• A Different Perspective Official Podcast

  • By: Berni Dymet
  • Podcast
A Different Perspective Official Podcast By cover art

A Different Perspective Official Podcast

By: Berni Dymet
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  • Summary

  • God has a habit of wanting to speak right into the circumstances that we’re travelling through here and now; the very issues that we each face in our everyday lives. Everything from dealing with difficult people … to discovering how God speaks to us; from overcoming stress … to discovering your God-given gifts and walking in the calling that God has placed on your life And that’s what these daily 10 minute A Different Perspective messages are all about.
    Christianityworks
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Episodes
  • Marriage and Money // Living Generously, Part 4

    Marriage and Money // Living Generously, Part 4
    Jun 6 2024
    If ever there were a tricky combination – it’d have to be combination of marriage and money. Anyone who’s married knows exactly what I’m talking about, perhaps, hey? It kind of makes a lot of sense for husband and wife to get on the same page when it comes to the often difficult area of their finances. Berni: Alex, great to have you on the program again today. Alex: Thanks for having me, Berni. Berni: Mate, why do so many people, in fact so many couples, struggle with money? Alex: Well I think when it comes to couples we all come into marriage with very different things. We come in with different upbringings, different cultures in some cases, different personalities, gender differences. There’s all these sorts of things about us that are different. And also you put these two people together, and as Christians we call it two becoming one, and sometimes that can cause quite, you know, chaotic behaviour. But if we address, say, the issue of upbringing. OK, so one partner may come from a family where money was tough, it was always hard. And that person’s likely to be fairly security conscious because they always struggled and they’re always looking for a way of sort of protecting themselves so that they don’t find themselves in the same situation that they had when they were growing up. Other people, on the other hand, may have grown up in a family whereby they were big spenders. Money was easy, it was all care-free and they just spent everything. So when you put those kind of two people together, there can be immediate conflict. Because there’s a conflict then over perceived needs versus wants, and one could see ... and that could be very, very different as to what those needs and wants are. Berni: Yeah, it’s not easy. Why are Christians called to manage their money differently from everyone else? Alex: Yeah, I think from a Christian perspective we need to look at it as being God’s stewards. So stewardship is really the idea that we are managing something on behalf of somebody else. So as a Christian you’re managing the resources on behalf of God. In fact, I call it the three ‘T’s. You’ve got to manage time, talent and treasure. In the context of what we’re talking about now, we’re talking about money. So how do you manage the treasure that God’s blessed you with? So the Christian view, then, with money is as I was saying, "OK if it’s God’s money, what are going to do to honour God with that money? How are we going to glorify him, how are we going to use this money in a way that advances His kingdom, His purposes?" Because that’s ultimately why we’re here. We’re here, you know, we get saved, we get saved for a reason so that we can actually then extend His kingdom here on earth. Berni: Let’s bring that into marriage. Boy meets girl, they fall in love, they decide to get married, right. Often they come into a marriage these days with quite disparate financial situations and one of the things that’s becoming very popular round the world now is pre-nuptials, right. Alex: Yes. Berni: This idea that, ‘Well this is my money and if something happens to our marriage then these are the rules.’ What’s your take? From a biblical perspective of two becoming one ... Alex: Yes. Berni: Husband and wife. What’s your take on this whole prenuptial thing? Alex: Well, look I think pre-nuptials - it’s built from the idea that it may fail one day. And I think as a Chris ... that’s a very flawed way of thinking. Because if you go into marriage thinking it might fail, then it probably will. I actually think you’ve got to actually start from the perspective that we will never get divorced and that’s got to be your attitude when you go into it. And therefore you’re much more on the right page. From the point of view of two becoming one, so how is a couple ... what does that really mean when it comes to money? Well I think the first thing is you need to have a common vision. Because often what happens is we all have different interests, different passions and pursuits and we often then wander off as couples in different directions. But I think as a Christian you need to actually bring that back in. So what is the common vision? We’ve named our organisation ‘Wealth with Purpose’ for this reason. Because as a couple your wealth should have a purpose. The other thing is our society now teaches us that we have to be independent. And that’s a very dangerous way of thinking. As a couple you need to be interdependent on each other and dependent on God for your provision. Because if you’re just running off in your own direction being independent, inevitably you’re going to clash. And it then becomes his and her money. Whereas in fact it’s not even his or her money, it’s not even our money, it’s actually God’s money. So it really changes the way you think about it. And I think also we should have shared goals, shared...
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    10 mins
  • Understanding The Times // Living Generously, Part 3

    Understanding The Times // Living Generously, Part 3
    Jun 5 2024
    You’ve heard that old Chinese curse, I guess, “May you live in interesting times”. Well, these days we certainly are living in interesting times. Very interesting times, especially when it comes to this whole topic of money and finances. Alex: Thanks for having me, Berni. Berni: Hey, is it just me or had the world gone crazy? I mean governments seem to be spending so much more money than they have. What’s going on in this world? Alex: Yeah, look, it is quite amazing. I mean we’ve got a situation, really around the world, where we’ve been living beyond our means for a very long time. Probably 30, 40 years. As a result of that, it’s now sort of coming home to roost. There’s a lot of pressure on societies. Most governments around the world have racked up enormous debts over a very long time. Through running what we call budget deficits. Which simply means there’s more money going out in terms of spending versus money coming in in the form of taxes. And you can only do that for so long before you go broke. Berni: That’s not rocket science, right? I mean, you and I both know that in our personal budgets. Alex: Exactly right, it’s not. But I think the problem is governments feel under enormous pressure to deliver on what they’ve promised. And no politician wants to be the bad guy who takes away the cookies, if you like. So many of them have promised all sorts of things and you see these endless debates on TV around issues around healthcare, retirement, and so forth. And so governments have promised many benefits for the citizens into the future that 100 years ago they either didn’t need to pay, because of demographics: we didn’t live as long 100 years ago. But now we’re living longer the pressure on the economic system is much harder. The number of people in the work who are supporting paying taxes to fund people in retirement, for example, is very, very out of whack and it’s getting harder and harder. Berni: I mean, US debt is ballooning, right? Alex: Yeah, I mean their government alone owes $19 trillion and that’s just the federal government. That doesn’t include state local government and doesn’t include the household debt which takes you to $60 trillion and it’s mind-boggling. Berni: Just to put trillion in perspective, if I were to count from one to a trillion, right, one second at a time would take me almost 32,000 years. Just to put the number trillion ... because trillion doesn’t mean anything to us, right? It’s an unbelievably large number. Alex: Exactly, although the question I always ask people is how many zeros in a trillion. Berni: What is it? Alex: It’s 12 zeros, it’s frightening. Berni: And so is that spending behaviour translating into our personal psyche as well? Alex: Absolutely. I think it’s very pervasive now at the household level. Many of us feel under enormous pressure to, you know, to keep up with the Joneses. To have this sort of pressure to have a house, to have a car, to have all these sorts of things is ... it’s endless. Doesn’t matter really where you live in the world there’s always a pressure to have more. And the media certainly feeds on that through advertising and so forth. So it’s very, very difficult for now for people to try and bring in the biblical perspective and the eternal perspective into their money. Berni: OK, well let’s talk about the biblical ... because it’s going to take eternity for some of these people to pay off their debt. Alex: Yeah. Berni: Right. So let’s bring the biblical perspective. What are the ... what does God’s word actually have to say about money, about wealth, about debt. What’s the stuff that strikes you for from God’s word? Alex: You know, look, well, it’s amazing how much it does say this. More than 2300 verses in the Bible on money, wealth and possessions. Berni: Wow. Alex: And it was 15% of Jesus’ teaching. He talked about money more than anything else. Of course there’s good reason for that. And that is because of the impact that it has on our relationship with God. But in terms of day-to-day finances, one of the classic ones is in the Proverbs where it says debt can lead to slavery. It’s a warning message. In fact, many of the messages in the Bible about money are actually warning messages. So the problem at the moment, when we’re talking about these debts around the world and in the US and indeed in most countries, is you have to pay the debt back. Berni: Yes. Alex: And of course you have to service the interest on the debt. And as the debt gets bigger and bigger it gets harder and harder just to pay the interest bill. The most frightening country in the world, I think, is Japan where a third of their government budget is just paying the interest on the debt. And the interest is at 1% or below on the debt. Berni: Wow. Alex: So if interest rates went to 3% in Japan, essentially the ...
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    10 mins
  • If You Had Your Time Over // Living Generously, Part 2

    If You Had Your Time Over // Living Generously, Part 2
    Jun 4 2024
    I’m sure as you look back on your life you can see some mistakes that you’ve made in the area of your finances. I certainly can. And, you know, it would be kind of nice if we avoided those mistakes in the future. Berni: Alex, welcome to the program. I guess even though these days you’re a bit of a money expert, right? Call I call you that? Alex: I don’t think there is such a thing! Berni: I guess you’ve made a few mistakes along the way yourself? Alex: I’m embarrassed to say but yes, absolutely. A few. More than one. Berni: What sort of a household did you grow up in? Was it rich or poor? Did your parents manage their money well or not? I mean, what did you take away from your upbringing? Alex: Well actually quite a bit. I did grow up in a very affluent household by world standards. And look, that was good in many ways in the sense that my father actually ran a bank so you would hope that I’d be reasonable at you know ... Berni: You’d hope so. Alex: At finance. So ... but I guess some of the more negative sides is probably picking up spending habits. Because we were reasonably affluent we had lots of nice things: nice holidays and things like that. And, in and of themselves, there’s absolutely nothing wrong with those things. But the problem is when you’re young those things can become very, very desirable and you end up spending more money than you’re actually earning which is a common problem. So one of the mistakes I made was at 21 I had nearly $21,000 in credit card debt, it had got close to that. So I’d been at university, I had part-time jobs. I had lots of nice holidays in-between: overseas trips, skiing, you know ... and that obviously built up quite a bit of debt over time. So it wasn’t until I entered full-time work that I could start paying that back. So that was one of the mistakes I made. And I think it came from living in a house where everything was quite easy, very comfortable, and always talking about holidays and the next thing. Berni: It’s interesting; when you left home you discovered that all of a sudden, things that used to be free are no longer free. Alex: Yes. Berni: And so it takes a little while for young people ... Alex: Absolutely ... Berni: Very much to adjust to that. It must have been a sobering thing to have to climb your way out of that debt. Did your parents help you or did you actually have to dig your way out of that hole? Alex: No, I paid it all off myself. I can’t remember how long it took. I would have taken probably close to two years I suspect back in those days when my income was obviously a lot less. But certainly it’s a tough lesson. And I think these days young people are almost targets because credit is so easy and you know, these days you can actually tap and go. Money has become so easy it’s frightening. And therefore we’re actually quite vulnerable in one sense. Berni: When you were a young guy, what were your hopes and dreams and ambitions? What did they look like? Alex: Yeah and I think actually this is interesting because it raises a great point. Is how you think about money affects your behaviour. One of the things ... Berni: Say that again, it’s important. Alex: It’s very important. How you think about money shapes the way you will behave with money. Berni: OK, explain that. Alex: OK so ... and then once again this is a kind of a bit of a confession. So growing up in a house where I had a very successful father. You know, running a bank, you know, and running very big businesses. I had a drive to be successful. Now in some ways that can be not necessarily a bad thing, but can become a bad thing in the sense that you become quite status driven. How you look and how you appear to people becomes important – be it the way you dress and the car you drive. So for example at probably 21, 22 I had an expensive European car. It was debt funded and a lot of that I think was driven by my psychology at the time was that desire to want to look successful. And I mean to both be successful and actually to look it as well. And so it’s kind of that way I thought about money. Because it was wrong. Certainly wrong from a biblical perspective. You know, the call from a Christian point of view is to use your money to honour God and let him get the glory rather than you get the glory from mankind. And so you’re often chasing the praises of man rather than the praises of God. Berni: Were you a Christian back then or not? Alex: I was but I’d been a Christian from ... I became a Christian aged 17 so I think like most of us you make mistakes along the way. But I was from a non-Christian household so I’d never had you know, Christian ways drilled into me from a young age. Berni: OK, so you got yourself into this debt because you thought you had to look good and live the expensive lifestyle. I presume at some stage you got married and the whole mortgage thing ...
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    10 mins
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