Christian Finance Blog

5 Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ. 6 Try to please them all the time, not just when they are watching you. As slaves of Christ, do the will of God with all your heart. 7 Work with enthusiasm, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. 8 Remember that the Lord will reward each one of us for the good we do, whether we are slaves or free.

9 Masters, treat your slaves in the same way. Don’t threaten them; remember, you both have the same Master in heaven, and he has no favorites.

Ephesians 6:5-9 (NLT)

Although the 13th Amendment ended slavery throughout the United States in 1865 (although slavery still exists in the world and even in the U.S. in the form of sexual slavery and other forms) this passage of Scripture still has relevance today in the workplace. We need to respect our bosses and supervisors by working with enthusiasm even when they are not there.

Bosses also need to treat employees with respect and dignity. We ultimately have the same judge and that is God.

From the Life Application Bible:

Paul’s instructions encourage responsibility and integrity on the job. Christian employees should do their jobs as if Jesus Christ were their supervisor. And Christian employers should treat their employees fairly and with respect. Can you be trusted to do your best, even when your boss is not around? Do you work hard and with enthusiasm? Do you treat your employees as people, not machines? Remember that no matter whom you work for, and no matter who works for you, the one you ultimately should want to please is your Father in heaven.

Looks like WaMu has extended their online 5.00% CD for both 12 and 13 month terms. They had briefly lowered rates to 4.50% but now they are back up to 5.00%. This is a great rate and the highest I know of for any FDIC insured CD.

You can only open it online with a minimum of $1,000. Make sure to have less than the $100,000 FDIC insurance limit.

Here’s a step-by-step guide on how to get your free credit report from all three credit bureaus (Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion) once every year (12 months).

It’s important to check your credit report to make sure there are no mistakes, errors or signs of identity theft. According to Consumer Reports, consumers find 13 million errors on their credit reports every year. And CNN Money says that 1 in 4 credit reports have errors serious enough to affect your FICO score drastically. This can affect the interest rate on loans and even your job prospects. Remember that your FICO scores (you have three of them; one from each credit bureau) is based on your credit reports.

Not only that, identity theft is the fastest growing crime in the country with over 9 million victims a year (Better Business Bureau). It’s so important to check your credit reports! And because they’re free, you have no reason not to. I stagger the three reports every four months. So I pull one in January, April, and September each and every year.

So here’s the quick step-by-step instructions:

1. Go to annualcreditreport.com. It’s the only place to get free credit reports from all three credit bureaus. Freecreditreport.com is not government-sanctioned or free and you’ll be signing up for a recurring bill if you try them so avoid them like the plague! Select your state and click “Request Report”.

2. Enter your personal information including name, date of birth, SS#, address.

3. Select the credit bureau reports that you want. Experian, Equifax, or TransUnion. Click Next.

4. Click Next again. You will be taken to the credit bureau’s website. View your free credit report. Do not pay for anything. The credit report itself is free. Anything else is an added service and not needed. Don’t pay for any “credit scores” as these are not actual FICO scores that the majority of banks use. You can only get true FICO scores at myFICO.com and these are not free. I would either print it out or save as a PDF file for your records.

And that’s it! Four easy steps! Now you don’t have an excuse not to pull your credit report 3 times a year. And all for free!

“You have reached the pinnacle of success as soon as you become uninterested in money, compliments, or publicity.”

Thomas Wolfe

What are your motives in life? Money, success, celebrity? As Christians, we have a higher calling, a higher purpose, a greater motive in life! We need to have an eternal perspective and not a “life-on-earth” perspective which is short-sighted. We know that our home is in heaven. We can be truly successful when we have an eternal perspective on life.

26 Don’t agree to guarantee another person’s debt or put up security for someone else. 27 If you can’t pay it, even your bed will be snatched from under you.

Proverbs 22:26-27 (NLT)

Here’s another reason not to co-sign for a loan for anyone. Because the Bible says so! If you do co-sign for someone, make sure you can pay for it because it is your debt. And more often than not, it will become your debt as soon as the person you “helped” stops making payments. This will ruin your credit because it is your debt. In addition to that, your relationship with that person will most likely be ruined as well.

Just don’t do it.

“Money can’t buy friends, but it can get you a better class of enemy.”

Spike Milligan

It is amazing how jealousy can rise up when someone has more money than someone else. That’s why people say never to discuss salary or wage with co-workers. Because it really doesn’t matter what your co-workers make. As long as you’re giving it 110% of your effort and working hard, you should be getting what you’re worth. If you’re not, negotiate with your employer or look for another job where you’ll be paid what you’re worth. And remember that you probably make more than 90% of the world.

Now through this Friday, August 29th, WaMu is offering a 13-month 5.00% APY CD available in the branches, online, or by phone. They are really pushing this hard and is a great rate. Penalty for early withdrawal is 90 days interest.

They are also offering a 12-month 5.00% CD online which might be better for you if you don’t want to lock in your money for 13 months. I’m not sure when this deal expires, though. This is only available online. Minimum is $1000 to open for both.

I’m thinking about opening one up myself. This may be a desperation move for the large bank to get some cash but I wouldn’t be worried unless you have more than $100,000 with them. The FDIC will cover everything under $100,000.

The FDIC (Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.) shut down the Columbian Bank of Topeka in Kansas yesterday which had about $752 million in assets and $622 million in deposits.

This is already the ninth bank failure this year. There were $46 million in uninsured deposits by 610 accounts at the bank that exceeded the $100,000 insurance limit.

Now, I don’t write this stuff to scare you. I write this to let you know that you will be covered under the FDIC insurance for any deposits under $100,000 at a FDIC-insured bank. You don’t have to worry.

For more on this subject, check out this and this.

Source: CNN Money, FDIC

32 All the believers were united in heart and mind. And they felt that what they owned was not their own, so they shared everything they had. 33 The apostles testified powerfully to the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, and God’s great blessing was upon them all. 34 There were no needy people among them, because those who owned land or houses would sell them 35 and bring the money to the apostles to give to those in need.

Acts 4:32-35 (NLT)

From the Life Application Bible:

The early church was able to share possessions and property as a result of the unity brought by the Holy Spirit working in and through the believers’ lives. This way of living is different from communism because (1) the sharing was voluntary; (2) it didn’t involve all private property but only as much as was needed; (3) it was not a membership requirement in order to be a part of the church. The spiritual unity and generosity of these early believers attracted others to them. This organizational structure is not biblical command, but it offers vital principles for us to follow.

I’m still working on moving everything to the new server at christianfinanceblog.com. I’m also working on a brand new design for the blog! Here’s a little preview of what’s to come:

Hope you like it! Let me know if you have any design ideas or suggestions. It’s just a mockup right now. I still have to do the coding for it. I’ll let you know when the blog’s ready to switch over to christianfinanceblog.com.

In the meantime, subscribe to the RSS feed and you’ll always be up to date on everything going on here including when it switches over.

Yes, that’s right! Christian Finance Blog is changing hosts! Currently the blog is hosted for free at Wordpress.com but I have secured some private hosting for the blog and will be moving to hosting directly on christianfinanceblog.com.

In the meantime, you can still access my blog at christianfinance.wordpress.com. The christianfinanceblog.com will likely not work while I get it set up to go. I’ll let you know when it’s ready to use again! Thanks for being faithful and loyal readers and stay tuned for more great stuff!

“You have not lived a perfect day, even though you have earned your money, unless you have done something for someone who will never be able to repay you.”

Ruth Smeltzer

This is one of the basic premises of the Christian faith. Giving. Jesus came to give his life for us. God gave his only son. Christians are to give. Give your smile today. Give your time today. Give to God today. Today is the day that the Lord has made so let us be glad and rejoice in it!

It is such a joy to be in a position to give. Giving (or loving) without expecting anything in return is true unconditional love. To help someone without the means to repay you is true unconditional love. Do something for someone on purpose. You will be blessed for it!

10 For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.

Ephesians 2:10 (NLT)

From the Life Application Bible :

We are God’s masterpiece (work of art, workmanship). Our salvation is something only God can do. It is his powerful, creative work in us. If God considers us his masterpieces, we dare not treat ourselves or others with disrespect or as inferior work.

Skip recently wrote to me asking a very interesting question. Here it is in full:

“Part of my spouses income has been acquired through sinful means in my opinion. My spouse does not believe she is being sinful.

What does the Bible say about money earned through sinful means? Should it be returned (likely impossible in this case), given to charity or … what?

I feel a little guilt at having the benefit of that money acquired sinfully. What should I do?”

Here’s my advice on this situation.

If it’s possible, it should be returned. Remember what Zacchaeus did in Luke 19:8. He was a tax collector and essentially stole money by collecting more taxes than were due. He gave half of his goods to the poor and returned four times as much to anyone he stole from.

However, money acquired “sinfully” sometimes cannot be returned. I think it’s okay to give it to charity but it also comes down to a similar question, “Should a preacher accept “sinful” money like drug money?” Giving to God is a matter of the heart. An acceptable gift depends on the person’s heart and not the source of the money. Zacchaeus gave half of his wealth to the poor. Then Jesus said that salvation had come to Zacchaeus.

I also think it’s okay to keep the money as long as there is true repentance (turning from the sin and turning to God) and to not to earn the money sinfully again.

I think the bigger issue is why your spouse doesn’t think it’s sinful. It’s hard for me to say without knowing the exact situation but there are some clear-cut principles laid out in the Bible. Stealing is obviously wrong. So is prostitution or gambling. If there is some debate as to whether it’s sinful or not, there are some sin issues that need to be sorted out; not the issue of what to do with the money.

Have a question? Ask me today and I just might answer it right here!

It’s August 8, 2008 today. That means it’s 08.08.08. Today marks the official start of the 2008 Beijing Olympics. It also happens to be one of the most popular wedding days this year (like 07.07.07 last year). And apparently the number 8 is considered good luck in the Chinese culture. Not only that, the number eight often means “new beginnings” biblically because the root word for eight is “put off” as in “putting off the old man”. This marks a new beginning as we are born again and start fresh. So if you’re struggling with some stuff, let today mark a new beginning in your life! God bless!