at any time. But make sure it’s not the right thing at the wrong time.

3. Can You See Yourself With Him/Her For The Rest of Your Life?

Toward the end of the chapter, Paul writes, “A woman is bound to her husband as long as she lives …”

Not for the near future. Not for a decade. Not as “long as I’m happy” and not, “Well, we have the pre-nup …”

Marriage is “as long as you both shall live.” That’s a long time. Fifty or 60 years if all goes well. Can you see yourself together at 70, 80, 90 years old? When all the euphoria of young love has faded? When you can’t even see or hear each other anymore? And if so, does that idea excite you? Do you want to grow old together?

Marriage is for life.

4. Does He/She “Belong to the Lord”?

The last thing Paul says is, “If her husband dies, she is free to marry anyone she wishes, but he must belong to the Lord.” (1 Corinthians 7:39)

He must belong to the Lord.

This one isn’t hard to understand, but it is hard to swallow. God is at the center of every healthy marriage.

And remember, happiness in life or joy—or whatever we want to call it—is about so much more than romance. So many romantic movies end with marriage, and that’s fine, but marriage isn’t the end goal of life. The point of living is to do what you were made to do. Living in “undivided devotion to the Lord,” doing what God made us to do—that’s where it’s at.

This article is adapted with permission from Loveology.

Ever since I had my world turned upside down by carefully reading the Bible on money, I’ve begun using three tests of financial maturity for myself.

A debt-free multi-millionaire can fail these tests; an indebted college student can pass. Indeed, “man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). While it is wise to follow plans and advice that lead to “financial freedom,” it is pointless to do so without first obtaining a freedom of the heart that only comes from passing the tests below—tests that carry wisdom governing how we should relate to God and money.

Test One: Are You Content in Your Circumstances?

You know that famous saying, “I can do all things through Christ?” Typically, we see this quote in isolation. In context, however, Paul was actually talking about financial contentment! Here’s the full quote:

“… for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” (Philippians 4:11-13)

Paul knew where his real treasure was, and this meant he held loosely to earthly treasure. He’d had the finest tutors, stayed in lovely homes and owned a business. And he also missed meals, faced shipwrecks and was flogged. Through it all, his eyes were on a higher prize, and this meant he could sing God’s praises from a jail cell.

The writer of Hebrews encourages the same mindset: “Keep your life free from love of money, and be content with what you have, for He has said, ‘I will never leave you nor forsake you'” (Hebrews 13:5).

These passages encourage us to rely upon God for provision and satisfaction, rather than the things that money can buy. So, when your checking account is over-drafted and your roof starts leaking, when you really want a new car that you can’t afford, when your student loans are looming large, will you still rejoice in the strength of God?

Financially mature Christians will be content with their lives today, rather than impatiently waiting for a better tomorrow.

What was 23-year-old John’s grade on this test? An ‘F.’ I wanted to buy a nicer house, to take better vacations, to save more and more money. The thought of losing what I had terrified me.

Test Two: Are You Guarding Against Greed?

Jesus said, “Watch out! Be on your guard against greed” (Luke 12:15).

We love to point toward Wall St. when talking about greed, but Pastor Tim Keller suggests that greed resides within each of us. If not, why would the Bible so consistently warn against it?

Greed leads us to over-spend or over-save in pursuit of fulfillment outside of God Himself.

In Matthew 13, Jesus addresses over-spending with a warning that “the cares of this world and the deceitfulness of riches” can choke out God’s word in our heart, making us unfruitful. If we continually ramp up our lifestyles, Jesus says that we’ll be tragically distracted from our high calling as His followers. Far better to live humbly and simply, avoiding the persistent distraction that an ever-increasing lifestyle represents.

Many who live simply, though, love to sock away funds for a rainy day.

In Luke 12, Jesus had one key word for someone planning to save up aggressively and retire early: “Fool!”

Even our Christian culture celebrates disciplined millionaires, but Jesus points out that saving a lot, without giving generously to God, makes for a foolishly lived life. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with a million-dollar net worth, but what about the equally challenging task of attempting to give away a million dollars?

Rather than focus only on getting rich, we must keep in mind our greater eternal mission, which is to advance Christ’s kingdom in the short time we each have on earth.

So, where do you struggle with greed? Are you more prone to over-spend, or over-save?

23-year-old John’s grade on this test? ‘F’ again. I wanted to buy a million-dollar home and retire at age 40 to a life of leisure. I was most prone to over-save than invest in God’s work in the earth.

Test Three: Do You Give Generously?

Christians give generously in order to follow the model of Christ, as a response to God’s grace.

In Philippians 2: 5-7, we’re instructed to, “Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God … emptied himself …” Jesus emptied Himself to serve us through his life, death and resurrection. His model is ours to follow.

When God pours money into our lives, our highest and best use of the funds is to pass them along to demonstrate His love to the world through generous giving.

This idea is directly expressed in 2 Corinthians 9:8: “God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.”

So, as God pours out gracious provision in our lives, His operating plan is for us to buy luxury cars. Oh wait, that was my plan. It didn’t say that. His plan is for us to abound in every good work. We have a job to do! As God gives to us, we give to others—that’s the joyful model of Scripture.

The financially mature Christian gives generously in order to follow the example of Jesus, as a free response to God’s grace.

23-year-old John’s grade? ‘D.’ We gave 10 percent of our income, but we did it out of obedience and obligation. We didn’t understand that our giving could be joyful and connected to God’s grace in our lives!

The Next Step

This article barely scratches the surface of the wisdom the Bible offers for our financial lives. I encourage you to begin a conversation around these ideas with a trusted friend or pastor. We’re stronger together, as we spur one another on toward good deeds.

As you consider your financial goals for the future, keep these tests at the top of your mind and strive to pass by seeking contentment, fighting greed and giving generously. I pray that God will meet with you in a powerful way and show you He can do much more with what you give Him than we could possibly imagine.

Shortly after my first year of college, I went to Australia for a school with YWAM. Some of you may be familiar with the missions giant whose acronym officially stands for “Youth With A Mission,” while those of us who have survived it know it stands for something completely different: Young Women After Men, Yes, We Arrange Marriages and the list goes on.

After YWAM I headed to Chicago to attend Moody Bridal Institute—I mean Bible Institute. My first roommate got married between freshman and sophomore year at the wizened old age of 19. I know a dozen similar stories yet for whatever reason, I’ve remained single through all my 26 years. (Though I’m about to begin grad school so perhaps the third time is the charm?)

There’s a reason nearly every Christian institution has jokes about how young her members wed: They’re accurate! What’s more, everyone knows why, whether it’s stated subtly or explicitly: sex.

As one of the small pockets of people who still wait for marriage in a hyper-sexualized culture, it doesn’t take much to figure out why Christians tend to get hitched so young. Most of us agree that sex outside of marriage is wrong, yet we still have sensual urges within us, so the easiest solution is to follow the apostle Paul’s admission that “If we cannot control ourselves and are burning with passion, we should get married.”

This verse in 1 Corinthians 7, however, comes after a long plea with the Corinthians to remain single! Growing up in Christian circles, I heard a dozen feats of hermeneutical gymnastics explaining away why this doesn’t really apply to us, and God really wants you to get married and He was just kidding before, etc …

But what if Paul was telling the truth? What if it really is better for us to remain single instead of diving headfirst into marriage?

Before most of us can digest this statement, we need to take a cold, honest look at the culture which raised us. For as long as I can remember, I was inundated with “Happily ever after” messages and by plots which taught me that once I met the right girl, my life would finally be complete.

Would she sit next to me on an airplane? Or even more romantically … a train? Or maybe I’d bump into her in a coffee shop near my house, or perhaps, in a fun plot twist, she would be an elementary school flame who resurfaced after college.

For years, our brains tease out these possibilities until the idea of marriage and sex are idolized far above anything else in our lives. What’s worse is the American Christian culture has taken this bait and teaches us the same “Happily ever after” ideals. I mean, there are entire bookstore shelves dedicated to “Christian Romance,” a phrase the world would be much less gross without.

The point is, our desires—those things we see as ultimate and necessary for satisfaction, are malleable. We can change the way we see things, and reorder our priority list, though it’s hard to undo decades of messages teaching us that, even as Christians, our main priority in life is to find our soul mate, get hitched and make some love.

As Christians, our primary calling in life is not to gratify our sexual desires first and foremost. It is to glorify God, enjoy Him forever and bring others into this sphere of blessedness. For this reason, I’ve come to see many of the young marriages of Christians as more of a detriment to the work of the church than a blessing.

What I mean by that is, if we really believe that Jesus, not sex, is the source of our satisfaction, it should affect the way we live our lives. It means perhaps we would spend years of our lives giving to the world in sacrificial and beneficial ways before settling down with our sweetheart to raise children rather than diving into marriage for the wrong reasons. I think too many of us have hopped aboard the “I’m Burning With Passion” train rather than authentically giving ourselves to the Lord and the work He has for us as singles.

I’ve seen so much fruit in this as a single 26-year-old, as I look back on the countless trips around the globe I’ve made and the lives I’ve impacted thanks to my singleness. I don’t say that to brag at all, since most of that time was spent complaining to God about my singleness. I say that to tell you that you, too can survive well into your 20s—even your 30s or whole life—as a single Christian. Not only that, but you can thrive! You can dedicate your life (or years of it) to serving others in ways you never could if you were married!

Rob Bell once explained that some of the most sexual people he knew were chaste Christians. However, his definition of sexuality here is beautiful in that it relates to one’s relational capacity rather than physical gratification. They were not sexual because they wore tight clothes and were flexible; they were sexual because they were available and free to give themselves to others in meaningful ways. They were free to serve and love others rather than having all of their time and energy absorbed by a spouse and family.

We have become blinded by a culture that teaches that the truest source of satisfaction is sex, so it makes sense that many of us would marry young for a taste of that ecstasy. But when it turns sour, we are just as swift to abandon ship.

This article is not meant to simply turn you away from getting married; it’s an invitation to see your life as bigger than simply a hedonistic pursuit of sex. Give yourself to others before settling down and becoming limited by your spouse. Spend time seeking the Lord and His plans for this crucial season of your life; how can you best spend it in a way that reflects godly priorities?

We have decades ahead of us to settle down and be married. Spend your younger, more energetic years doing things you can’t do as a married man or woman! Go get lost in South America or start a business. Despite what our culture has programmed us to believe, there is no hurry.

Unfortunately, it seems like many young singles struggle to figure out just how to handle dating–and I’m not the only one who’s noticed how weird the Christian dating scene can be. As my friend Lindsey, married and in her thirties, recently remarked, “I’m sure glad I wasn’t much of a Christian when I started dating my husband!”

Whether over coffee in my kitchen or on the hallowed ground of women’s small groups, I hear these murmurs constantly. “My daughter was interested in this nice Christian boy, but he strung her along for a year and a half. The next one did too.” Or, “Jeremy acted like they were friends but she told me later that they were hooking up on the side.” With that kind of dismal dating culture at play, let’s consider the options:

First, there’s “courting.” It’s the modern-day form of arranged marriages. I don’t have first-hand knowledge, but thanks to reality TV, I believe it appears to involve asking the woman’s dad if she is available to date, and possibly not kissing until the actual wedding.

Outside the courting circles, there is the less overt but just as prevalent “ideal spouse” dating. This involves judging a potential guy or girl for the 38 qualities you are looking for in an ideal mate—before even grabbing coffee together. It’s like arranged marriages where no one is making the arrangements, and it doesn’t seem to work very well.

At the opposite extreme, there is “Faux Christian Dating”—in which young Christians have no idea what to do with dating, so they avoid it. Instead of dating, lots of “hanging out” occurs. “Hanging out” leads to all kinds of mixed feelings. Does he like me? Is she flirting? What does this text mean? Why did he sit next to me at church? Did she want my sweatshirt because she was cold, or because she likes me?

Sometimes the “hanging out” leads to hooking up, sans dating, which is another uber-confusing side effect of the Faux Christian Dating cycle.

But what if there was another option? What if Christians just began to date like normal people—not dating toward immediate marriage and not eschewing dating for the less-desirable “hanging out” no man’s land? Here are a few myths we’d have to ditch in order to get there.

1. You Have to Know Exactly How You Feel Before You Go On a Date

Stop evaluating whether the guy who’s taken an interest in you is strong and tenderhearted enough to raise your future kids. Stop evaluating whether the new girl at church is hot enough and “low-maintenance” enough for your liking.

If you take notice, if you are intrigued or interested, make a date! Get together—one on one. We are talking about one afternoon or evening together, not a lifetime. And unless someone’s making arrangements for you, it’s worth spending at least a little bit of time with the person before you decide if they are worth marrying.

2. You Can’t Date Casually

When we were still in college, my husband had 38 first job interviews before he landed a second one. He was horrible at interviews, but by the 38th one, he had learned how to engage with good questions, talk about himself an appropriate amount and gauge interest from himself and the interviewer. He didn’t get necessarily smarter—he got more experienced. Dating can be like that too. Sometimes we all need a little practice with figuring out what we really want—not in terms of our “ideal spouse” but a real flesh-and-blood human.

Not every date needs to be a total success. But it’s foolish to think that the way a girl or guy acts in a group of friends is the same as how they’ll act one on one. Dating helps two people sort out what it would be like to be together, to be in a friendship. Most of marriage involves time together, one on one, in a friendship. And spending intentional one-on-one time—not too serious, just time—allows both parties to experience what it would be like to continue in the relationship.

I can’t say it clearly enough: Hanging out in groups will not be enough information to determine who is worth marrying. Everyone is different when you get them one-on-one.

3. Marriage Is the Only Purpose of Dating

“Do you think Christian girls make dating too serious?” I asked several guys recently. “I need a buffer of at least five dates before I’m thinking of any future at all!” said one young man.

What if you completely jettison the idea of finding your husband or wife via dating, at least for the first five dates? What if dating is about getting to know someone and gauging interest, not lifelong compatibility?

The great thing about changing expectations is that it lowers the pressure on grabbing dinner together and figuring out if the two of you even like talking to one another!

Of course, one of the biggest obstacles toward casual dating is the inevitable “ending.” So many of us equate kindness with never saying anything hard to anyone. In truth, kindness is not about passivity. Kindness is honoring someone in your treatment of them, but kindness is also honoring them by ending a dating relationship if needed.

If you’ve maintained boundaries and treated your date with respect, you’ve protected him or her from false and premature intimacy. Will it be awkward? Sure, it will! But the purpose of dating isn’t to just accumulate boyfriends or girlfriends—it’s to find a best friend and partner for life. And when you find him or her, chances are, none of those other guys or gals you’ve casually dated will matter much in the light of your spouse.

The reality is that you can’t have it all. You can’t have the attention of multiple dates and still be pursuing a God-honoring relationship with one. You can’t maintain 10 flirty friendships and expect to make space in your heart for one awesome husband or wife. But you can start somewhere—slowly, and casually—and trust God to lead you into more.

This article has been adapted from an earlier version.

After years of pastoral ministry walking alongside people seeking to improve their finances, I’ve identified seven money types, which are affirmed and depicted in the Scriptures by seven prominent characters who teach us something about what it means to be truly human, and in the process, about seven ways people relate to God and money.

The way we grow in financial well-being is by understanding and embracing our unique, God-given way to manage our finances. We can also better resolve financial tension—money fights—with others by understanding their money type and how it’s conflicting with ours.

Money is one of those topics that can make some of us feel immense shame and guilt, and it makes others of us feel superior. But what if financial well-being was not just about how much money you had but about learning to relate to it better, not based on whether or not you had more money but rather based in how you’ve matured and embraced who you are and how God designed you? There is no money mold that God handed down from on high because, ultimately, it’s really not about money at all. It’s about you, God and how you and God partner together to build the Kingdom with what He’s given you.

Money is a tool, simple as that.

How do you interact with money? Do you avoid saving for the future? Do you seek to maximize your money? Do you love using money to make others feel special? To correct injustices? To set the next generation up to win financially?

What you may learn is that your spending habits encompass one of the seven biblical money types I’ve identified, each represented by an individual character in the Bible:

Abraham types use money for hospitality, making others feel special and loved.

Isaac types use it for discipline, seeking to maximize money, to recover and restore what’s broken.

Jacob types use it in pursuit of beauty, thriving when using money to create pleasurable experiences.

Joseph types use it to increase connection, instinctively using money to network and build.

Moses types use it with endurance under the belief that there’s nothing better than a budget and a good plan.

Aaron types use it humbly, willing give you the shirt off his back and sacrifices financially for others.

Finally, David types use it for leadership, using money to break new ground and set others up to win.

In thinking of these examples, who would you say used it best? Who did God love more? They are pointless questions, really. The Abraham type is no better than the Moses type when it comes to money. Each one teaches us something about God, about ourselves. And the way each related to resources is surprisingly unique and God-affirmed. Understanding your own relationship with your finances, and the diverse ways God has created each of us, positions you to help bring about God’s dreams for the earth through the ways you use money.

Learn to build with it responsibly.

Our resources are designed to work together with God to bring about incredible hope in the world. God gives us a sacred trust in the form of the money that flows into and through our lives. When you embrace and grow in your understanding of your gifts and natural relationship with your resources in this area, you’ll not only improve your relationship to money and your relationship with others related to money, you’ll mature into who God created you to be.

The journey to financial well-being—the ability to handle resources in a way that’s true to your deepest sense of self while maintaining healthy financial thoughts, emotions, attitudes and actions—is a journey that you can begin today as you make sense of your money type. Most importantly, it’s a journey God desires to take with you as you unearth, understand and unleash resources for good and for God.

This is edited from an excerpt of Tommy Brown’s book The Seven Money Types: Discover How God Wired You to Handle Money (Zondervan). Used with permission.

A new report found that more and more companies are no longer requiring candidates to have a bachelor’s degree to apply for jobs. Instead, recruiters said they’re more focused on a candidate’s skill set.

According to ZipRecruiter, 45% of employers said they got rid of degree requirements for certain roles over the past year. Additionally, 72% of firms said they would begin prioritizing candidates’ skills and experience over the diplomas they hold.

The shift is happening across virtually all industries, from marketing to healthcare to education fields. Recruiters are looking for people with a specific skill list who can then be trained and educated within the company.

“It’s one of those rare things that is good for both the employer and job seeker,” said Parisa Fatehi-Weeks, senior director of environmental, social and governance at Indeed. “You rarely have a win-win situation, but this is one of them where employers can access more talent and be specific about what skills they need, and job seekers have more doors open to them if we get rid of the degree inflation.”

This doesn’t mean that bachelor’s degrees will become obsolete. Most companies require degrees for higher-level positions. But the shift does mean that young adults can begin their career before taking out thousands of loans to invest in their education.

“People shouldn’t pursue a four-year degree as a ticket to an immediate first job. It’s meant to make people mobile past that first job,” said Diane Gayeski, an adviser at Intelligent.com. “When it’s time to move on from that entry-level job into a leadership position, employers will look for broader experiences and the ability to be creative based on exposure to a wide variety of concepts and ideas.”

This is great news for Gen Z, who are already looking for alternative ways to start their careers that won’t require taking out high student loans. It’s tough news for millennials, however, who were told a college degree was the only guarantee for a solid career. Now, millennials will have to compete for positions with younger candidates who aren’t struggling with an average student loan debt of $42,637.

But more options makes it easier to make the wrong decision too, and it’s not always easy to know when it’s worth splurging a little for a better, more ethically made version of something — and when the cheaper option is the way to go. Here’s a handy, if incomplete, cheat sheet.

10 Things Worth Spending a Little Extra Money on

Shoes: We’ll start with an obvious one. As tempting as it may be in the moment to spring for a cheap, $40 pair, you’ll probably have to end up for some more shoes in six months to a year. Spending just a little extra up front can end up saving you a lot of money down the road.

Coffee: You can find inexpensive coffee beans that taste fine, but the problem is how those beans are made. Cheap coffee beans in the U.S. usually means that someone is getting shorted somewhere else — most likely the farmers who grew the beans. Spending a little extra on your coffee is often a good sign that the sellers are being ethical in their finances.

Bedsheets: You spend about half your life in bed, so you might as well invest in it. You can cheat on mattresses and frames, but sheets are a good place to go the extra mile, especially since cheap ones can pill in the wash and tear easily.

Home Appliances: Major purchases like your refrigerator and washing machine are longterm commitments that you definitely don’t want to do any more than you have to. Expensive up front, to be sure, but definitely worth the investment.

Skincare Products: Shampoo, body wash and general skincare products are full of enigmatic ingredients, some of which can end up doing more harm than good. Do a little research and make sure that what you’re putting on your body is actually improving it. Spoiler: That might mean spending a little extra.

Groceries: Food takes a big chunk out of your budget, but it’ll end up taking a lot bigger one if you’re not careful. Buying healthy, locally sourced food is going to feel more expensive than heading down to the nearest Big N’ Save, but you’ll be healthier over time — meaning fewer medical bills in the long haul.

Computers: This is a tough one, because computers are pricey and it can be difficult for consumers to know just what they need and whether or not they’re getting a bargain. Before you head down to the Apple store, do a little research or talk to a friend who knows more than you. For a purchase as expensive and necessary as a computer, you want to make sure you’re getting exactly what you need.

Pet Insurance: Insurance for a pet might sound like one of those hoidy-toity millennial things, but it’s actually a smart move for pet owners. Cats and dogs eat as much money as they do food, especially if there’s a surprise medical issue. Pet insurance averages about 25$ a month, but could save you hundreds or even thousands down the road.

A winter coat: There are lots of lists about “must-have items” for the winter, but there’s really only one must-have item, and that’s a great coat. Spend some good money on the right one and it’s the only one you’ll ever need to buy.

Gratuity: Some companies use a tip jar to justify lower wages for employees, meaning these workers can end up relying on gratuity to make ends meet. What’s just an extra dollar or two for you can have a huge impact on the entire day of someone who works for tips.

And 5 You Can Definitely Thrift

Dishes: You’ll be surprised at the kitchenware options at your local thrift store, which often come in complete sets. If you run out of luck there, ask a relative if they have any old sets laying around.

Suits: If you’re a guy looking for a nice business suit, the fit matters a lot more than the actual brand. Shell out for a medium-priced suit and then find a good tailor. It’ll make a $200 suit look like a $2,000 one.

A Gym Membership: The allure of those fancy gyms with all the cool machines and the Kuerig is strong, but the truth is, it’s just not worth the investment. That old, rusty squat rack is going to burn just as many calories as the Isometric Deltoid Excruciator 3000.

Headphones: In this age of premium headphones like Beatz, it can be tempting to think you’re missing out if you’re not splurging for the priciest ones on the market. But don’t be fooled: there are tons of great options that you won’t have to put on layaway.

Vacations: The all-expense paid resort is just not going to be an option for a lot of us, but that doesn’t have to mean a vacation isn’t an option at all. With a little bit of creativity, you can make a lot of memories on a tight budget, whether that means a weekend camping trip or opting for a less expensive hotel rather than a five-star resort.

Apparently, George was not alone in his procrastination—but probably fairly alone in succeeding at it. Depending on the study, researchers have found that somewhere between 80 to 95 percent of college students (and to some extent, we can be sure, the entire population) procrastinate on their work. So whether it’s college assignments, work deliverables or home projects the odds are most of us have procrastinated on something in our lives.

Other studies have shown that those who report procrastinating on a chronic basis have more health problems, higher stress levels and more relationship problems than those who do not procrastinate on a regular basis. So chronic procrastination can be a real problem. But you don’t have to let procrastination win when it comes to getting things done in your life. Here are eight ways you can beat procrastination:

1. Admit Delaying

If you read any material about changing your behavior, the first part always involves admitting the problem. In this case your problem happens to be procrastination. How do you know when you’re not admitting your procrastination? Well, all of a sudden, your bedroom needs to be cleaned. No, actually, disinfected. Or better yet, perhaps a roach bomb is what the doctor ordered. You get the picture. When all of a sudden you find yourself easily distracted and typically avoidable tasks become your obsessive priority, you know you’re procrastinating. As soon as you take the plunge and acknowledge your procrastination, you are now in control. You are in control of whether or not you choose to toothbrush-scrub your kitchen floor, start that school application or outline your work presentation.

2. Schedule a Meeting … With Yourself

If you find you are continually procrastinating and not making any progress on your task at hand, you need to schedule a meeting with yourself. Put it on your calendar and don’t be late. If you have a deliverable at work that is due in two weeks, the first step is to guess how long it’s going to take you to complete it. Then schedule meetings on your calendar that will give you the appropriate amount of time to focus on that deliverable. An added bonus is when your co-workers interrupt you during the day and ask if you “have a second,” you can tell them you’re not available. You’re in a meeting. You don’t have to tell them who it’s with. By setting a date and time to work on your deliverable, you will be more likely to actually do it. Who knows, you might even complete it ahead of schedule.

3. Work at Your Best Time

We all have certain times of the day when we feel at our best. When do you feel like you are firing on all cylinders? That is the time you want to work on your task. (This is also a great time to schedule that meeting with yourself, if you are able.) If 8 a.m. is your best time, it’s probably not a good idea to start working on your taxes at 9 p.m. If you’re a night owl and 10 p.m. is your best time of the day, feel free to bust out your W-2 after the kids go to sleep. Whether your best time is 8 a.m. or 10 p.m., be sure to work on the thing you’ve been procrastinating on during that time.

4. Break It Down

Take what you need to do and break it down into smaller more digestible parts. If you need to clean out your garage, don’t feel like you have to do it all at once. Pick a Saturday and just focus on removing things you haven’t used in a year. Then pick another day to sweep it out. Then choose a different day to organize what you want to keep. The key is to do only one part of the task or project at a time. If you get started on something small, you’ll find it’s much easier to keep working on it. You’ll feel like you’ve made some good progress so you might as well finish the job.

5. Delegate

Is there someone else who can do the work for you? Perhaps you can ask a friend or co-worker to take on that task you’ve been dreading. Or is it something you can pay to have done? You always want to evaluate if someone else can appropriately take care of it for you (as long as it’s not something that truly falls within your responsibility as a spouse, parent, student or employee.) If you’ve been procrastinating on getting something done, it may be because you simply don’t enjoy what you have to do. Maybe you volunteered to organize the “holiday” party at work this year to get in good with the boss, and it turns out you hate event planning. Find the people in your office who love event planning. (Trust me, they are there.) Get them involved and give them specific action items to be responsible for.  Fortunately, there are always others who will enjoy something you don’t like doing. Think of it this way: by delegating it, you have given them an opportunity to enjoy themselves.

6. Reward Yourself

We’re designed to respond to rewards and punishments. It’s no different when it comes to motivating yourself. Go ahead and give yourself a reward for working through your procrastination. You can give yourself small rewards for milestones on the way to your final goal. Or perhaps you wait and really reward yourself when all is said and done. Have you been holding off on buying that new phone? Maybe that’s your reward for losing 10 pounds. Do you want a new outfit? Reward yourself with a shopping trip after you send in that grad school application. The key is finding something that will truly motivate you to do the thing you don’t want to do.

7. Make Yourself Accountable

Make your goal public. Tell other people what you intend to do and when you want to do it. It’s not for the faint of heart, but the possibility of public embarrassment is always a surefire way to guarantee you’ll get it done. Perhaps you have a goal to write a book by a certain date. Go ahead and post it on your Facebook page. If you’re really brave, you can even ask your friends to check in on your progress. The upside is that you’ll most likely reach your goal. The downside is your ego is on the line, and if you drop the ball, the humiliation factor is high. However, this is a great way to make sure you accomplish something really important.

8. Just Do It

There’s a reason why this tag line works so well. (If you don’t know whose tag line this is, you may be one of the 3.5 million people who still subscribe to dial-up Internet.) Sometimes in life you have to just do it. Just do it when you don’t feel like doing it. Just do it when every fiber of your being wants to do something else. Sometimes you just have to get it over with and move on. So if none of the other tips work for you, go ahead; just do it and get it over with. You’ll feel so much better.

You don’t have to be like my friend George, waiting until the last minute and risking the chance of success. You can beat procrastination. So unless you really do enjoy a good toothbrush-scrubbing of your kitchen floor, go ahead and try one of these tips. Besides a few large boxes on your to-do list, what have you got to lose?

Adam Rico is a corporate recruiter and career coach. He is procrastinating on writing the next post for his blog WorkYouEnjoy.com. You can follow him on Twitter and Google+. For a free download of his career guide, “5 Essential Steps to Landing Your Dream Job,” go here.

Starting next month, if you’re enrolled in a SAVE (Saving on a Valuable Education) student loan repayment plan, took out less than $12,000 in loans and have been in repayment for 10 years, your student debt will be cancelled.

The news couldn’t come any sooner, as the current U.S. student loan debt is $1.77 trillion, according to the Federal Reserve. It’s also good news for federal student loan borrowers. In October 2023, after more than three years of a pandemic-induced pause, 43 million borrowers had to begin paying monthly student loan payments.

The Biden administration had once proposed a sweeping debt cancellation, which would erase up to $20,000 per borrower, but that plan was stalled by the Supreme Court in June 2023. The administration then revised the existing REPAYE plan, and introduced the SAVE repayment plan.

As of now, nearly 6.9 million borrowers are enrolled in the SAVE Plan, which is based on an income-driven repayment structure. It adjusts monthly payments according to a borrower’s income, ensuring that repayments are manageable and do not contribute to financial distress.

This approach isn’t entirely new; income-driven repayment plans have been around for decades, offering debt cancellation after 20 to 25 years for undergraduate and graduate loans, respectively. However, the SAVE plan speeds up this timeline significantly.

Who Is Eligible for Debt Cancellation?

Every federal student loan borrower is eligible for the SAVE repayment program. A crucial aspect of the SAVE plan is its retrospective nature — if you’ve already made years of payments, these count towards the debt cancellation period upon enrolling in the SAVE program. In practical terms, a borrower who has made 10 years of payments on a loan originally below $12,000 would be eligible for immediate forgiveness upon enrollment.

How Do I Apply for the Save Plan?

The application process for the SAVE plan is straightforward and accessible online. Prospective enrollees should visit studentaid.gov/idr or their federal loan servicer’s website to initiate the process. The application takes about 10 minutes and requires:

• Contact information
• Household size and dependents, if any
• Federal loan details, accessible on your studentaid.gov account, and
• Financial information including salary, retirement plan, health insurance costs and mortgage payments.

After all, being generous is a good thing, right?

Well, of course generosity is great, but is convenient giving really what we’re called to? I’m not entirely convinced.

By way of example: GoFundMe raised $1 billion just in the last year, with the average giving peaking at about $4 million per day. The top five areas of campaigns on GoFundMe are 1) Medical 2) Educational 3) Volunteerism 4) Personal Emergencies and 5) Sports & Teams.

GoFundMe charges 5 percent per donation made. Therefore, GoFundMe has made $5 million over the last year from people donating to causes.

Those are some big numbers—numbers I don’t want to be critical of, because, as I said before, generosity is good. And on top of that, sites like GoFundMe have enabled some pretty amazing things.

We should continue to be generous with our money, time and other resources, but we should also be intentional about extending our generosity past conveniently throwing a few dollars at a cause. Here are a few things to think through as we continue to pursue the opportunities crowdfunding provides for giving:

“Campaigns” Can Force Us to Compare Stories to Determine Who Is Most Deserving of Help

I’ve always wondered why some crowdfunding campaigns raise so much money while other, comparable campaigns struggle to gain ground.

I think a lot of this has to do with marketing, of sorts. The idea of “shopping around” for the right personal tragedy is uncomfortable. I’ve read campaign stories that were incredibly compelling. And then I’ve seen other campaigns with a similar need, yet not as emotionally stimulating read.

Does that mean one cause is more deserving than the other? Of course not. It does, however, play into our humanistic need to be entertained. The more engaging the story, the more we want to be part of it. So we give to the story that draws us in, even though the “need” may be the same.

Don’t get me wrong, there are times we are called to give to specific causes. But it’s always good to examine our hearts and motives to make sure we’re truly called, and not just compelled.

One way I’ve tried to avoid picking and choosing is by giving to nonprofit organizations that support the causes I’m passionate about. Most organizations have actual criteria that they go by to determine need. Donating to an organization might mean your money being used toward the needs of many, and not just the needs of one.

Crowdfunding Can Be a Poor Replacement for True Community

I am no stranger to fundraising. As a youth director in a small struggling church, I often brainstorm how to meet our group’s needs. The most encouraging moments are moments of unsolicited generosity to our group. There are times where people in our church community come around us and tell us they believe in what we’re doing by supporting us in different ways. One way that is communicated is monetarily, but money isn’t the only thing we need. We need to know people care about us.

It’s understandable that money talks, and sometimes what people need is cold hard cash to make their medical bills, rent, car repair, youth conference, etc.

But what people really need is a Savior who loves them—and who uses others to provide for them in practical ways. Giving a few bucks to a campaign may help in the short-term, but a local community of people spurred on by truly loving others has an eternal impact.

We have to be aware as both givers and receivers that funding, while sometimes necessary, is no substitute for people who are willing to be the hands and feet of a good God who loves them.

Passive giving, while convenient, robs givers of the beauty of sacrificial giving—and the receiver of real relationships.

Crowdfunding Can Get Too Political, and Politics Are Divisive

I remember reading the story of “Memories Pizza”—a pizzeria that raised almost $840,000 to recoup lost business because they refused to cater a homosexual wedding due to religious beliefs.

I, and many of my fellow Christian friends, were in disbelief. No matter what side of the homosexual debate you fall on, we all know that $840,000 is a life-changing amount of money. Personally, I felt that money could have been donated to more urgent needs. For instance, according to TheWaterProject.org, It costs roughly $30,000 to build a large well in Africa that changes the lives of 3,000 people by giving them access to clean water. $840,000 could change the lives of 84,000 people.

Furthermore, that outpouring of financial support didn’t accurately represent the views of all Christians. I had to answer some tough questions from one of my unbelieving friends as to why Christians are more inclined to give to a political cause than to the impoverished. I honestly wondered the same thing.

Money does talk, and as we all know, our tongues often need taming. Our areas of giving communicate our passions, and that’s a good thing. However, I believe antidotal giving—giving to make up for a perceived injustice, is dangerous. By the time a story reaches us, it has generally been grossly sensationalized. It’s easy to let our emotions get the best of us. I’ve learned the hard way that actions made out of an emotional response are not usually the best ones.

I’m not saying not to donate to crowdfunding campaigns. I am saying that God loves a cheerful giver, and everywhere we look, there are needs—not just financial needs, but a whole world of people broken by an imperfect world who need to know they’re loved.

We were each created with different passions and purpose. One of the best ways we live out that purpose is by remembering that everything we have is out of the overflow of a God who cares for us. Let’s not cheapen the gifts we’ve been given by only giving back when it’s easy or emotionally driven. Generosity is so much more than that. Let’s give with thought, prayer and intention, even when it’s not convenient.

Perhaps that’s why over 45% of American adults report having a side hustle. But how do you know which side gig is the right one for you? And just how much money can you actually make from a side hustle?

Let’s take a closer look:

Why a Side Hustle Might Be Right for You

Before we dive into the financial aspects, let’s consider why you might want a side hustle in the first place. The motivations for pursuing a side gig can vary widely, but here are a few compelling reasons:

Many people are drawn to side hustles to supplement their income. With the rising cost of living and student loans to repay, having an additional source of income can be a real game-changer. Whether it’s paying off debt, saving for a dream vacation or simply making ends meet, a side hustle can provide that extra financial cushion.

A side hustle offers you the chance to turn your hobbies and passions into a source of income. If you love crafting, writing, photography or any other creative endeavor, why not monetize it? Doing what you love while earning money is a fulfilling way to spend your free time.

In an unpredictable job market, having a side gig can also act as a safety net. It provides an additional source of income that can be crucial in times of unexpected financial challenges, such as job loss or medical emergencies.

How Much Can I Make From a Side Gig?

The world of side hustles is incredibly diverse, with options to suit a wide range of interests and skills. And when it comes to how much money you’ll generate, the earning potential of a side hustle can vary widely depending on several factors, including the type of gig, your skills, dedication, and market demand. While some people use side hustles to earn a modest supplementary income, others manage to turn them into full-time careers.

While there’s not an exact science to figuring out how much you can make, here’s a rough idea of how profitable the most common side gigs are:

Freelancing: Freelancing encompasses a broad spectrum of services, from writing and graphic design to web development and digital marketing. Platforms like Upwork, Fiverr and Freelancer make it easy to find clients and start earning money from your expertise. Freelancers can earn anywhere from a few hundred dollars to several thousand dollars per month, depending on their expertise and the number of clients they attract. Top freelancers in fields like programming, writing, or graphic design can command high hourly rates.

Ridesharing and Food Delivery: Companies like Uber, Lyft, DoorDash and Uber Eats have made it possible for individuals to earn money by driving or delivering food in their spare time. This flexible gig is particularly appealing to those who enjoy driving around town and meeting new people. Earnings from ridesharing and food delivery can vary significantly by location and the amount of time you invest. On average, drivers can make $15 to $20 per hour before expenses. Some drivers, especially those who work during peak hours or in high-demand areas, can earn more.

Online Selling: E-commerce platforms like Etsy, eBay and Amazon Marketplace enable individuals to sell handmade crafts, vintage items, or new products. It’s a great way to both declutter and turn a profit. The income potential from online selling depends on the niche, product quality and marketing efforts. Successful sellers can make a few hundred to several thousand dollars per month.

Content Creation: If you have a passion for making videos or writing, platforms like YouTube, TikTok and Substack offer opportunities to generate income through ad revenue, sponsored content and affiliate marketing. Content creators’ income can range from a few dollars to substantial amounts, with top YouTubers and bloggers making millions. Building a sizable audience and monetizing through ads, sponsorships, and merchandise sales are key to higher earnings.

Pet Sitting and Dog Walking: Animal lovers can turn their affection for pets into a part-time business by offering pet sitting or dog walking services through platforms like Rover and Wag. Pet sitters and dog walkers typically charge hourly or per-visit rates, which can vary widely based on location and services offered. Earnings can range from $10 to $30 or more per hour.

Side gigs aren’t always a guarantee. They require some sacrifice that includes your time and skill set. But whether you’re looking to supplement your income, pursue your passion or simply want a little breathing room, side hustles are a great way to make money and still have some fun.

Six little words. I remember the day and location as if it was yesterday. At first, I couldn’t believe what I had just heard. A minute ago, I was employed. But with those six words my world turned upside down because it meant I was now unemployed after 25 years with my organization. My job was more than a paycheck. I was fully committed to an organization I loved, working with people I enjoyed and it was a place where I grew up professionally. Unfortunately, the decision to leave wasn’t mine.

Stories like mine happen to millions of people ever year. It’s happened twice in my life and over the years I’ve had cups of coffee with hundreds of other job seekers, hearing their story and journey, which means I know a lot about job loss. I’m convinced that “letting go” of your past job is often the biggest challenge to finding the next job.

I’m referring to the emotional impact related to job loss. You might be one of those who didn’t have an emotional connection to their work and organization, for you it was easier. That’s rare. For the majority, if you’re honest with yourself, you were closely connected to the organization, or the people you worked with, or your work itself, and maybe all of them, which makes leaving it behind a struggle.

When you haven’t made peace with what happened, prospective employers can see it in your face and hear it in your answers. It doesn’t make you an attractive candidate.

To deal with your loss, which is real, we need to lean on God to help us through.

I’ve found there three common challenges associated with unexpected job loss and some ways to help you get past it.

Anger

It’s normal to be angry, yet everyone is different about what they are angry about. Some might direct their anger toward the organization, some at the person they reported to, others might blame God, He let it happen. Others might be angry at their circumstances; they don’t want to be unemployed. We aren’t good at dealing with anger, we usually repress, bury it and not deal with it. Anger is like an iceberg, most of it is below the surface, but it can do tremendous damage.

God says, “give it to me, let me hear your anger.”

“Call on me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you will honor me” (Psalm 50:15).

Here are three suggestions on how you can get your anger out and get past it:

1. Shout it out: Find a time when no one is home and just say what’s on your mind. Tell God what you really think. Scream if you’d like. Don’t choose words as if someone is listening, or you think you will offend God, this needs to be what’s on your heart. Crying is okay too, even for guys. Once might not be enough, you might need to do this a couple of times.
2. Write it out: Get a pad of paper or a journal and every day for at least two weeks, write out your thoughts to God related to your job loss. Tell him what you are thinking, feeling, who you are mad at, etc. It’s okay to be mad at him. Don’t write it as if someone will read it, this is only for you and God. Yes, you might write some of the same things over and over, it’s okay.
3. Talk it out: Meet with someone who will be a good listener, someone you can be totally honest with, and talk out your feelings. You need to be totally honest in what you say, so I recommend a Christian counselor or Pastor. 

Why?

A common reaction is to wonder why this happened. “Was there something I could have done which would have changed the result and still be employed?” Or, “They told us it was economic, I wonder if there is a hidden reason?” Most people think if they just knew why, it would be easier to accept.

Asking why has happened throughout the ages. Do you remember Job questioning God, who reminded him that He was God?

Then Job replied to the Lord: “I know that you can do all things; no purpose of yours can be thwarted. You asked, ‘Who is this that obscures my plans without knowledge?’ Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know (Job 42:1-3).

We won’t always know the answer, but God knows best. Knowing an answer won’t change that you are still unemployed.

It’s like Improv (Improvisational) Theatre, unscripted. Those in the scene must respond to what happens to them to keep the scene going, it’s not planned out. In their training, participants learn two key words to be successful, “yes” (acceptance) followed by “and” (moving on). Imagine one participant opening the scene saying, “Three pink unicorns walked into a bar.” If the other participant says, “wait, that’s impossible” or “that doesn’t make sense,” the scene will die. But if they “accept” it as real, they can then move forward with something like, “and the bartender said, ‘Can you show me some ID?’”, which keeps the scene going.

Losing your job wasn’t part of your plans, but you need to say “yes,” accept it has happened, stop asking why “and” begin moving on. Until you do, you’ll be stuck.

“I’m going back”

Some hold out hope that their job loss a mistake by the organization, which they will soon realize and reach out and ask them to return. They can picture that call in their minds. They stay in close contact with their former team members, asking about issues and challenges, so they are ready to return. Others cannot accept they are no longer with the organization, it was part of their identity. They search for and begin applying for jobs at a lower level in the organization with the hope of getting back in the organization. Neither thought process is helpful and they keep you from making progress finding a new job.

Don’t waste your time. Remember what Jesus said to his disciples:

“And if any place will not welcome you or listen to you, leave that place and shake the dust off your feet as a testimony against them” (Mark 6:11).

Try saying to yourself, “They don’t know what they had in you. It will be their loss that you aren’t there. You are so gifted, someone is going to be really lucky to get you at their company.” Saying this once won’t make things magically change, but each time you say it will help you in letting go and moving forward.

Your life and career are like a book, made up of chapters. Some are longer than others. It’s time to close the chapter on your past job and with God, begin writing the next chapter in your life and career.

To the outside listener, that might sound totally strange and maybe even completely inappropriate. You might think we’re having marital problems or settling for a mediocre relationship.

But for us, that thought makes complete sense in light of our personal relationships with God, through Jesus Christ.

My husband John loves God even more than he loves me. And I love God even more than I love my husband. It’s always been that way. And my prayer is that it always will be.

Our individual relationships with God trump our relationship with one another. And in my sincere opinion, that is the very truth that keeps our marriage alive, strong and complete.

You see, for as many great days we have in marriage, there are also days when we simply don’t feel so great—days when each of us don’t feel like loving or giving or forgiving. We feel hurt. We feel selfish. We may even feel that we’ve been wronged.

In our humanity, we want to run, we want to hide, we want to get revenge. But in those moments, something greater takes over.

Because those are the very days when our relationship with God becomes the anchor for our love, holding us in place. Our relationship with God is the supernatural relationship that pours into us so we can pour into each other.

As Christians, we believe that when we enter into relationship with God, we’re filled with His Spirit. It’s that Spirit that breeds in us the qualities we need for a healthy life, and in turn, a healthy marriage.

According to the bible, the qualities of God’s spirit being poured out in a person’s life are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faith, gentleness and self-control. As a professional counselor, I can tell you that those are the exact qualities you need to have a thriving relationship.

Is that simply a coincidence? I say, no.

On the hard days, more than trusting my husband to love me like he should, I trust God’s Spirit at work in His life. I am thankful that he loves God more than he loves me, because it’s through that relationship with God that he’s learned to love me like he should.

And it’s in that relationship with God that I’ve learned to love him like I should.

Am I saying that a person outside of relationship with God can’t experience a healthy marriage? No. What I am saying is that outside of a relationship with God, you never get a glimpse of complete love. Because it’s only in God that complete love was created and experienced, and only in Him can it be given freely. He is the very definition of love. Outside of Him, we can only get a hazy glimpse.

Hands down, the best marriages I’ve witnessed in my life are the ones that are displaying this kind of love in their lives, fueled by their unwavering commitment and devotion to Jesus Christ. Because it’s a love that changes everything, slowly transforming both you and your spouse into the person God has called you to be.

This is why I’m so adamant about the importance of marrying someone who loves God more than they love you, as much as I’m adamant about you becoming that kind of person in your own life.

So don’t just marry a so-called “good person,” or a self-proclaimed “Christian.” Marry a passionate, desperate, head-over-heels lover of God, because you’ll see the evidence of His Spirit in every part of their lives.

And then watch that supernatural love transform your life, and in turn, your marriage.

This article was originally published on truelovedates.com. Used here with permission.

Why do we start and stop diets? Why do we half-write books that we never publish? Why do we almost start businesses and then give up?

Those questions have always bothered me and recently, I decided to do something about it.

A year ago, I commissioned a research study with a researcher. Together we studied nearly 900 people over a six-month period as they worked on a goal. (This research would ultimately form the heart of my book, Finish.)

One of the things that kept coming up was the idea of perfectionism.

Though it looks like a character trait at first, over and over again, we saw people quit because their goals weren’t perfect.

One of perfectionism’s chief goals is to isolate you. It’s easier to get you to believe lies about yourself when you don’t have a community telling you the truth and calling you out.

In order to separate you from the herd, perfectionism will tell you a very popular myth: “You have to do it all on your own.”

This always reminds me of toddlers. They’d rather fall down a flight of stairs than hold your hand, because they want to do it “all by my big self!”

We become adult toddlers when we refuse help from people and believe the lie that seeking assistance is a sign of weakness.

Author Jessica Turner doesn’t feel that way though.

When she was going to do a webinar for a sales team I had done a webinar for, she called and interviewed me. I had learned a lot and made some mistakes. For instance, if you want people to show up at your webinar, you have to email them twice on the day of, three hours before and then five minutes before it starts. Did you know that? I sure didn’t, until I learned it from Lewis Howes. I tried it and it dramatically increased attendance at the next webinar I did. I passed that on to Jessica. If you don’t have any information of your own, someone else does and will give it to you if you ask the right way.

I call this “borrowing someone else’s diploma,” and it isn’t a particularly new technique. Actor Will Smith did it decades ago and he probably owes the IRS a thank you for that.

When he was 19 years old and touring the country as a rapper, they asked him for $2.8 million. I don’t know if that’s done via a phone call, letter or a reverse Ed McMahon big check with balloons, but that’s definitely a frightening day for a teenager.

It wasn’t a donation they were looking for, but back taxes. Smith didn’t come from money. His divorced parents were middle class, with his dad working seven days a week to run a refrigerator company and his mother employed by the school board. A run-in with the IRS would have crippled most people, but Smith started gathering new information in the midst of that season.

Two years later, as he got ready to move to L.A. from West Philadelphia born and raised for his first acting gig, his manager, James Lassiter, approached him. “Listen, if we’re going out to L.A., we probably should have a goal.” The transition from rapper to actor would not happen by accident. “I want to be the biggest movie star in the world,” Smith replied.

That sentence in and of itself isn’t that unique. A thousand people riding buses from the Midwest out to Hollywood say that every week. Smith also had very little evidence that it would work. He wasn’t a blockbuster actor yet. He was a 21-year-old rapper whose biggest hit at the time had been a PG-flavored song called “Parents Just Don’t Understand.” It’s not just the goal that separates Smith from other would-be superstars. It’s what happened next.

Lassiter did some research and came up with a list of the 10 top-grossing movies of all time. This was not difficult. Someone had already been the world’s biggest star. “We looked at them and said, ‘OK, what are the patterns?’” Smith said.

“We realized that 10 out of 10 had special effects. Nine out of 10 had special effects with creatures. Eight out of 10 had special effects with creatures and a love story.”

That seems too simple to work, right?

There’s no way you can plan a 25-year film career, in the most fickle industry in the world, with a top 10 list that everyone has access to. That’s not sophisticated enough. It needs to be more difficult than that. Or so we think, until we see the list of Will Smith’s six most successful movies.

1. Independence Day: Special effects, creatures, love story; $817 million worldwide lifetime gross.

2. Suicide Squad: Special effects, creatures, love story; $746 million worldwide lifetime gross.

3. Hancock: Special effects. $624 worldwide million lifetime gross.

4. Men in Black 3: Special effects, creatures, love story; $624 worldwide million lifetime gross.

5. Men in Black: Special effects, creatures, love story; $589 million lifetime gross.

6. I Am Legend: Special effects, creatures (love story if you count the dog); $585 million lifetime gross.

Why does Smith believe in the power of borrowing someone else’s diploma? He has 4 billion reasons.

Does doing this guarantee success? Nope. Wild Wild West was a wild wild bust. But in most goals it’s not about winning all the time, it’s about winning more than you lose. We’re not aiming for perfection. All you have to do is win more today than you did yesterday and repeat the whole thing tomorrow. If six of the 24 movies you star in make more than $4 billion, you get to make more movies for a very long time, even if some of them flop.

Don’t ever accept the myth that you have to go it alone. Don’t let perfectionism isolate you.

Find someone with an amazing diploma and then borrow it.

This is an excerpt from Jon Acuff’s new book, Finish: Give Yourself the Gift of Done. Used with permission.

Warren Buffet says, “When the tide goes out, you can see who was swimming naked.” Well, the tide flew out, exposing quite a few financial skinny dippers. If that was you, the pain is still fresh enough. Use that pain as a motivator. If you change these five things this year, you will be on track to make 2024’s financial situation better than 2023’s. 

When a quarter of U.S. jobs were disrupted during the COVID-19 pandemic, we were reminded that debt really is a millstone around our necks. Three years later, and many families are still struggling to recover from the financial loss, the trurn of student loans, and the rising cost of living.

Romans tells us we can’t conform to this world. This world is full of car payments that live longer than our pets; credit cards ensnare people with their ‘have it all and have it now!’ traps. And don’t forget student loans, where the average payment is nearing $400 bucks per month.

Conforming to the ways of the world guarantees financial stress. 

So how do we change our money by not conforming to this world? We have to renew our minds. That means we must get rid of the bad stuff and put in new, good stuff.  You have to change yourself in order to expect anything different to happen with your money. 

1. Where there is no vision, the people perish.

Winning with money begins with a vision, and that vision starts with your dream! 

No more going to work Monday planning to just make it through the week with no vision beyond Friday. That attitude was for 2024. Once you intentionally think about what your vision is for your future, you will have your “why.” This vision will fuel you to keep pressing on even when the disciplines behind personal finance get really tough. Habakkuk 2:2 says, “Write the vision, and make it plain.” Yours might be: “Save $10,000 this year toward my house down payment.”

2. Plan ahead, don’t just track transactions.

There is a bevy of apps promising that simply logging in and letting them track your expenses will get you on the path to accomplishing your vision. If you tried any of them you probably realized, nothing changed. Why?

Tracking what has already been spent without having a plan first is useless. You need to make a budget. The same can be said when we’re trying to lose those Christmas pounds – looking up the calories after we’ve eaten the pie is not going to help.  

It’s crucial that you implement the monthly habit of planning how you’re going to spend, save, and give away your money. To some people the word “budget” brings up terrifying visions of straight jackets and money fights, but that’s  a misunderstanding. Budgets give our dreams the guardrails and accountability necessary to make them happen. 

For example, if you want to save $10,000 this year toward a down payment for a house, you know to budget $833 into savings every month, $385 transfer every other week, or a $192 transfer on Fridays. You will not wake up one day and accidentally have saved $10,000, in the same way that you won’t wake up one day fit enough for a marathon, or ready to do surgery. It takes diligent, intentional preparation, and that’s what a budget is for our money. 

Even Jesus loved budgets. He said, “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first calculate the cost, lest he get halfway up his tower and be unable to finish?” Don’t get halfway up your tower and be unable to finish. 

3. Consistently return to your goal.

Winning with personal finance is not “set it and forget it,” and people listening to Jesus would have understood that. Proverbs 16:3 says “Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and he will establish your plans.” Staying on track when lunchtime comes around is hard when all you can hear is hunger pain demanding Chick-Fil-A. The motivation necessary to denying yourself eating out every day instead of putting your hard-earned dollars toward your car will only come if you keep your goal front and center! Do you want go out for lunch, or move out of your roommate’s house and finally have your own place? 

Keep your financial goals in your mind, in your conversations, and on paper and return to them often. 

4. Get rid of distractions.

Most entertainment and social media are nothing more than distractions. On your Instagram feed, the people with the largest followings are called ’influencers’ for a reason – they wield an enormous sway over the people who follow them. Those influencers trying to get you to buy makeup products, and fishing gear, and the latest clothes – they are distracting you from your goal. 

You must make sure your feed is free of the influences that will drive you away from your financial goals. Start the year with an “unsubscribing and unfollowing” cleanse, where you silence the voices that distract from your vision. Unsubscribe from email lists, unfollow Twitter, Facebook and Instagram brands, and …

Certainly, the strongest way to fortify yourself against these ever-pulling distractions would be to go on a social media fast. The bottom line is any movement away from distraction is a good thing.

5. Surround yourself with good influences that will help you win. 

The Bible says there is safety in the company of wisdom, (Proverbs 11:14) so surround yourself with vision-oriented friends.  Immerse yourself in the feeds of people who are winning with money. Look into investing in a financial coach, books, or classes. These good influences for one will help center your mind on the things that will bring you good results. Michigan State University researchers demonstrated that peers were more important than teachers in a student’s attitude about school, showing that who we surround ourselves with is a determining factor of our own success. 

How do you renew your mind and stop conforming to the financially flawed ways of this world? Have a vision, and plan ahead by using a budget (Jesus loved budgets!) Return to goals often, get rid of distractions and immerse yourself in an environment of good influences. These tactics will reinforce diligence instead of derailing your goals. Putting them into practice will go a long way toward ensuring 2020’s bad financial habits don’t follow us into 2024. 

But it’s the in-between that’s hardest to sort out. With all the extra purchases that come with the holidays, from jugs of eggnog to flights home, it can be hard to justify purchasing presents for neighbors, co-workers and friends you like but haven’t seen much of lately. But the temptation to add a little Christmas cheer to their lives is understandable, and not bad. What’s the best way to go about deciding who’s in and who’s out during the holidays?

STEP 1: Set a Budget

Practically speaking, you probably won’t be able to buy a present for everyone you want, which is why you should start with a reasonable budget instead of the other way around. Set a firm limit on your Christmas present spending — something that allows you to be generous but won’t create too many headaches in the New Year. Pro-tip: the sooner you do this, the sooner you can start saving, and the higher number you can justify.

STEP 2: Make a List

Santa knows what’s up. Now that you know what kind of money you’re working with, make a list of everyone you’d like to buy presents for, from the musts (family) to the shoulds (…family) to the people you’d really like to. Make the list with your budget in mind. Don’t overdo it.  brightpeak’s “Stress Free Christmas Gift Planner” is an easy way to keep track of gifts and spending. 

STEP 3: Divvy Up Your Budget

Here’s the tough part: making your budget fit into your list. People often skip this part, preferring just to go into the mall with a list and a lump sum in mind, but things will be much, much easier if you determine at the gates who is getting what kind of present. You can even cluster the names into little groups. For example, close friends and family could have a twenty dollar limit, acquaintances and co-workers could have a ten dollar one and people you don’t know well but feel like you need to buy something for can have a five dollar limit.

But even this can end up getting expensive, which is why you may need to … 

STEP 4: Get Creative

Ask yourself this question: would the person I’m buying for rather get a five dollar item from the Big N’ Save sale bin, or something that cost me nothing but a little time and effort? A little tin of Christmas cookies, a handmade card expressing your gratitude or a homemade Christmas ornament could go a lot further than a bargain knick-knack.

STEP 5: Stick to the List

It’s easy to justify getting carried away in the spirit of the holidays, and we certainly aren’t here to advocate seasonal stinginess. But a big part of generosity is learning not to overextend yourself, so that you can continue to be generous in the future by not loading yourself up with debt. By sticking to a list, you can make sure that you’re giving to everyone you want to give to while retaining enough money for the things you need so that you can be generous again in the near future.

In our society, dating has become more about money and less about the quality time spent together. But sometimes, unique date experiences, when well-thought out, mean so much more than money. Here are six organic winter date ideas that won’t break your bank.

Connect in the kitchen.

One of you are hopefully a decent cook. Even if not, it’s about the experience, right? Use a cookbook to make fun, Christmas dishes and desserts. Or just grab your favorite cookie dough (Nestle Tollhouse, there is no competition), and bake some cookies to indulge in. Or just eat the whole roll of dough raw, that’s a bonding experience in itself.

Drive around and look at Christmas lights.

Christmas lights are fleeting nowadays, but it seems like every town has that one neighborhood that’s known for their expansive collection of lights each year. Drive through with some Christmas jams in the background and a couple of Starbucks drinks (or full Chipotle burrito bowls, we don’t judge).

Hotel hop.

Similar to Christmas-light sightseeing, but accelerated. Fun fact: You don’t have to book a hotel room to visit a hotel. Hotel hopping is one of the best date ideas ever because it’s absolutely free. Most major towns have at least one bourgie five-star hotel that decks their halls—literally.

Spend an evening scoping out the lobbies of popular hotels in the area. Check out the festive decor and grab a free cup of coffee or hot chocolate from the lobby as if you belong there.

Free day at the museum.

Almost every museum has a day during the week where admission is completely free. This is a fun, free date year-round, but most museums are planted downtown in major cities, which are usually decorated extravagantly for the holidays.

It will also give you a space to escape the cold, and museums are effective in sparking interesting conversation. Some museums even have restaurants inside along with movie theaters for limited-time exhibits. Take a stroll and be a tourist in your own city.

Have a game night.

Game nights are fun for everyone, even if it’s just the two of you. Break out the old Scrabble board and impress your date with words like “quartzy,” or spend 10 full hours together on a never-ending game of Monopoly.

Christmas movies and chill?

Gather a few close friends and drink hot chocolate together while you watch How the Grinch Stole Christmas for the hundredth time.

Serve together.

This time of year, charities need volunteers more than ever. Consider a date where you each buy toys for underprivileged children to donate, serve food together at a homeless shelter or if you want a real laugh, go caroling together at a nursing home. You could also choose a local charity together and reach out to ask how you can volunteer. According to science, giving back to charity isn’t just good for your conscience, it’s good for your health too.

We all face pressure to impress our dates sometimes with extravagant dinners and fancy theme-park adventures, but that’s not always feasible, especially when it comes to the busy winter months. Odds are, your date will find that the quality time and effort put into these dates means so much more than just another Cheesecake Factory dinner and an overpriced movie.

A new study from Empower, a financial services company, found that 59% of U.S. adults, including 72% of Millennials and 67% of Gen Z, believe that more money could help them achieve happiness.

The survey asked Americans to give their ideal salary for what they would need to live comfortably. On average, participants said they need a salary of $284,000 per year to be happy. And taking a closer look at each generation, Gen Z went lower, saying they only need $128,000, while Millennials were the highest of any other generation, wishing for a whopping $525,000 a year.

Interestingly, smaller financial gains appear to also have a significant and positive impact. About 32% of participants believe an additional $15,000 could substantially enhance their lives. This idea jumped to 42% for a $25,000 increase, and even a modest $5,000 uplifts 17% of those surveyed.

Of course, the road to financial bliss is full of obstacles. Two-thirds of Americans experience financial stress, with worries about inflation (81%), rising costs (81%), and interest rates (66%) looming large. Debt is a reality for many, with 54% carrying some form of it, and 36% unable to manage a sudden expense over $500 without anxiety.

Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to rethink our finances. We spoke with financial expert Art Rainer about how we can reshape our view of money and what we get wrong about finances.

“Money, possession, stewardship, there’s over two thousand verses about that very topic,” he said. “So, why does He so frequently address this topic? Why does it seem to be such a very important topic to God? As you read Scripture, what you see is that He’s not necessarily concerned about if you’re setting aside enough in your 529 plan for your kids in order to save for college. What He’s most concerned about is our heart management. And what we see is that money management reflects heart management.

“He’s trying to help us understand that what we do with our finances demonstrates where we’re putting our hope in a very real, tangible way,” he continued. “We talk about making sure that we’re giving God our first and our best. That’s a difficult teaching, especially if you’re in financially tight times. He’s saying, ‘Hey, you need to trust me with this.’ God talks about finances all the time because He’s passionate about our hearts. And money management reflects heart management.”

According to a new study from the University of Bologna, workaholics, often perceived as highly committed or passionate about their jobs, may in fact be suffering from an addiction that diminishes their enjoyment of work. The study, which surveyed 139 workers, discovered that workaholics consistently reported a more negative mood throughout the day, regardless of external factors.

“The negative mood observed in workaholics may indicate elevated daily stress levels and that could be the cause of the higher risk for these individuals to develop burnout and cardiovascular problems,” said Cristian Balducci, the study’s lead author.

The good news is, there’s a way to find financial peace without overextension and burnout: a side hustle. These miniature modes of income (to complement your main source of income) are commonplace now. Fifty percent of Americans have a side hustle, and a majority report working to earn extra cash outside of their main gigs.

If you’re feeling your waistline stretching against your financial belt, maybe a side hustle is the answer to finding some wiggle room. According to research by GoDaddy, the average side gig can bring in an extra $400 per month. But is that extra juice worth the extra squeeze? It could be, but only if you take the right approach. Here’s your new financial workout plan. Hope you’re cool with adding some reps.

Motivate Your Hustle

The first step toward making a change is to be honest with yourself and see if you need to make a change in the first place. Of course, it can be simple to evaluate financial need—just take a look at your budget (You have one of those, right?) and where you might be overspending or coming up short—but there are other things to consider when contemplating supplementary income. Namely, it’s important to determine if your primary source of income does something for you beyond the money. If it doesn’t—if it’s just a means to an end—a side hustle might be a strong creative outlet in addition to a financial safety valve.

“A side hustle gives you financial freedom, but more than that, it gives you a creative release,” says author and speaker Jon Acuff. “When I wrote technical copy for a job, it would have been insane for me to demand that job serve as my entire creative outlet. Recognizing that, I started freelancing.”

Most workers feel burned out when they don’t have autonomy within their jobs. Gallup reports that when workers have freedom in the tasks they do, can perform those tasks and determine how much time they can spend on those tasks, they are 43 percent less likely to experience burnout. In simpler terms: If you’re doing things on your terms, you’re not going to tire of it as fast as you might over mandated tasks in a regular job. A side hustle could give you some satisfaction you’re missing.

Amelia Hobbins, 31, picked up a second job serving tables when she was 25. Her family had accrued $10,000 in credit card debt. Earning supplementary income had obvious financial benefits, but Hobbins, a business development specialist with Thrivent Financial, gleaned additional perks from the situation.

“I loved being on my feet and developing relationships with my customers,” she says. “At first I was embarrassed I was working a second job, but as the extra money decreased our debt, I felt proud. I was taking control of my life. We were finally making progress, and I knew I had made the right choice.”

Make Your Game Plan

Hobbins’ experience also reflects a major advantage of side hustles identified by numerous experts: the barrier of entry to find supplementary income is low. You can tap into a known resource like Uber or Etsy, pick up a job you used to have (Hobbins was a waitress in college) or you can initiate your own venture, like a monetizable baking blog or a niche delivery service. The digital age means platforms for supplementary income are quite literally infinite, but even if you don’t want to start from scratch, that enormous marketplace probably has an effort you care about already.

“When you find something you want to do, just jump in,” Acuff says. If you wait until you’re ready, you’re going to be waiting for a long time.

“You’ll never know for sure when you can manage a side hustle,” he says. “It’s kind of like asking, ‘When do you know you’re ready to be a parent?’ You never know perfectly. You just try and adjust along the way.”

That’s not to say you shouldn’t do any research beforehand, however. Hobbins recommends analyzing the difference between reliable income and variable income, a steady paycheck versus something commission-based like direct sales. It’s the difference between Michael Scott’s telemarketing job and Jan Levinson-Gould’s “Serenity By Jan.”

If you do want to take the startup route, do the math. Overestimate the costs and anticipate that it will take some time for you to make back the startup costs and begin turning a profit. If your financial need is more urgent and you can’t afford to wait on a hustle that needs time to take off, something more consistent might be the way to go.

To brainstorm your supplementary gig, start with what you know you’ll enjoy doing. It can be as simple as listing the brands you love most or the hobbies that occupy most of your time, then using search engines and other free online tools
to find ways to monetize that interest. A business-oriented podcast like “How I Built This” or “Side Hustle School” can be inspiring. Pray about it too. And when it comes to your ultimate decision, Acuff has one rule: “Find something you love doing so much that you’d do it for free. Then, get so good at it that people pay you.”

Put the Hustle in Hustle

It takes persistence and patience to handle yourself in the gig economy. If you’re working through an app like Wag! (dog walking) or Amazon Flex (package delivery), the work can find itself to an extent, but if you’re pulling yourself up by your bootstraps and starting your own pet grooming service or fashion consultancy, crafting your side hustle into something reliable and consistent takes a commitment to quality and a commitment to the long haul.

Acuff’s best tip for setting yourself apart: Be a decent human being. Jesus’ golden rule of treating people how you want to be treated always applies. “Customer service isn’t sexy or shiny, but it matters,” he says. “The way you treat people will get you far more clients and customers than how good you are at something like social media.”

“Personal attention has to come with a call to action,” Hobbins adds. That’s how you galvanize interest into actual investment. Start with the people easiest to sell to in your life—your friends and family members—before stretching your network.

Hobbins says early promotions like limited-time offers, special discounts and bonus offers create urgency.

“Always give the potential customer a specific next step to take action on,” Hobbins says. “It could be as simple as, ‘Check me out on Instagram,’ or ‘I’m running a promotion next week. Would you like me to email you with more information?’ Whenever you are talking to someone or posting about your business, have that call to action.”

That makes communication, in both manner and method, super important in the early going. You need to be quick to respond to people while maintaining a high level of personality and dedication. That’s how awareness for your effort leads to loyalty. With both, you’ll have something steady, fulfilling and supportive.

Don’t Hustle Too Hard

So you’re primed to start burning the candle at another end, awesome. You have something you’re passionate about, that won’t feel like work all the time, and something that can be reliably maintained as a source of in- come. Go for it! But also, proceed with caution.

Remember that you’re essentially adding a second job to your schedule. Your reaction to that might be to find balance, but really, your goal is to find discipline.

“Balance is a myth, so that can’t be the goal,” says Acuff. “The big thing is to make sure you don’t steal time from your full-time job. Work hard at your job, work hard at your side hustle.”

Acuff says time tracking is a healthy way to manage your commitments, and that goes for things outside of work, too. Track and schedule family time and church time just as you would time for your side hustle or time in the office. If you don’t plan it, the maintenance of your side hustle could encroach on your traditional non-work hours.

Finally—this is intuitive, but not always executed—make an explicit goal for the extra cash you’re bringing in. As Hobbins puts it: “Earning more doesn’t mean spending more!”

She was able to leverage her side hustle to pay off some major debt and carve out a financially healthy path forward for her family. You can do the same.

More than anything, understand that a side hustle is going to come down to a little bit more hard work, even more than you’re already grinding out on your day job. But if you’re intentional with your goals, dedicated with your research and honest about what efforts are going to be profitable and fulfilling for you, the side gig is a legitimate enrichment factor. There’s never been a better time to be a hustler.

I loved our church (and still do). I love the community of people who gather there on a weekly basis and the leaders who provide direction. However, January brought with it a new sermon series about money, a topic certain to unsettle my soul.

At the time, our young family had accrued over $100K in debt. To say we needed hope and direction was an obvious gross understatement. With the opening words of the sermon, guilt and shame racked my heart, followed quickly by a dark cloud of hopelessness and despair.

No one needed to tell me that the financial path we were traveling was far from ideal. No one needed to tell me that I should be giving. No one needed to tell me that managing the resources God had blessed us with was important. I knew all of the above. But there were words that I did need to hear that morning.

You are not alone.

Especially in communities of faith, we rarely bare our financial souls. In the closest of company, we might share our struggles with marriage and family, maybe even sexual temptation or doubt. But when it comes to the dollars in our bank accounts (or the lack thereof), suddenly everyone becomes suspiciously silent.

Finance is personal, reserved for private discussions between spouses only or knowledge stored in complete isolation. I needed to know that someone else had seriously blown it when it came to managing money. Outwardly, it appeared that everyone else loved Jesus and had their junk together. Whether a current struggle or a story of victory over past transgressions, my soul longed to know we were not alone.

There are practical tools to help.

If I taught my 6-year-old to tie her shoes by simply saying “Do a better job of tying your shoes,” it’s doubtful she’d ever master the task. Without practical resources or specific explanations, none can gain skills for success.

While calling individuals to change is incredibly important, it’s never enough. Specifics—whether a plain language, line-by-line explanation of budgeting or an honest conversation about how money and marriage can be challenging—instead of a general message of “doing a better job managing our resources” would have provided a balm for my soul.

Buying stuff doesn’t equate to following Christ.

T-shirts, wall art, concert tickets, children’s books, greeting cards, movies—there’s an incredibly huge market available to each of us as faith-based consumers. However, purchasing those items on credit (i.e. money you don’t have) always becomes a curse instead of a blessing.

Consumerism within Christianity is still an uncomfortable conversation for me, even on the other side of debt. Certainly, each of the items named above can be used to guide us on our journey; however, there is a fine line between allowing stuff to define our faith instead of enhancing it.

There is always hope.

No matter how far we had fallen short, no matter how desperate the situation seemed, I needed to know that there was a reason to have hope. If the God of the universe counts the hair on my head, then He already knew how little was in our bank account and how far stretched we were.

Soon, He would provide rescue and with divine math allowed us to pay off $127,482.30 in four years. What once seemed impossible fell to the wayside.

“God can do anything, you know—far more than you could ever imagine or guess or request in your wildest dreams! He does it not by pushing us around, but by working within us, His Spirit deeply and gently within us” (Ephesians 3:20, The Message).

More Than Anything, Jesus Loves You.

Like it or not, many of us subconsciously equate how much we give to the local church with how much Jesus loves us. This heresy leads down a graceless path where if we don’t tithe, we feel like at best, we’ve disappointed God, and at worst, we’ve angered Him. I longed to hear that Jesus loved me, whether or not I dropped a dime into the passing plate, that giving didn’t determine the inclination of His heart toward me.

Messages like these bear repeating over and over again in churches. In fact, repetition, especially outside the month of January, might be the key. I’ll be the first to admit that it is incredibly possible these very words were spoken over me, but my heavy-laden, clogged soul needed its spiritual ears cleaned out.

To break through the chains of debt, we must commit to speaking specific and vulnerable truths into the lives of people whose souls long for financial hope. Use these sayings and others like them, then rinse and repeat.

It’s nothing new to say the church puts a heavy emphasis on marriage. They should. Scripture tells us marriage is meant to reflect Christ’s relationship with the Church, and if that’s indeed the case, then it follows that Christians should seek out opportunities to put people together who can be that glorifying presence in the world. If we believe in the idea that “marriage is a ministry” then we should look to minister as much as possible. Helping other people minister in this sense is certainly worthwhile.

But there’s an argument to be made that church culture has twisted this matchmaking process into something mechanical and formulaic. People are put together with the goal of a relationship in mind, and while that reads as straightforward on-paper, the manifestation of a relationship could really mean anything. That’s how we arrive at the difference between relationship and romance.

A relationship, to be obvious, connects two people. Coworkers have a relationship, as do friends and family members and people with their pets. Church culture adds a little more flavor to the parameters of a relationship, because church relationships often imply a nice little Jesus-to-Jesus connection, but when it comes to romantic relationships, there needs to be more consideration than just two people coming together.

When the church-lobby crowd mashes two singles together, their goal is often a relationship instead of a romance. That’s backwards. A romance implies mutual pursuit and passion and love formation, words and phrases that make you blush and makes the lady by those free donuts grab your arm and gasp and give one of those scandalized wide-eyed smiles. A relationship is a lunch appointment. A romance is a date, with laughing and hand-holding and nerves and things that make you feel shy to talk about in front of a bunch of people.

And that’s the real goal here, right? Look back at those cutesy dating-in-the-church words: pursuit, passion, love, mutual. Don’t we talk about the Gospel that way, too? If the same words can be used to describe romance and the Gospel, then aren’t we starting to talk about the exact ways a marriage can exemplify Christ and the Church? Two sides chasing each other, serving each other, sacrificing for each other? Not all relationships are like that. All true romances are.

When churches thrust people together—Are you seeing anyone? Have you met so-and-so? Did anyone introduce you to our communications director?—it creates a context for the relationship that’s a bit unfair. Consider a new couple who met at church and it’s not really working out. Neither person is necessarily doing anything wrong, but there’s just not a lot of chemistry or compatibility. Church culture underscores similarity rather than true belonging. Both of you are from out of town, or worked for non-profits, or are in your 20s, so why don’t you get to know each other a little better?

There’s a version of this article that argues for a more casual approach to dating in churches: Churches are too serious about relationships, so just let people figure it out on their own. That’s not really what we’re talking about here. We’re actually making an accusation that churches aren’t being considerate enough in how it treats new couples. Romance takes passion and spark, no doubt, but sometimes you kind of have to root around for that passion, especially as relationships grow and mature and couples learn things about each other that are surprising or tricky or conflicting. Relationships take those things and try to fit them into an equation: Here are the things we do, don’t do, discuss, don’t discuss, etc. Romances transcend those differences. We don’t have X in common, but we’ll always share Y.

Romance contains all the profundities of real love between two people, so instead of urging people together, putting pressure on new relationships and throwing out concepts like compatibility and chemistry, churches can actually put a greater emphasis on the type of love Jesus intended us to show for one another by celebrating romance instead of relationship. It frees up single people to live as they are, it frees couples to find the best people to go into marriage with and it allows the church to express Jesus in a richer, truer way.

Because sometimes when people enter the church lobby, they’re not looking to wife up. Sometimes they just want church. Or a free donut.

Fact: Pumpkin Spice Lattes are gross.

Fact: It is embarrassing to order a Pumpkin Spice Latte. When the barista loudly announces “One Venti Pumpkin Spice Latte for Rick!” with your name emblazoned on the side of the cup, there’s a reason you feel like all of the customers are silently judging you and your faux-autumnal beverage: Because they are.

Fact: If you have $5.95, there are a lot of other cool things you could purchase instead. Here a few ideas:

1. A Now Very Rare and Collectable, Discontinued Copy of I Kissed Dating Goodbye to See How Far Things Have Come

This may be worth something someday.

2. A DVD of VeggieTales: LarryBoy Ultimate Super Hero Collection

(… assuming you still own a device that play a DVD)

3. A Framed Picture of a Lovely-Looking Family

You can make up whatever backstory you want!

4. A Copy of Christmas with Carman

(…assuming you have a way to play a CD.)

5. Bob Ross Flavor Palette Paintbrush Dipping Candy

Finally, paint you can eat.

6. Left Behind on DVD (or Prime Video)

(That is, assuming you don’t already own a copy of this masterpiece. If that’s the case, than this can be your back up copy.)

7. Some Old School WWJD Bracelets

The pinnacle of faith and fashion.

8. A Sticker to Show Your Devotion to Jesus and Humor

They will know we are Christians by our stickers.

9. A Passive Aggressive Jesus Bumper Sticker

A very Christian thing to have.

10. A Seriously Funny Coffee Mug

It’s funny because it’s true.

But this raises the question: which classic video game characters are actually the most financially responsible?

Obviously, you know we had to rank them.

10. Chun Li

Pros: None.

Cons: Appears to have no money and no interest in collecting any, instead focusing on becoming a globe-trotting street brawler. Truly a waste of what appears to be a talented and creative young woman’s mind.

9. Kirby

Pros: Virtually none.

Cons: Goes around invading other people’s homes, destroying everything they own and then just using their stuff for himself. Downright criminal.

8. Sonic the Hedgehog

Pros: He collects all the money (“rings,” in his parlance) he finds in a hurry, which speaks to his ambition.

Cons: Almost too many to name. Instead of securing his money in a safe place, he carries it on his person where it can be easily stolen by seemingly harmless foes. At the first sign of trouble, Sonic panics and throws all his rings away, and then has to scramble to collect whatever he can. Treats valuable like television sets recklessly. Truly a poor role model.

7. Mario

Pros: Again, very ambitious in collecting coins, as well as other valuable objects like flowers and mushrooms. A wide variety of skills, from jumping to medicine to an Olympic career, suggests a varied portfolio.

Cons: Doesn’t seem interested in spending, saving or investing his money whatsoever. He simply gets it and hides it somewhere on his person.

6. Ash Ketchum

Pros: At last, someone who seems interested in setting money aside to afford bigger and better things, like Pokeballs, Masterballs, food for his Pokemon …hey, come to think of it….

Cons: All of Ash’s capital goes to his passion of being the best Pokemon trainer, like no one ever was. His hobby may be personally rewarding and even occasionally lucrative, but it’s not sustainable in the longterm. Ash needs to get a real job to prioritize his needs and future goals, and devote his spare time to Pokemon training.

5. Peach

Pros: As royalty, Peach was born with a bit of a silver spoon in her mouth, but she hasn’t used that as an excuse for laziness, and has honed her talents as both a driver and a master of hand-to-hand combat. That’s commendable, but…

Cons: …she’s also caught the real estate bug, building more castles than any one princess could ever need. This has complicated not only her life, but the lives of people who want to help her.

4. Solid Snake

Pros: As a military man, Snake is definitely resourceful, though in sort of a doomsday prepper, sort of way. While his financial situation is rarely explored, he seems to be gainfully employed and relatively thrifty in terms of his budget, as he usually travels light and just uses the things he finds.

Cons: He seems somewhat limited by his lifestyle, and at the very least unprepared for his retirement.

3. Link

Pros: Many. Link is a driven man, who saves his money to buy the things he needs, be they in the interest of self defense, his own personal enrichment or even the wellbeing of others. He travels light but still understands the value of looking sharp in his day to day life.

Cons: Seems peculiarly obsessed with Zelda. Companionship is good, but if people start confusing you for someone else, that might be a sign that you need to back off a little.

2. Bowser

Pros: Now, this is going to be controversial because, let’s face it, Bowser isn’t the friendliest guy in the Mushroom Kingdom. But financially speaking, he knows what’s up. He’s not only resourceful enough to build large labyrinths to keep his valuables in, but also innovative enough to craft elaborate security measures to keep them safe. He’s recruited a diverse community of friends to assist him with his projects and is undeterred by hardships.

Cons: Kidnapping is bad and Bowser doesn’t seem particularly good at it. Sometimes, you have to know when to walk away.

1. Samus

Pros: At last, someone who takes her career seriously. Samus Aran is a bounty hunter and former soldier, so she presumably receives veterans’ benefits while also having an entrepreneurial eye on the future and a small business which is providing her with at least enough money to afford what appears to be an expensive exoskeleton. Samus is a model financial genius

Cons: We at RELEVANT can not legally recommend bounty hunting as a career.

That sounds dumb, but it’s worth mentioning. The word thirties hangs over most of us like a solemn marker of adulthood, as if you’ll wake up on your 30th birthday with wizened eyes and a headful of sage wisdom.

The truth is, everything on this list is worth doing in your twenties (or your teens, if you’re so inclined) but we talk about it like this because though nothing magical happens on your thirtieth birthday, 30 years is enough time to work out some of life’s kinks and pick up on some good habits.

All that’s to say, there’s no reason you should have all this mastered by the time you’re 30. But, then again, there’s no reason not to try.

Waking Up Earlier Than You Have To

What do Twitter/Square founder Jack Dorsey, Richard Branson, Apple’s Tim Cook, legendary Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour, Condoleezza Rice and dozens of other successful leaders all have in common? They get out of bed before 6 a.m. every morning. Even Aristotle advocated waking up early, famously quipping, “It is well to be up before daybreak, for such habits contribute to health, wealth, and wisdom.”

Through college and in our twenties, hitting the snooze button is a staple of Saturday mornings and workweek rushing around, but there’s a reason so many influential people get started early. Waking up before you have to lets you find time to pray, exercise or just spend a few minutes alone before the craziness of the day begins.

Saving Money

Starting to save money not only sets you up for a more secure future, it can also help instill financial discipline as you enter into your prime earning years. And, if you start at a young enough age, it can also add up fast: According to CNN Money, if you put aside $3,000 a year from ages 25-35 in a tax-deferred retirement account, by the time you hit 65, you’ll have $472,000 in the bank.

Actually Caring About What You Eat

Most people in their late twenties have come to the harsh realization that for reasons that are totally unfair, your metabolism has a tendency to slow down with age. Basically, we all will hit a certain age when we can no longer eat an entire pizza and drink four Dr. Peppers without feeling like garbage shortly afterwards. There’s nothing wrong with enjoying life—and some junk food every now and then—but your thirties are a time to create, and sustain, healthy patterns you’ll carry throughout adulthood.

Making Margin in Your Life

By the time you hit 30, there’s a good chance the routine of family, job, bills and adulthood limits the free time that was once a part of twentysomething life. Creating margin—to read, volunteer, pray, travel or just do the things you want to do—is easy to neglect with the stresses that come along with being a thirtysomething. Do yourself a favor: Make margin in your day-to-day life, and don’t try to fill every waking moment with more busyness.

Creating a Pattern of Giving in Your Finances

Life is expensive. Even if you’re settled into a good-paying career by the time you’re 30, paying down student loans, owning a home, buying a car, paying the bills and balancing a checkbook may not leave much left over. But along with your tithes, establishing a pattern of giving (to charities, ministries or even to friends and families in need), can serve as a constant reminder of who your money actually belongs to.

Becoming Friends With People Much Older Than You

For most people, up to your late twenties, most relationships with people much older than yourself are predicated on some sort of authority structure—your parents, your teachers, your bosses, your pastors. But by the time you’re 30, actually becoming friends with people you look up to not only adds new dynamics to mentorship, it also broadens your social circles.

Letting Go of Baggage from Bad Relationships

Don’t let baggage from bad breakups, arguments with old friends or hurtful comments from the past haunt you into your adult life. Even if reconciliation isn’t possible, forgiveness always is.

Being Content With the Life You Have (While Still Trying to Accomplish Your Dreams)

It’s never too late to try to write that novel, start that business, travel the world or launch that social activism campaign you’ve always dreamed about. But even if your life goals haven’t happened by the time you’ve hit 30, it doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be content with the life you have. Finding the balance between ambition and contentment isn’t easy, but it’s part of living with big dreams.

Reading the News Every Day

Before you can change the world, you have to be informed about the problems facing it. Reading headlines online, listening to NPR or just tuning into the evening news can be a gateway to knowing how to make a difference and instituting real change.

Learning to Unplug

It’s easy to get stuck in a pattern of working long hours, being tied to the phone or just binge watching shows on Netflix during every minute of free time. None of those things are necessarily bad in doses, but if you’re spending your whole life plugged into a device, you may be missing out on some pretty great experiences.

Finding Organizations or Causes to Support Long-Term

Partnering with organizations like WorldReach (who allows you to sponsor children) and Charity: Water (who lets you tell your friends to donate instead of getting you a birthday present every year) or finding a cause like ending human trafficking, supporting education or assisting the homeless can represent more than just one-time gifts or temporary passions. Your 30s are a great time to find causes, organizations and campaigns to be dedicated to throughout your life.

Making Exercise a Lifestyle

You don’t have to join an expensive gym or jump on the next fitness trend bandwagon to make exercise a part of your life. Ride your bike to work. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Join a community sports league with friends. Making exercise a regular part of your schedule helps it to become a lifestyle, not an afterthought or another chore you have to make time for.

Actively Combating Spiritual Complacency

At some point, most Christians will deal with spiritual complacency. We get into a routine, and it’s easy to allow actively trying to grow in your faith to become a side note to the day-to-day realities of adult life. Make it a point to stay challenged spiritually—read good books, stay involved in your church, seek ministry opportunities, get a mentor and a mentee. As other parts of your life grow, make sure your faith does too.

Being Intentional With Relationships

The older you get, the more time becomes a precious commodity. Unlike the college days, when you’d see your buddies between every class, once you get plugged into a job and family life, it can be hard to make time to see your friends. In your twenties and thirties, be intentional about getting together with friends and relatives (who are also probably pretty busy), and invest in relationships over obligations.

Buying Things That Last

For many people in their twenties, paying extra to purchase high-quality items—from clothes and accessories, to furniture and appliances—just isn’t practical as they are settling into new careers and finding their financial footing. But as you save more and become more established in your job, purchasing quality items (and fewer of them because they last so long) puts the emphasis on sustainability and craftsmanship instead of fast fashion disposability.

You know, that little prayer you quietly mumble before checking your balance. As if God is inside the ATM writing down a number based on how good the prayer was.

Nope, it doesn’t work that way.

Sure, there’s room for endless amounts of financial faith. After all, God is the great provider, and we should give thanks and live by faith.

But there’s also plenty of God-given power and permission right there in your own hands.

When it comes to money management, having an entirely “Jesus take the wheel” mentality puts the car in the ditch. Every time.

God gave us both the money to manage and the tools to do it well.

He wants us to be involved, practicing responsible stewardship with what He gives us. To that end, here are four basic questions you should be able to answer about your money—and resources to help you find the answers.

How Much Did You Spend Last Month?

The first time my wife and I tracked our spending, we were shocked at where our money was going.

I estimated that we had spent around $100 eating out that month. After running the numbers, we discovered it was $450. What a mess! We were spending more than four times what I thought.

We immediately got excited when we realized just how easy it would be to take a huge step in the right direction. We haven’t spent over $200/mo eating out since, and the savings is now over $15,000!

People tell me all the time that their money just disappears each month—that’s a dead giveaway that they aren’t tracking their spending.

The good news is that tracking your spending is easy, and doing so has huge returns. It’s much easier to make changes when you know where your money has been “disappearing” to.

So, how much did you spend last month and on what? Put each expense from last month into a spending category and add it up. Boom, there you have it!

What Are You Going to Spend Your Money on Next Month?

My one-year-old daughter sometimes puts a salad bowl on her head. It’s so big, it covers her entire face so she can’t see where she’s going. The joyful laughter always ends quickly when she runs into the wall.

She’ll learn. And don’t worry, she’s fine. I think.

Floating through the years wearing a financial blindfold works about as well as my daughter’s salad bowl. No wonder you keep bumping into things and getting hurt. It’s much easier to move in the right direction when you can see what’s ahead and plan accordingly.

Now that you know where your money has been going, I challenge you to take charge and plan what you will do with your money each month going forward.

You won’t believe how much better your finances will look and how much better you’ll feel after just a few months on a budget. Budgeting gets easier, more helpful and takes less time the more you do it.

There are more than enough online programs to help you create a plan for your money. Check out everydollar.com, mint.com, youneedabudget.com or personalcapital.com.

How Much Debt Do You Have?

Becoming debt-free is like unlocking the super secret weapon in a video game. Suddenly, the game is a lot easier and more fun!

When you cross the debt-free threshold, you’ll be able to breath easier and shift your financial priorities to other things like saving for a house, giving more or investing more for retirement. (Or all three at once!)

It’s always amazing to me when I help someone organize their finances and they have no idea how much debt they have. That’s like ignoring the low fuel gauge on your car. No wonder your car hasn’t moved in months.

Don’t just poke around at your debt like it’s an annoying fly that won’t leave you alone. Treat your debt like an emergency and crush it!

Paying off your debt should be a top priority, and knowing how much you have is the first step.

What Is Your Net Worth?

Terms like “net worth” aren’t just for millionaires and old dudes.

Everyone has a net worth, and everyone should know what it is. You should track your net worth at least quarterly, whether it is positive or negative.

Tracking your net worth is the best way to visualize in what direction you are moving. Think of it as seeing where you stand in your financial big picture.

If your net worth is growing each month, you are heading in the right direction. If your net worth is stagnant or doing down, perhaps it’s time to take a closer look at how to correct that.

Here’s how you figure out your net worth: Add up all your assets then subtract all of your debts. The number you see is your net worth. In other words, what you own – what you owe = your net worth.

If you found these questions difficult to answer, you are not alone. I challenge you to look up all the key information and answer these four questions before you go to bed tonight. I guarantee you’ll feel better about your finances as a result.

If the answers sting a little, just remember that taking action will produce better results. And you’ve done just that.

You are capable and qualified to manage the money God has given you. You don’t need permission from anyone else to start working toward being more financially responsible.

Approach the ATM with confidence!

Now, we ask someone what they do as soon as we learn their name. When we ask each other how we’re doing, the answer is almost always, “Busy!”

We seek jobs with lots of vacation, but most of it goes unused. When we do take vacations, we bring work with us. We put in 50 or more hours a week, and sometimes add a side-hustle or two.

This is the ceaseless American work ethic, or what some are calling workism: “the belief that work is not only necessary to economic production, but also the centerpiece of one’s identity and life’s purpose; and the belief that any policy to promote human welfare must always encourage more work.”

How did we get here?

The Religion of Workism

In an article in The Atlantic, Derek Thompson explains that the decline in traditional faith in American society has led to the worship of a pantheon of gods: “Some people worship beauty, some worship political identities, and others worship their children. But everybody worships something. And workism is among the most potent of the new religions competing for congregants.”

Thompson points to two recent studies to prove Americans’ growing religious devotion to work. The first was a 2018 paper on women at elite universities showing their primary reason for attending a prestigious college is not higher pay, but more hours at work. The second was a Pew Research report on anxiety among our youth that revealed 95 percent of them value having a job they enjoy over loving their neighbor or getting married. “Finding meaning at work beats family and kindness as the top ambition of today’s young people,” concludes Thompson.

Predictably, turning work into a god goes as poorly as deifying anything else. Today, work promises identity, community, even transcendence, but fails to deliver. The problem with the god of work is that it always disappoints: “a culture that funnels its dreams of self-actualization into salaried jobs is setting itself up for collective anxiety, mass disappointment, and inevitable burnout,” writes Thompson. He goes on to say, “Our jobs were never meant to shoulder the burdens of a faith, and they are buckling under the weight.”

Why are we burning ourselves out? Because our hard work pays off. Or at least, it appears to. Hard work and obsessive dedication will often produce favorable results, or “goods” — affirmation from a boss, the satisfaction of a job well done, higher pay, a sense of making a difference.

But these goods come at a cost, as Jonathan Malesic discovered.

What Monks Can Teach Us About Work

After researching a story involving a monastery in New Mexico, Malesic decided to visit. To enter a monastery is to step out of the rhythms of one’s daily life, particularly the demands of work. As Malesic left his daily tasks behind, he pondered the American work ethic (including his own). He began to identify it as a demon that is “chasing us over a cliff.”

But the monks surrounding him — all of whom have their own work of some form — didn’t appear to be haunted by the same demon of workism, though they surely have their own.

Why weren’t these monks slaves to their careers? They had learned to put work in its proper place. Though they experience the same temptations to perform for those same marketplace “goods” mentioned above, they don’t let the pursuit of work or its goods supplant their primary objective: a life of prayer in service to God.

If they sense their work is pushing God too far to the margins, they begin limiting it in order to stave off the negative effects. If this isn’t possible and they can no longer keep up their way of life and the work at the same time, they walk away from the work and find something else to do.

If monks aren’t keeping a close eye on their work life, it can eclipse their devotion to God through prayer. This is important for us, too. If we’re not careful to keep ourselves from burnout, we become unable to sustain our relationship with God.

But how can we non-monks keep ourselves from burnout and put work in its proper place?

The Solution to Workism

Thompson suggests that one solution to workism “is to make work less central.” While that’s not a bad place to begin, a better answer to workism is to make God preeminent in our lives, thus putting work in its proper place.

Monks tame the demon of work by limiting it, Malesic explains. This limitation frees them up to pursue higher goods (a life of prayer and study). He suggests that for us, “the monastic principles of constraining work and subordinating it to moral and spiritual well-being might help us keep our demons at bay and recover the dignity in our labor and in ourselves.” That means we would limit our work to healthy amounts and view our work as one means to help us live a life devoted to God and serving others.

Intentionally limiting work sounds like a good way to get fired though, doesn’t it? Not necessarily. Studies continually show that burnt-out workers are far less productive than those who limit their work to a healthy amount and take regular days off. If you work hard and rest hard, you’re likely to be more productive than if you work hard all the time.

As Malesic writes, “Your pride in a job well done, or your anxiety, or your ego: none of those are worth as much as your dignity as a person.” To work all the time is to treat ourselves with little dignity because it limits our value to our productivity.

This is why the solution to workism starts with individuals. We must decide to constrain our work and relegate it to its proper place as we first pursue a life of devotion to God and service to others.

I’ve worked hard over the last seven years to limit my work so I can sustain the family and spiritual life the Lord has called me to. I work full-time and have two part-time gigs, in addition to being a husband and father of four young kids. Life is more enjoyable — and I’m more productive — when I work hard during business hours, then “turn it off” until the next day or week.

How You Can Put Work in Its Proper Place

Based on what I’ve learned, here are some ways you can put your work in its proper place:

• Pause before lunch each day for a brief time of prayer, asking God to keep you focused on him throughout your day.
• As much as possible, do not check or respond to work email after hours.
• If possible, do not add your work email account to your phone.
• Review your calendar weekly and ask yourself if you can stay devoted to God and others with that schedule. If not, make some changes.
• Before ending your work day, review your calendar for the next day so you know what to expect and what you on your schedule calls for prayer.
• At the end of your workday, spend five minutes in prayer and silence, asking God to prepare you to leave work behind and to focus on what or who will soon be in front of you.

Taming the Demon of Workism

We can’t completely solve the problem of workism, but we can tame it in our own lives.

Let’s start treating ourselves, our coworkers, and our employees with dignity. Let’s choose to prioritize people over products, sons and daughters over services, men and women over margins. Let’s tame the demon of workism.

Let’s put work in its proper place.

In a new study titled “A New Era of Giving,” Barna Research analyzed the shifting perceptions of generosity among different generations, trying to determine whether society as a whole is becoming more, less or equally generous.

According to the study, a majority of U.S. adults — regardless of their age group — believe that societal generosity remains consistent. However, more than one-third of Gen Z (35 percent) are optimistic, believing that young adults are more generous than their elders.

On the other hand, another third of Gen Z (36 percent) holds the belief that generosity is declining.

Suffice to say, there seems to be a big divide when it comes to generosity. And while it may take time to observe definitive trends, the debate seemingly centers around how one defines and values expressions of generosity: Is it solely based on finances, or does volunteering time count, too?

Gen Z, in particular, lags behind other generations when it comes to financial donations. Of course, this is due to their stage of life. Many are still pursuing higher education or embarking on their professional journeys, which may limit their ability to give financially. Despite this, 51 percent of Gen Z individuals report having given to charitable organizations, including churches.

However, Gen Z and millennials are more inclined to engage in “hands-on acts of generosity.” Over half of Gen Z adults (54 percent) report having volunteered their time to an organization in the past three months, surpassing older generations significantly.

Gen Z is also the most likely generation to assess their finances in the past three months, meaning they’re taking their financial status very seriously. Whether or not that makes an impact on giving financial support to others is yet to be seen.

But based on current statistics, many people weren’t raised in a home like that and feel daily financial stress. And even if we were, the contemporary financial scene is very different than when our parents were young, meaning a lot of the old rules don’t apply. Saving money is as important now as it ever was — possibly more so, with a rapidly eroding Social Security net — but it’s trickier too.  

We spoke with Clint Hodgens, Director of Thrivent, about some practical goals for saving money, and how our spiritual lives tie in with our financial ones.

This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Let’s start with the basics: How much should we be saving and what sort of things should we be saving for?

It’s always important to be saving, but also important to realize that circumstances and situations can be different. For example, the amount you save is likely impacted by the amount of debt you have. As a general rule, 20 percent of your income should go toward savings and paying down debt.

Your first savings milestone should be to save enough to get $1,000 in an emergency fund to start. This can help you avoid adding more debt should you experience any unexpected expenses. If you are fortunate enough to have an employer that offers a matching contribution, try to contribute enough to get the full match. It’s hard to turn down free money. Then look to pay off any high-interest debt (like credit cards).

People in their 20s, 30s and 40s will likely be saving for several goals, but try to save at least 10 percent toward retirement. If you’re in a relationship, make sure that both you and your partner are on the same page when it comes to your saving priorities. Your goals may take more or less savings, but this should be a good starting point.

A lot of us aren’t making much money and are suffering from student loans. How can we save if we feel like we don’t even have enough to make ends meet as it is?

The first question to ask yourselves is if you truly are in a situation where you don’t have “enough.” In some cases, it’s completely true. But in others, it may just be time for a reality check. Look at your loans and see if you can consolidate or refinance them to a lower rate. This in turn may lower your payment and help create a little more cash flow that you could use to save.

I would also suggest tracking your expenses. This will give you the insight you need to determine if there are any opportunities to reduce expenses. We don’t endorse cutting out all of the fun stuff forever, but even if things are tight you could give something up for a week or a month to save a few bucks. Also, consider whether you could start a side hustle to create more income.

Let’s say I’m in my thirties. I’ve got a job, I’m a little more stable now, but I’ve got nothing saved. How can I start catching up with where I should be?

If you feel like you’re behind, ask yourself why. Where do you think you should be? Take some time to be thankful for what you have and what’s most important to you. Get your spending to a point where you can dedicate 20 percent of your income to savings and debt repayment. Take full advantage of an employer match if one is available. Each time you get a raise, increase your savings rate. Time is still on your side, so just keep saving what you can.

What’s more important? Saving, or paying off debt?

Both! Twenty percent of your income should go towards these two areas. Take advantage of an employer match if you have one. Then pay down any high-interest debt (like credit cards). From here, though, you should be doing both. Try to save 10 percent or more if your debt allows. Don’t ignore your emotions here. If debt is causing you stress or anxiety, pay that down. If you think you need to save more, do that. In my experience, the most important strategy is the one you stick with.

Some people argue that saving money shows a lack of faith in God to provide in the future. How would you answer that?

That’s a fair question to ask. After all, the Bible espouses this radical, counter-cultural community that completely cares for one another. It is an awesome vision to aspire to, but does it mean that God frowns upon saving, or even having any material possessions or “wealth”? This can be a slippery slope; one that leads people to “test” God’s providence. Saving is part of what we do to take care of our families and communities. Managing the resources we are entrusted with in a wise way includes saving for the future.

Let’s say I want to save money, but I also want to make sure I’m giving to my church or charities. Is it wiser to pull that money from the money I’d set aside to put away in savings, or from the money I’d set aside for non-necessary expenses?

God’s money story is simple. Everything is a gift from God and Christians are called to be good stewards of those gifts. This responsibility creates tension in most people as they make choices about how they will use God’s gifts.

In the example here, there are only two options in the budget where money is available for giving — savings and non-essentials. We recommend a shift in perspective that includes building an intentional giving plan into your budget. If you make your giving plans and goals first, it will increase alignment with God’s plan. It also forces you to look at the other elements of your money story differently. If you pay for your needs, put money in savings, spend on your wants, and then start looking at what is left to give, you may feel like you ‘don’t have enough’ to give the way you want. Planning for giving and being generous up front — along with planning for essential needs — will align your spending with your values and give you a more realistic view of what you have available to spend on your wants.

How can I get more disciplined at sticking to a budget once I’ve created it?   

Sticking to a budget is hard for most people. At Thrivent, we believe one of the reasons it’s so hard is because people don’t really understand what’s going on under the surface when it comes to their relationship with money. There are a lot of influences — from the way you were raised to your spiritual beliefs and so much more — that affect the choices you make when it comes to money. Gaining understanding or making sure you “know your story” is an important part of getting to the root of why you’re having trouble sticking to your budget.

Another key to success is to review your budget regularly. Spreadsheets are a great tool, or you can start by using an app that can help you track your budget and look at your spending each week.  

A few other things that make it hard for people to stick to a budget include:

• Taking on too much too fast. One reason people often fail at their goals is that they get way to ambitious and then give up. Start with small steps and build upon that success. Save just a little bit, celebrate that success and then add more. Cutting out every good thing in your life is a surefire way to make sure you don’t stick with a budget.
• Failing to plan for challenges. If you anticipate challenges, you’ll greatly increase your odds of success. Take a look at what will knock you off track before you start. It may mean proactively removing yourself from automated emails from retailers so that you aren’t tempted by that never-ending “best sale ever” … every week. Or it may mean phoning a friend when you’re struggling. 
• Trying to do it on our own. When you make a public declaration of your goals and enlist the help of others, your odds of success will increase substantially. So, get your spouse or a friend involved and support each other. Being aligned and working together leads to greater discipline and results. And it’s more fun!

But if there’s anything I’ve learned from observing leaders from all generations, backgrounds and industries — it’s the importance of the lessons learned, mistakes made and pages turned in their leadership. It’s the having the courage and ability to fail, learn and start again.

However, as a 20-something, it can be challenging when all eyes are on you, every action and word are monitored closely and people are looking to you to lead.

As a 20-something, our leadership styles, practices and spheres of influence are constantly evolving and developing. We’re still learning what works best for us, we’re still searching for the best communication practices and we’re still deciding which type of leader we want to be.

But if you’re a 20-something, and like myself, are in a position of leadership, it’s OK to still be figuring this leadership journey out. However, here are five things you must learn to carry to lead in any position, any sphere of influence, any job and group of people well.

Honor

There is one common denominator in the young adults I have witnessed crash and burn in their leadership journey, and that’s the lack of honor for those who have gone before them, paved the way and entrusted them to carry the vision and legacy of their organization. Above all, in any leadership position, practicing, modeling and exemplifying honor for those who have gone before you and set you up for success is essential.

Honor will continue to propel you forward if you can practice humility in submitting to the authority and leadership God has placed in front of you.

And honor will carry you further than any natural talent ever will.

Delegation

On any road of leadership, there’s a point in time where we all are a “yes man.” We say “yes” to every request, every task, every idea, every meeting, every favor, everything because any leader in the beginning of their journey knows that saying “yes” to every opportunity now could potentially lead to an even greater “yes” right around the corner.

Unfortunately, delegation is a discipline we have to learn. The ability to say no to something good so we have the space to say yes to something great later is an ability we’ve not all quite learned yet, but that’s OK. We’re learning what we can say no to now and what we should say ‘yes’ to now. We’re learning that in our role leadership position, there are multiple people who have yet been discovered surrounding us. We’re learning that in the process of practicing delegation and empowering the leaders who around us by allowing them to say yes to something we said no to, that there is a reward in surrendering our control of every little detail and task so that another leader has an opportunity to flourish.

But as a 20-something, we’re starving for opportunity and yes. The most effective leaders will recognize a good yes now between an even greater yes waiting right around the corner.

Honesty

There’s beauty found in honesty. It may be my favorite quality once I discover it in a leader. It’s a sigh of relief when I know they’re honest and genuine, and I can trust them.

The best kind of leader is a leader who can be honest and admit that though they may not know every answer to every question, they will do their part to help find the answer to the question later.

But at the end of the day, leadership requires us to not only be honest with others around us, but with ourselves.

It’s a routine practice of admitting our weaknesses and acknowledging our opportunities for personal growth.

And not only is honesty a must in any leader to carry with others and themselves, but it is a must to carry to God. It’s a must to be honest with the One who is ultimately leading all of us into His plan, His design and His calling on our lives. It’s a must to be honest with Him in where we’ve missed it and where we desperately need His strength to start again.

Confidence

There’s an attractiveness about any leader who isn’t arrogant, but who is confident. There’s a distinct difference arrogance and confidence: one is found in the identity of man alone, and another is the command for every leader who finds their confidence in God to carry.

I know in my leadership that I am confident in the decisions I make and the ideas I share because I find my confidence in the One who gave me those God-breathed decisions and ideas. I know I walk in step with an almighty, omniscient God who has entrusted me with His work and task at hand. I know that to work out of anything less than His confidence in who I am in Him and what He did for me, is not His design.

I am confident because of His strength, love and Spirit flowing in and through me as a leader.

Purpose

And at the end of the day, a leader must carry a passionate purpose in the cause and/or vision of their organization, church or business.

Purpose propels us into a promised future from the one who destined us as a leader at the beginning. Purpose keeps our eyes fixated on Jesus, His plan, His calling and His anointing on our lives. Purpose reminds us where we started and where we’re headed.

Purpose refreshes our perspective, job and expectations on us as leaders. Purpose empowers us to continue to carry the call of leadership. Purpose quickens us to run the race of leadership and operate as an instrument in God’s ultimate plan for humanity.

And here’s the thing—they like you. Through a few dates, you have been able to taste the life that they regularly devour. It is fun. It is exciting. You are beginning to wonder if they are the one.

But there is something in your heart that makes you wonder whether or not you are falling for the person or their money. It rightfully concerns you because you know the Bible says, “The love of money is a root of all kinds of evil, and by craving it, some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many griefs” (1 Timothy 6:10). You don’t want that verse to be the descriptor for your current or future relationships.

As you consider the relationship, here are some thoughts to ponder:

Lifestyle can be faked … for a time.

Americans love their debt. According to NerdWallet, those with credit card debt average over $15,000 of it. Households with car loans average over $27,000 in car loan debt. What does this mean? Many people can’t afford the lifestyle they are attempting to live. What you are often seeing is a façade. And the façade will eventually come crashing down.

Money can mask character flaws … for a time.

Be careful. You can enjoy what you are doing more than who you are doing it with. It is possible for you to get caught up in the experiences (or the lifestyle you imagine you will experience in the future) and never really get to know the person you are dating. Unintentionally, your focus is turned toward the stuff and not the individual. So you miss their character flaws. But no amount of money will keep these flaws masked forever. They will show themselves.

Current wealth is a bad indicator of future fulfillment.

You probably know some very wealthy, but very miserable, married couples. They don’t seem to enjoy life, and they definitely don’t seem to enjoy their spouse. Money, in and of itself, is terrible at providing fulfillment.

So how do you see past the wealth and make sure that you are falling in love with the person and not their money? View money as a reflector of their heart.

The Bible has over 2,000 verses about money and possessions. Jesus spoke about money more than any other topic while on Earth. Why are money and possessions such an area of focus for God? Because they reflect the heart. How one thinks about and uses money offers a glimpse into their heart.

Pay attention to what they talk about.

What preoccupies a person’s mind often shows up in their words. So pay attention to what they regularly talk about. Regarding money, how do they talk about it? Does it seem to be an end or a means to something greater? God designed us not to be hoarders, but conduits through which His generosity flows. When they talk about money, do they mention generosity? Do they mention leveraging financial resources to impact their community and the world for the sake of God’s Kingdom? Pay attention to what they talk about.

Pay attention to what they do.

Pay attention to what they talk about, but more importantly, pay attention to what they do. You’ve heard it said, “Actions speak louder than words.” Words are important, but actions are more revealing. How do they spend their time? Is it self-centered or others-centered? Do they prioritize the things of God, or are they just an afterthought? Are they open-handed with their time and resources, or are their fists clenched tightly to both? Pay attention to what they do.

Pay attention to who they hang out with.

It has been said that you are the average of the five people with whom you spend the most time. Who you hang out with matters. Those you spend time with are likely either going to push you toward God or pull you away. So who are they spending the most time with? And what do those in the group talk about, and what do they do? That group may reveal something about your boyfriend or girlfriend that you did not notice before.

Money is not bad. Pursuing a relationship with someone of wealth is not bad. But be careful. Someone who appears wealthy may actually be broke, and that tells you something about that person. Wealth can mask character flaws. Don’t find yourself enjoying what you are doing more than who you are doing it with. The experiences that wealth affords can be fun, but it won’t lead to long-term personal and relational fulfillment.

Try to see past the money and seek to uncover the heart of the one you desire to pursue.

A recent survey conducted by OnePoll on behalf of Beyond Finance for National Financial Freedom Day found that many Americans are ready to make some big sacrifices to eliminate their debt, and it’s no surprise, given the rising debt ceiling. When examining average debt balances by age group, Gen Z carries $9,593, while millennials shoulder a considerably higher burden of $78,396.

The survey of 2,000 adults delves into Americans’ debt situation and their confidence in staying debt-free. Shockingly, the average person believes they can only maintain a debt-free status for eight-and-a-half weeks — less than three months — before accumulating new debt. Furthermore, only 38 percent of respondents feel “very confident” in their ability to remain out of debt.

So, what are the reasons behind this lack of confidence? The rising cost of living tops the list, with 54 percent of respondents citing it as a major factor. Unexpected expenses (46 percent), rising interest rates (29 percent), insufficient support from others (20 percent) and the pressure to keep up with others (16 percent) are also among the significant concerns.

For many, debt becomes a barrier to major life changes. The survey reveals that 33 percent of respondents have been unable to buy a home due to their debt, while 30 percent have had to delay purchasing a car.

Recognizing the need for support, around a third of respondents credit their family as the most helpful resource for managing their debt. Unfortunately, only 29 percent express “very confidence” in their ability to pay off their current debts on time, while 41 percent of respondents believe it will take them years to become debt-free.

Art Rainer, author of The Money Challenge, spoke with RELEVANT about how getting out of debt starts with taking one step at a time.

“My encouragement is to just start somewhere,” he says. “Whether it’s setting aside $1,500 for a minor emergency, or maybe just saving $25 a month, maybe even $10 a month. Do something. Start taking these steps. You’ll feel better about yourself because you’re actually doing something about your finances.”

So it may come as a surprise how she found a job she loves: by quitting her old, promising job in Silicon Valley, selling everything she had and moving to New York City.

“There was a time when I was trying to do it all and wasn’t very fulfilled, actually,” she says. “I was balancing so many projects and relationships that I couldn’t do any of them particularly well, and I had this constant fear of never having enough time.”

She wanted to take some time away from what she was obligated to do and see what time away from work would do for her. Essentially, her work didn’t take off until she learned to rest.

“I’m a high achiever, so there’s always this inclination to do more or go faster,” she says. “Slowing down, even if for a few minutes, helps me re-anchor into my truest calls and desires, so that I remain focused.”

People often talk about how much they love vacations, naps and thanking God it’s Friday, but let’s be real: Work is our true obsession.

In 2016, more than half of American workers left vacation days unused. In America, this fear of real leisure goes to the heart of our national perspective and the way we tend to view ourselves and the world around us. The truth is, many of us have been raised with an insidious fear of rest. And that fear runs contrary not just to reality but to biblical teaching.

The Protestant Work Ethic

Though few may be truly cognizant of it, the deep belief in the dignity of work is uniquely American, hailing all the way back to those industrious Puritans. John Smith famously told the colonizers of Jamestown, “He who does not work, neither shall he eat,” quoting a part of a verse in 2 Thessalonians.

Ralph Waldo Emerson’s 1841 essay, “Self-Reliance,” became a sort of manifesto, by propagating the idea that destinies are achieved through hard work and leaning on your own ability to get things done. He wrote, “It is easy to see that a greater self-reliance must work a revolution in all the offices and relations of men; in their religion; in their education; in their pursuits; their modes of living; their association; in their property; in their speculative views.”

Research does show work can have a positive overall effect on people’s sense of well-being. But America has tended to lean so much into the value and dignity of work that it has neglected—and in many cases even disparaged— the value of rest.

God’s Vacation Day

“Hebrews 4 develops this idea of rest eschatologically,” says Dr. Andrew Abernethy, associate professor of the Old Testament at Wheaton College. “As believers head toward God’s rest that is found in Christ, Jesus invites the weary to find rest by taking His yoke on, by living according to His vision for life instead of the burdensome types of living.”

It is probably notable that the very first thing the Bible describes God doing is is creating—an activity you can probably describe as “work,” however loosely. But it’s also notable that the second activity the Bible ascribes to God is rest. His only work on that day, according to Genesis 2, was to “bless the Sabbath and make it holy.”

It was this action, and not the six days of work that preceded it, that would make an appearance in the Ten Commandments. “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy,” the fourth commandment says.

Whatever spiritual good there may be to work, God was determined to stress the spiritual importance of taking a Sabbath.

“Although unique to Israel, other societies [can] learn the value of rest in these commands to align with the rhythms of creation,” Abernethy says. “Particularly in Deuteronomy 5, societies see the need to provide rest for slaves, workers and even animals.”

Exactly what “honoring the Sabbath” looks like has been a matter of debate over the millennia.

The Israelites themselves observed very strict laws. The Jewish Talmud explicitly forbids 39 specific activities on the Sabbath, running the gamut from baking bread to extinguishing a fire, even to save your house (exceptions can be made if someone’s life is being threatened). One of the rules, which forbids harvesting, got Jesus’ disciples in trouble when Pharisees caught them plucking heads of grain. Jesus defended His disciples with this intriguing phrase from Mark 2: “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.”

In early American history, resting on the Sabbath became its own kind of industry. Not only were Puritans forbidden from working on the Sabbath, but they were forbidden from playing, too. It was not to be a day of rest so much as one of not doing much of anything.

The Sabbath Was Made for Man

Research indicates there is no clear cut line between having a job and a personal sense of well-being. It’s true that being unemployed makes people less happy, according to a Gallup Poll, but those in blue-collar jobs aren’t much happier. According to the study, the best professional predictor of real happiness wasn’t work, but work-life balance. It seems that in order for the intangible benefits of work to truly take root, they must be wedded to the benefits of rest.

In America, there is no guarantee of this. New parents are not guaranteed time off from work to care for a new baby, and the elderly in the U.S. are being forced to push back their retirement for lack of funds. This is to say nothing of those who work two jobs and still struggle to make ends meet.

The research suggests that these are the signs of a culture that has elevated the virtues of work at the expense of the virtues of rest, a culture that has become so fixated on the idea that jobs are an inherently good thing that we don’t believe there’s anything valuable about the alternative.

As a result, Americans are overstressed and literally working themselves into an early grave. A nine-year study found skipping vacation days raises your chances of a heart attack by 30 to 50 percent. Working long hours can boost your mortality rate by 20 percent. Working more than 40 hours a week increases your risk of a stroke by 10 percent.

Abernethy suggests that when God instructed people to observe the Sabbath, He did so not as a favor, but because it was good for them to have one. It’s a necessity.

“In some contexts, keeping the Sabbath may look a lot like the Jewish practice of observing Sabbath from Friday evening until sundown on Saturday,” Abernethy says. “For others, akin to Isaiah 58, it might look like ensuring that laborers receive fair treatment and rest. For others … it looks like setting one day apart each week to refrain from working in order to reorient around God as creator and redeemer and to take time to recreate within my family.”

This may seem obvious. Most people in salaried positions are already afforded a weekend, and despite the lack of federal regulation, plenty of companies do offer benefits like maternity leave and vacation pay. Does the United States really need extra encouragement to rest?

The research suggests the answer is yes. You can’t really make the case that attending an hour of church on Sunday is what God meant by “keep the Sabbath holy.” We know the difference between working hard and being lazy at our jobs. But there’s such a thing as being lazy at our rest, too.

The Sabbath was set aside for worship, and worship can look like many things. Good conversations with friends, pursuing new interests, exploring creative outlets or visiting with family members all bring honor to God in a distinctly worshipful way. But they all take intention, too.

“When I was in pastoral ministry, [Sabbath] was on Thursday; now, it is Sunday for me,” Abernethy says. “We should not be dogmatic about what honoring Sabbath looks like today, but church communities, families and individuals should allow this part of God’s Word to address them as Scripture and wrestle with what it would look like to respond faithfully.”

And this is what it means to rest well. Not to be dogmatic about a day of the week but to be disciplined about building a rhythm of rest into your life.

That’s what Rae learned to do. By leaving a job that gave her no margin for a life with more built-in ways to step back from work and observe a Sabbath, she was able to find even more reward not just in the rest but in the work, too. A healthy balance between rest and work ends up benefiting both aspects.

So, take a vacation. Set up some strict boundaries around your job and stick to them. If your career doesn’t give you margin to rest, then consider making some tough decisions. The Sabbath was made for you.

“We live in a culture of do more, better, and faster,” Rae says. “The emphasis is on speed and outcomes versus the journey there. ‘Success stories’ tell the overnight wins people created, but not the messy middle of getting there, [but] I see this shifting slowly as more people vulnerably share the highs and lows of the journey.”

And for Rae, and for a lot more of us, that journey starts to sound a lot better once you realize that it includes margin for rest.

I was in my early 20s when I first met John, and I was completely enamored with the love of my life and soon-to-be husband. He could absolutely do no wrong in my eyes. Since dating was perpetually awesome, naturally I assumed marriage would be even more awesome. Why wouldn’t it be?

The actual experience of marriage shattered my idealism because when you’re living with someone day in and day out, you quickly move from expectations to reality. But after 10 years, I see John in a much deeper, more significant way. He’s no longer the man who could do no wrong. Rather, he’s a human being who has flaws, weaknesses and sins, just like I do. I’ve seen the beautiful sides to him, and I’ve also seen the ugly sides to him. Sides he’s also seen in me.

But in the reality of who he is, my love for him has been forged so much deeper. Not despite of his weaknesses, but because of his weaknesses. I see him—the real him—and I love him more deeply with each day. Because you can’t experience real love with a person until you’ve experienced the entirety of a person—the good, the bad, the ugly and the beautiful.

FROM ASSUMPTIONS TO TRUTH

We all enter relationships with a set of underlying assumptions, even though we often don’t notice their existence. They shape our actions, choices, behaviors and feelings, and they influence our interactions. Our view of relationships is shaped by the relationships we engage in starting from the earliest years of our life. Everything we know about love begins taking shape based on how love was communicated to us in the early years of our childhood within the context of our family of origin.

Assumptions are shaped by past relationship experiences, from the way we interacted with our parents or the people who raised us, to the friendships we develop, to the people we date, and all the way through to marriage. And slowly, those assumptions begin making their way into how we interact with the people closest to us, which is oftentimes why they go unnoticed until we get married.

In gathering research to formulate the chapters of this book, I asked over 1,000 married people to identify what areas of marriage came with the biggest reality check. Here’s what they reported:

Personality Differences

Opposites attract. We tend to be drawn to people who possess the qualities, strengths and personality traits we lack. It’s not uncommon for an introvert to be married to an extrovert. Or for the funny guy to be married to the serious gal. Or for the laid-back person to be married to the structured person. And it makes sense because we are often attracted to people who add something to our life. So yes, opposites do attract—but then they attack.

The very same personality traits that draw you to someone initially are the exact traits that can cause conflict later on. My husband and I have some significant differences in our personalities. We often joke that I’m the gas, and he’s the brakes. I tend to want to go, go, go through life, while his laid-back personality keeps us grounded and present. Our unique qualities add depth and balance to our marriage, but if we’re not careful, these differences can cause major misunderstanding and tension.

It takes a serious commitment to understand each other, communicate and allow our personality differences to become an asset rather than a point of contention. The many different layers to our personalities need to be understood and expressed throughout marriage.

Sexual Issues

I remember one of the very first times I worked with a couple who came in for sexual issues. They had been married for four years and hadn’t consummated their marriage. After a series of counseling sessions, we were able to dig deep and uncover the reasons. There was a lot of guilt and shame attached to the topic of sex, and those assumptions had to be undone through the process of counseling. The good news is that within a few months of counseling, they were able to move forward in healing and finally experience sex in a meaningful way.

These types of sexual struggles aren’t as uncommon as one would think—they just aren’t talked about. In fact, in my survey of 1,000 married people, 80 percent reported experiencing sexual struggles in marriage. So many people are dealing with the reality check of sexual issues and problems, and because of the stigma we’ve created surrounding this important topic, many couples end up needlessly suffering for far too long. We tell couples that just because they wait, their sex life will be great, rather than preparing them for the potential issues that might arise along the way.

No matter what aspect of sexual struggles you’re experiencing in your marriage, there’s hope for healing (much more on this in Choosing Marriage chapter 8: “Sex Marks the Spot”).

Lifestyle Differences

I remember my first holiday experience with John’s family shortly after we first got married because it was probably the first time my expectations of marriage were met with the reality of marriage. Sitting around the quiet Thanksgiving table with just a handful of immediate family was totally not what I was used to. At my Thanksgiving celebrations, there is no such thing as quiet or dining room tables for that matter—just one long, loud and crazy buffet line. Thanksgiving with his family was quiet, intimate and more relaxed than anything I’d ever experienced.

It was hard for me to adjust. I remember escaping upstairs during our first holiday together as a married couple and letting out a few tears in the middle of a lifestyle difference I was learning to adapt to.

No matter what aspect of lifestyle we’re talking about (social life, hobbies, preferences, activity levels, timeliness, cleanliness and so on), these differences can easily cause hardships in a relationship because of the nature of two different people learning to become one. But then again, they also have the power to connect two people in an intimate way. John and I have learned to see the extremes of the different families we come from and have decided to create a new family culture with a balance of social time and family time that works for us.

Gender Roles

For some couples, particularly those who come from a more traditional perspective, managing gender roles in marriage can come with major conflict. I counseled a couple for whom this became a major issue about two years into their marriage. He was a hardworking country boy who wanted to provide for his wife and family. She was a talented, driven entrepreneur who wanted to take her business to the next level. But eventually his desire for a traditional family setting (the husband works while the wife stays home and takes care of the kids) clashed with her desire to maximize her talents and grow her business. After a few short counseling sessions, in which neither of them were willing to pursue a middle ground or sacrifice in any way, they decided to divorce.

It’s heartbreaking when something such as this proves to be the breaking point in a marriage relationship. But this doesn’t have to be the case for every marriage. There is always a middle ground that can be found for those who are willing to choose marriage versus choosing tradition. I’m happy to say that I am seeing this topic become less and less of an issue in our generation today.

Dealing with Extended Family  

When you choose a spouse, you get their whole family as well. If you’re single, it’s important to be prepared for this reality and learn as much as you possibly can about the family before you become one of them. And for those of us who are married, it’s important to continually prioritize our marriages by setting boundaries with our extended family that simultaneously encourage relationship and reduce conflict.

I know one young man who is currently dealing with the verbal “stings” his mother-in-law tends to throw his way through subtle criticism. But rather than allow that interaction to destroy their marriage, he and his wife have learned to come together, take each other’s side and set boundaries for the type of interactions they choose to engage with her. We need to learn to choose marriage for our relationships to come out stronger.

Finances

You’re probably not surprised by this answer because we all hear the sentence, “Financial stress is one of the leading causes of divorce” thrown around. Whether we’re wired to spend or save, our differences can cause serious stress.

I met with a young man who had grown up in a home where there was financial instability and strain. He came to be a firm believer in working hard and saving wisely. His girlfriend, though, was on the opposite side of the spending spectrum. She wanted to enjoy life by spending along the way. As you can imagine, these differences in financial assumptions and beliefs were going to eventually work their way into the reality check of their future marriage. I was proud to see two people who could identify and begin working through these assumptions before they entered marriage.

EMBRACING REALITY

I firmly believe the more we know about marriage, the better we’ll do.  Knowledge equips us with understanding and understanding sets us up for success. When we know what to expect along the journey of marriage and relationships, we’ll be much more likely to choose the right path and make the right choices along the way. Whether you are currently single or married, it’s important to prepare yourself for the realities of marriage by understanding that each of the six categories above will come with a set of obstacles in some way, shape, or form; and then do your best to learn and prepare for those times.

Because the best remedy for dealing with our false expectations, is by immersing ourselves with truth.

This article is an adapted excerpt from Debra’s new book, Choosing Marriage, and is used by permission. If you’re looking for practical ways to navigate the reality of sex, conflict, communication, personality, confession and oneness in marriage, pick up your copy today! Available wherever books are sold.

I had no idea.

But succeeding financially isn’t as clear-cut as a dog catching its tail. We can catch up with success so gradually that we hardly realize it. Maybe it’s the house payments we can always make on schedule now, or the vacation that’s finally within reach. Maybe it’s the incremental growth of your small business or the promotions so small that you hardly realize you’re now making almost twice what you made five or 10 years ago.

But when success is gradual, it’s easy to let our expenses slowly grow without intentionally considering the growth of our giving as well.

Here are four reasons to consider whether your giving has kept up with your success.

1. Reconsider your definition of wealth.

If you have more than enough money, it’s time to think seriously about how you give. But how we define “enough” is relative.

According to a 2011 Gallup poll, most Americans think they would need about twice their current income to be rich. Those earning $50,000 per year said they’d need about $100,000 to be rich, but people earning that much didn’t call themselves rich—they said they’d need about $200,000 to qualify.

Our concepts of what it means to be rich are very much conditioned by those around us. When we look outside of North America and consider the global economy, the standard of what it means to be rich changes drastically.

We hear a lot about the “one-percenters,” that is, those in the top one percent of income or assets. In the U.S., those in the top one percent either earn more than $500,000 a year or own more than five million dollars in assets. But if we expand our gaze to include the whole world, anyone earning over $32,000 a year is a “one-percenter.”

2. Focus your impact.

In addition to giving to your local church, there are many opportunities to make an impact on the community around you. Global missions. Local schools. Crisis pregnancy centers. Children in poverty. Struggling single moms. Refugees fleeing conflict. It’s easy to look at all the needs and opportunities in the world and say, “I can’t do it all. I can’t take on this many issues.”

Like any half-truth, there’s something right about this. You may not be able to change everything at once. You may not even be able to change everything ever. But we are still responsible for what we can change.

God gives each of us individual burdens for specific needs of the Church and the world. Think about your purpose, about the needs and issues that move you to tears. Visualize them. What if there were only three, maybe four, things you could say with your life? Would you want those things to be said on accident, or would you want to pick the ones to be said? Use those priorities to focus your giving.

3. Look for long-term impact.

In Mere Christianity, C.S. Lewis writes, “If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next. … It is since Christians have largely ceased to think of the other world that they have become so ineffective in this. Aim at Heaven, and you will get earth ‘thrown in’: aim at earth, and you will get neither.”

Our modest gifts can seem paltry in comparison to the huge needs in the world, and it can seem like it’d hardly make a difference to spend the money on ourselves. But how long will the things we want to buy for ourselves last? Compare that to the last impact of a ministry that is preaching the gospel or helping people lift themselves out of poverty. Even more, compare the things you could buy yourself with the treasure laid up in heaven.

4. Give.

I don’t know about you, but I find it easy to research needs and ministries, consider my burdens, make plans—and then run out of momentum before I actually give any money.

Clear out a time this week where you can sit down and consider issues and opportunities for giving, and then ask someone you trust to hold you accountable to actually following through and giving. You won’t regret it.

Todd DeKruyter is the author of the book Navigating Life with More than Enough. Combining his personal experiences with affluence and his time as a financial advisor, he loves helping people consider how to live wisely with the money God has entrusted to them.

It’s no surprise that social media isn’t exactly great for your mental health. And for many Gen Zers and millennials, social media apps are actually a major source of financial anxiety.

A new study by Deloitte found that 51 percent of Gen Zers and 43 percent of millennials say that social media makes them want to buy things they know they can’t afford. This is likely due to the fact that social media is constantly bombarding users with images of people who seem to have it all — fancy clothes, expensive cars and lavish vacations.

Of course, not everyone on social media is actually living the high life. Many people post carefully curated images that don’t reflect their true financial situation. But for Gen Z and millennials who are already struggling to make ends meet, seeing these images can still be incredibly disheartening.

It doesn’t help that Gen Z and millennials are more likely to live paycheck to paycheck than previous generations thanks to the rising cost of living, student loan debt and inflation.

The combination of social media and financial anxiety can be a recipe for disaster. When people are constantly comparing themselves to others and feeling like they can’t afford the things they see, it can lead to some some major mental health issues like depression and anxiety.