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What We’ll Cover

In this episode, we have the chance to talk to John Cortines, coauthor of the books God and Money as well as True Riches: What Jesus Really Said About Money and Your Heart. He currently serves as Director of Generosity at The Maclellan Foundation and has also served as the Chief Operations Officer of Generous Giving, a nonprofit dedicated to opening the conversation about generosity. He shares his story starting with a six figure salary out of college on the fast track to early retirement before radically changing his perspective on wealth and faith during his time at Harvard Business School. He and his coauthor Greg Baumer have written and spoken widely about the idea of a financial finish line, and we had many questions for John about the subject.

Quotes to Remember

• “Generosity is actually a mechanism for getting closer to God, and it brings joy, and it brings freedom, and it opens up a whole new avenue to purpose in life.”
• “We had come into a study of God and money to ask, ‘How much so we really need to give?, but God flipped our perspective to, ‘How much do we need to keep?'”
• “Rather than saying ‘What do I want to give money to?’, say ‘What does God’s Word direct me to?’. And then, in the process of giving to that, to actually cry out to God and say, ‘God, I don’t have your heart, but I believe you can shape mine and make it more like yours.'”

Links from the Show

• God and Money, by John Cortines and Greg Baumer (also see our interview with Greg Baumer)
• The Finish Line Calculator
• Generous Giving (see our interviews with cofounders Todd Harper and David Wills and CEO, April Chapman)
• Generous Giving Journey of Generosity
• Maclellan Foundation
• Compassion International

Bible References from the Show

Luke 12:13-21 | The Rich Fool

13 Someone in the crowd said to him, “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.” 14 But he said to him, “Man, who made me a judge or arbitrator over you?” 15 And he said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” 16 And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, 17 and he thought to himself, ‘What shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ 18 And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods.19 And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.”’ 20 But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ 21 So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.”

Proverbs 30:8 | Give Me Only What I Need

8 Keep falsehood and lies far from me; give me neither poverty nor riches, but give me only my daily bread.

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