Ep. 48 - Maslow, Jesus, Priorities and Success

In this abridged episode, I address Jesus followers who feel their financial efforts are misaligned with God's purpose for their lives. I discuss Maslow's Hierarchy of needs and its implications, suggesting that instead of following the typical bottom-to-top approach, one should prioritize self-actualization from the start. By discovering, developing, and deploying their unique gifts, individuals can fulfil their potential, make a significant impact, and achieve financial success. The episode encourages viewers to reverse their priorities to align with a higher purpose as guided by biblical teachings.

00:00 Introduction: Aligning Money with God's Purpose
00:41 Understanding Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs
02:54 Challenging Maslow: A Higher Way of Living
03:52 The Paradox of Priorities
06:11 Steps to Fulfilment: Discover, Develop, Deploy
07:28 Conclusion: Fulfil Your Purpose and Potential

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Transcript

0:00

Hello, Jesus follower. Do you ever feel like your money making efforts are not aligned with God's purpose for your life? The clearest evidence for that is often that you feel like you are not making the impact that you know God has put you on this earth to make. You are not maximizing your potential and also you are not making the income that you know that you could be making. Well, there's a reason you feel the way you feel. And in the next few minutes, I want to share some thoughts on what those reasons could be and also a clear path for you to align your money making efforts with your purpose so that you can maximize your potential, you can make the impact that God wants you to make and you can also make the income that you know that you should be making. So, you've probably heard of Abraham Maslow and his hierarchy of needs. So, Abraham Maslow was an American psychologist that in 1943, he wrote a paper titled, The Theory of Human Motivation. And essentially in that paper, what he was saying What's that? Human beings have basic needs, and that we will pursue those basic needs, first of all, before we begin to pursue any other needs. So he categorized our needs in this order. He said, first of all, we have these basic needs. The basic needs are the physiological and the safety needs. And he said, we then have the psychological needs, which are needs of love and belonging. But that first of all, before anybody begins to pursue or prioritize the psychological needs, they must first of all meet the basic needs. So these physiological needs of food, uh, being able to breathe, having water, those are the things that, first of all, every human being would chase. And once we meet the physiological needs, then we can begin to think about the safety needs. And not until we meet our safety needs, will we begin to think about love and belonging and being in a community that, that we love and that love us all and care about us. And when all these needs are met, then we can begin to think about self-esteem. And ultimately, when all the needs below the self-actualization needs are met, then the person will begin to think about self-actualization. Now, the implication of Maslow's hierarchy of needs is that a person will sacrifice every need that is higher. So that they can meet the needs that are lower. So until a person, for example, meets their need for food and water and shelter, they will do whatever they can do. Okay? Even if that means sacrificing their safety needs. So when a person needs to meet their safety and physiological needs, they will sacrifice their needs for love and belonging. But ultimately, that people do not begin to think about self-actualization. People do not begin to think about fulfilling their purpose, or maximizing their potential, being creative, using everything that they have to make a difference in the world, until they meet all the needs that are below that. Now, this is where it begins to get interesting, because Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs is a description of human nature. It's a description of how we behave. But does it have to be a prescription of how we should behave? I do not think so. I believe that the reason why may of us do not experience fulfilment because that's what this is. Self actualization is fulfillment. Fulfillment of potential. Fulfillment of purpose. Creativity and making a difference with what God has put inside of you. The reason why so many people do not achieve this level of living is because they are following this pattern. So they are living like every other person lives. They prioritize, first of all, their physiological needs. And then when those are met, they begin to think about their safety needs and so on and so forth. So they are living essentially from bottom to the top. But the irony and the tragedy is that when you focus on these lower needs of what to eat, what to drink, what to wear, it's all about yourself. It's a very selfish way of living. It's a way that is based on survival or that aims to achieve survival. And people who live like this, people who live from bottom up, rarely, make the amount of money that they need to make to actually live a good life. They hardly ever get to the point where they find fulfillment. I think that this is what Jesus was probably saying in Matthew chapter 6 when he said, Do not think about what to eat or what to wear. That's quite interesting. So Jesus was effectively saying, don't focus on your physiological needs, don't focus on those things, but instead, seek first the Kingdom of God. So, aim for a higher way of living. Begin from the top. Instead of living bottom up, let your priorities be reversed. So live top to bottom. And it's interesting that he goes on to say, and all these things he was referring to, what to eat, what to wear, and all of that, will be added to you. This is what I call the paradox of priorities. That when people focus on their basic needs and their safety needs, which is what most people do, that when they focus on that, they get to a point where life doesn't fulfil them. Also, very rarely, do they make the amount of money that they want to make or that they need to make to live a good life. Those who find fulfillment in life, those who maximize their potential, and those who make the kind of income that they need to make to live a life of freedom and a life that makes a difference are those who ask themselves how can I fulfill my potential? My Potential. How can I use everything that God has given me to become everything that I should be? So if you're in that position today where it looks like you're not making the impact that you know you should be making, you're not making the amount of money that you know you should be making, and you know that there is a potential in you that you are not fulfilling, this is a suggestion to you that perhaps you should start from the top to the bottom instead of living from the bottom to the top. There are three steps that you should take today to help you to begin to live in this reverse way. And very simply, first of all, you need to begin by discovering what your gift is. Discover what your gift is. You say to me, what is your gift? Your gift is the thing that you've been given to fulfill your purpose. It's the thing that sets you apart from every other person. It is by you discovering your gifts that you begin this journey. Because the next step after discovering your gift is that you develop your gift. To develop your gift means to turn it into a thing of value that serves somebody else. By developing your gift, you are turning it into a thing that solves a problem for somebody else. And when you've developed your gift, the third thing you need to do is that you must deploy your gift. Deploying your gift means taking that value that you've created from your gift and putting it into the hands of somebody else. If truly your gift solves a problem for somebody else. There will be an exchange of value. They will pay you for the problem that you solve for them. That is how, by pursuing self actualization, through discovering, developing and deploying your gifts, you will have your safety needs met. You will have your, your needs for love and belonging met. You will have your, your needs for self esteem met. And ultimately, You will have your need for self actualization met, because you will fulfill your purpose, you will feel fulfilled, you will maximize your potential, and you will make the amount of income that you know that you should be making. I hope this blesses you and makes a difference for you, but let me know in the comments if it does. Thank you.