Graham Cochrane (00:06.422)
I wasn't sure that I was actually even gonna make this episode and it might get me into some trouble.
Graham Cochrane (00:19.202)
I wasn't even sure if I was gonna make this episode and it might get me into some trouble, but I feel like it's something that I need to say.
Graham Cochrane (00:32.364)
And it's something that we need to unpack. And I'll be honest right from the beginning, this is
Graham Cochrane (00:41.154)
And I'll be honest right from the beginning, this episode is for my Christian brothers and sisters specifically. Even more specifically, if you're a business owner or trying to make your way in the world financially, this is for you.
Graham Cochrane (01:09.344)
If you have ever felt like it is sinful or wrong or greedy or anti Christian or anti your faith values to pursue more wealth, more success, more acclaim, more impact, more followers, viewers, whatever it is, if you've ever felt that tension between
I want more, but should I want more? Is it okay to want more? Or should I just be content? Doesn't the Bible say I need to be content? Doesn't the Bible say that greed is bad and that wealth is dangerous and the pursuit of more can get me into trouble? If you have ever felt like you're reading your Bible and you're feeling one thing,
But then you read another section of your Bible and you feel another thing. But then you talk to Christians and they tell you one thing. But then your heart feels another thing and you you don't feel like it's sinful, you feel like it's godly, but now you're confused because your Christian friends are like, guard your heart, bro. Why aren't you content? If you've ever, ever felt any of these things, this episode is for you.
Graham Cochrane (02:43.275)
What's interesting is that when I grew up and I became an adult and got into the working world, I never struggled with this idea of just be content with what I have. You know why? Because I didn't have very much. And I didn't think I could have any more than I had. I had no vision for what's possible in the world. I just wanted to be a musician. That was my goal to be a rock star, not to be rich and famous, just to be able to get paid.
To do what I love to do, which was for my whole life music and performing. I didn't want to sit at a desk. I just wanted to make music. So my expectations for life, although some people might say were high, you wanted to be a rock star. To me, that was very low. That was the only thing I was good at was music. And I felt I was good enough to get a record deal. And so I pursued it. Long story short, I didn't get a deal worth any money. So I had to get a job and I got married young and life happened. And so the dream fizzled out.
But to me, my expectations were actually low. Like that was what I wanted to do for a living, because that sounded fun to me. And I didn't expect to make much. If I could just make thirty, forty thousand dollars a year gigging, selling some albums, which shows how old I am now that it's all streams, you don't make money off of music. But if I could just eke out a living as an artist, I'd be a happy man. And that's one reason why I know my wife loves me because she married me then when I was broke and unemployed, right? So
That's all I wanted out of life. It was easy to be content because I didn't want anything else. Yeah, I wanted to have a house of my own. I probably wanted a little bit nicer car because I drove a 10-year-old Dodge Neon, but like I I was fine. I was happy. I did not struggle with this tension until go figure, God blessed me with more. I know he blessed me with more because I didn't chase after more. I literally moved a thousand miles away from home.
Starting a church plant with my friends. I my buddy was a pastor, said, I'm gonna go plant a church in Tampa, Florida. Do you wanna come be my volunteer worship leader? I can't pay you. There's no money in the church yet because it doesn't exist yet. But if you will are willing to move down with your wife and get jobs, you could volunteer as the worship leader and our hope is that it'll grow and maybe some people will tithe. And there'll be some money that I could take a salary and you could take a salary and then we could do this together. And I said, sure, I'm I I could at least use my music and maybe have a career that way.
Graham Cochrane (05:08.703)
So we picked up and we left to do God's work, to plant a church. And we did. And we saw a lot of cool things happen. And I was the volunteer worship leader for almost 12 years there. Never got paid to lead worship, never was on staff. and the reason why is because the job I got when I moved down here, I lost that job right after buying our house and having our first baby.
And then in the being unemployed and on food stamps for 18 months, which was incredibly embarrassing and scary, God told me to do something I never wanted to do, never was even trying to do. He told me to start a business. Like literally in my prayer time and my journaling time, and just like God kept putting this idea on my heart, like, what if you just started a business? You're an audio engineer. What if you just started a freelance audio business? Just start an audio business. And I had dabbled, like I had done
albums for friends bands and they had paid me some things. It was all extra money, but I never thought of that as like a career. It was just a little side hustle. But God was like, this could be your career.
And so it was his idea. So I started it, not thinking it was gonna work. And guess what? It worked. More than it worked, it led me to actually start a YouTube channel in the early days, 2010, January 2010, my first video dropped. And the videos popped. And then eventually I started selling courses and memberships. And eventually I was doing six figures a year in my business. Not immediately, but after a couple of years of fumbling in the dark. So now I'm making more money, I'm making $120,000 a year.
doing videos and blogging and recording music. Like I didn't even think that was possible.
Graham Cochrane (06:47.638)
And for the first time, I felt the tension. I had all my church friends saying, bro, guard your heart, man. Like, whoa, you're moving into a new house? Okay. Can you afford that? Okay. Whoa, you bought a new car, huh? What was wrong with the other one? Like, I started to get weird comments. I started to see, like, in conversation with people when I would pray, like, and ask for prayer requests, I'd be like, hey.
I'm really praying that God would help me double the business. And it's growing really fast. And I'm excited about all these new opportunities I'm having and new ideas I'm having. People are like, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, double the business. Bro, be content, man. Are you greedy? And they and and I'm I'm saying it in a way that maybe makes them seem worse than they were. Their intentions were good. That's the crazy part because they loved me. They knew me. We'd all like picked up and moved a thousand miles away from home.
We were doing ministry together. It's hard. Starting a church plant is hard. It's like starting a business, but worse because you don't get paid ever. It's like, it's crazy. And so I know they cared about me and they were afraid that the lure of wealth would pull me away from the church and the good work I'm doing. Like, make sure you're doing the ministry, which is another thing. And I don't I won't even get into that this this episode about what what is ministry? Are you saying so if I'm working at the church, that's ministry, but
Helping millions of people create music and live their dream is not ministry. Sharing my faith through content is not ministry. Okay. So again, there's these siloed weird definitions of things. And so if you have ever felt this tug of war, because it planted in me a seed of doubt of is this right? It should I not be wanting more? Like, should I now that I've reached
$100,000 a year or $250,000 or whatever it was. Like, no, that's crazy. I don't know anybody that makes that kind of money. Should I just be content with this and let's just keep everything the same? Is that an okay amount of money? How much money is an okay amount of money for a Christian to make? How stupid of a question is that, by the way? But that is the question that's unspoken, that's underneath all of this junk. And I I it wasn't that I was like, y'all are crazy. Like,
Graham Cochrane (09:10.946)
They planted seeds of doubt in my heart. And and here's what those seeds of doubt planted. They they planted this crop or they grew into this crop of I will just play small. I will just not desire more. I will play small. I'll want less. I'll just convince myself that I'm I'm content. I don't want anything else. And then not only will I be happy, everyone else will be happy with me. No one will judge me. I'll get along with my Christian friends, my church friends.
It'll be fine. Except that's not what God was telling me to do. And then the more I read my Bible, that's not what I see in the Bible. So what do you do when what your Christian and church friends are telling you is one thing, but the Bible says a very different thing. Who do you believe? I'm gonna go with the Bible. So let's let's unpack a few things here. This is I hope this helps somebody. And if you're a Christian,
Whether you you have your own business or you're not, and you've ever just struggled with this, like let me know in a comment below. Or if you're listening to a podcast, just let me know if this episode connects with you and helps you. I I literally prayed before I hit record of God. I just want this to help one person. Like if this just helps one person that was me 17 years ago when I got started and felt this tension 15 years ago and I was in the middle of of the joy of having my first six-figure year and the shame of it at the same time. Like if it helps one person release that shame and be set free.
Then this episode will be worth it. And this departure from my typical business training will be worth it. So again, maybe you hate you disagree with me and you think I'm an idiot. That's totally fine too. You can leave those comments below. But I know that this is truth and I know this is going to help somebody. So first let's just quickly redefine contentment because that word gets thrown around a lot. If you look at the Greek word for content in this the New Testament, contentment isn't an action. Contentment is
A state of being. Okay, the the word literally means a state of being where you need nothing. Like you're do you see the difference of this this the word in the Greek harkens back to Psalm 23 the Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need. That's the NLT translation. The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want, is the old King James or the even the new King James.
Graham Cochrane (11:38.017)
And what that means is I don't want for anything. I have want for nothing. I don't, there's nothing else I need because the Lord has got me. That's literally what it means. It doesn't mean you shouldn't want anything. That's not what it means. It means you don't need anything because God's got you. And that is true. If you are a child of God, if you are a Christian, a Christ follower, not I believe in God, I like God. No, you follow Jesus, you submit to his lordship, the way the Bible teaches.
He's got you. He's got you. There's nothing that you need. If you have a need, he will provide it. He has an abundant of abundance of riches. He can provide for whatever you need. And I'm sure you have stories of things when it was really tough, really close, really scary. And somehow, someway, God slipped you whatever you needed in that moment. That is a reality for the Christian believer and the follower of Jesus. And because of that,
And it takes faith to trust in that. Otherwise that's why most people don't. They trust in themselves and their ability to provide. And I get it. I feel that tension too. I have a family. I have kids. I have bills. I wanna I wanna control things. That's the tension. That's the whole Israelites in the desert. Do they trust God's gonna drop them manna every day? Or do they try to gather twice as much manna so they have two days worth? Because they're not sure he's gonna drop some on Thursday. But then what does it do? That it spoils because he's like, You don't trust me. The whole point of the manna was to see if they would trust him.
And some people did, some people didn't. And that's the same with us. Do we trust God? I get it. It's hard. I'm working through it. But if we trust Him, we can be content, which is a state of being, not a ceiling on your desire. Not even related. Contentment means I'm good. I'm good. Paul says this in the New Testament I've learned what it means to abound, and I've learned what it means to be brought low and have nothing.
I've learned the secret of being content. What he's talking about, I've learned how to be at peace. Like, I don't need anything because God's got me. And yet, that is a completely different thing than desiring more. So let's talk about that. Because if you convince yourself or you let your Christian friends or your church or your pastor convince you that to be content and line up with the scriptures that you see there.
Graham Cochrane (14:03.788)
You need to shrink your desires, want less. Well, then what's the result of that? Two options. Either you'll be bitter and angry at God because you don't get what other people are getting, and that's weird. And then maybe you just beat your beat it out and go, I shouldn't be angry at God. I should just be okay with it. Okay, go for it. Convince yourself that you're okay with it. Good luck with that. And two, either way, if even if you're okay with it, you know what's gonna happen? You shrink your life. You play small. You don't take any chances, you don't take any risks.
You don't do what God commands us to do. What are you talking about, Graham? Let's unpack the thing that slaps in the face of this whole just be content, bro, and stop wanting more. If you go back to the very first time that God ever gave humans a command, I'm not talking about the Ten Commandments. Those came way later with Moses. I'm talking about the very first time God.
Told Adam and Eve to do something.
Because remember, Adam and Eve are the first people he created. In the very first book of the Bible, in the very first chapter of that book, Genesis 1, verse 28, you hear God give the first command: Be fruitful and multiply. Fill the earth and subdue it. Some translations say, have dominion over the earth. There is a lot to unpack in that statement, in that command, but that that is the first thing God tells humans.
To do.
Graham Cochrane (15:39.375)
So that tells us everything we need to know about what God cares about. He cares about fruit. Is there fruit in your life? Are you contributing anything? Is good stuff coming out of you? All of us should have good stuff coming out of us. But what do you do with that fruit? Multiply. Not add a little by little, not keep it about the same, like I got a little bit of fruit. No, multiply. Expand. Fill the earth. Literally, he's telling two people, fill it up.
And yes, procreation is part of it, but don't boil God's command to Adam and Eve down to just having babies. How dumb is that? Like God is so much bigger than that. And I'll prove it to you in other places in scripture. This is this tells us about the heartbeat of God, which is, I want my people, I'm God speaking, I want my creation, my people to expand. I want everything I do to expand.
I want everything my people do to expand. Look at the universe. The universe is constantly expanding. If you study the stars, you study the universe, the galaxies, it's literally expanding. Like that tells us everything we need to know. God is a God of expansion, not a God that plays small, not a God of just enough, just this, you know, that's all I need. No, a God of expansion. Filling the earth, subduing it, having dominion, reigning. There's a kingly assignment.
You and I are kings and queens of our own little assignment. And part of that is to take territory. This is God's world. The enemy's trying to take it, but it's not his. He just thinks he gets to rule it for a while, but the story's already written. This is God's kingdom, and he wants his kingdom to expand on the earth. That's ultimately what he's going to do when he comes back. Right? Y'all know we don't just disappear from this place. Jesus comes back to the earth and renews it.
He renovates it. That's what the word means in the book of Revelation. He's going to transform it into a renovated house, like an old house. We're not going to blow up the house. We're just going to renovate it and make it even better. We're not leaving this place. Ultimately, we come back here. We end up here. This is his place for his people, and he's going to be with us, and his kingdom will have full dominion over the whole place. That's the whole storyline of the Bible. God is a God of expansion.
Graham Cochrane (17:59.683)
Now let's get very granular. Let's jump to the New Testament. One of the most famous passages of the Bible, but also one of the most famous passages that teach what God wants us to be doing while we're here on earth is in Matthew 25. It's a parable called the parable of the talents. A talent is a large sum of money. Depending on how you study this stuff, it could be worth a million dollars or more. Multiple years of wages.
One talent of gold, right? And so in this story, Matthew chapter 25, you can look it up yourself. Jesus is trying to teach his people what God expects when he comes back. Because he's talking about the judgment, he's talking about the end times. Like God's gonna come back, and what does he expect of us while he's gone? Because that's sort of the the metaphor. God's gone, he's coming back. So he tells this story of three servants and a master, and the master goes on a long journey, and he tells the three servants.
He what he first he gives them each a certain amount of money according to their ability.
Which is a very interesting phrase, according to their ability. Meaning, if you want more resources, increase your abilities. Become worthy of more resources by having more abilities to manage those resources. Right? So there's just an interesting thought there. One servant got five talents of gold, one got two, one got one. So when you look across, by the way, at the world and you see God's people, some people are given more than others.
Stop comparing. Trust that what God gave you was what he felt you were able to use in this season. If you want more, become more able. Increase your ability, and then ask God to give you all that he possibly wants to give you. But don't compare yourself to somebody else. That's not the point. There are people that are given way more than me. I started with hardly anything. But even I started with more than when other people did. So again, it's less about what you start with. It's more about what you do with what you're given. Okay.
Graham Cochrane (20:07.274)
So he gives them each a certain amount of money, and the master says, This is Jesus teaching a story. So we know this is what God cares about. He tells the servants, do business until I return. If you ever wanted a verse to know if it's okay to be a business owner and a Christian, Matthew 25, do business until I return, which is a very specific command. It's like, hey, I gave you resources. I want you to go do something with those resources. He comes back after a long time and
He asks to see what his servants did with the property he entrusted to them. And this is the whole setup. The money you have, the the vehicles you have, the house you have, the family you have, the talents you have, literal talents like skills and abilities, are not yours. They belong to God, but he's entrusted you with them, which implicitly implies that he trusts you to some degree. What are you gonna do with his stuff? Not your stuff, his stuff.
So there's an expectation he's going to ask you, you're accountable for what you did. He comes back, and the first two servants doubled their money. The guy with five did 10, the guy with two did four. They both get the same commendation. Well done, good and faithful servant. So now we know what a good Christian looks like. It's someone who multiplied what they were given. We now know what a faithful servant looks like. It's someone who multiplied what they were given. We now know what a servant, period, should be doing multiplying what's given to them.
And if it's not clear, you just look at what the master says to the third servant, who literally buried the talent, it says. And then he uncovers it and says, Look, I was afraid of you that you were a harsh master. And so I buried your talent. I kept it safe. And look, here it is. I have it for you. Didn't lose it. And the master says something so shocking. He says, You are wicked and you are lazy.
Graham Cochrane (22:03.286)
It gives me chills just thinking about it. If you are holding on to what God gave you and just like keeping it safe, keep my money safe, keep my business about the same, just don't make too much, just make enough. You are being like the third servant. And God would call you wicked and lazy. I know, harsh words. Jesus used them for a reason to make a point. It's a fake story, but it's a teaching story. We now know the heart of Jesus and the Father. What does he care about?
He cares about you multiplying what's given to you because you will you will have an account. You will give an account for what you did. There is an expectation that whatever you're given, and there's a lot that you're given, resources, which is your money and your time, opportunities, which is opportunities for personal growth, opportunities for relationship growth, right? And then impact. There's impact in the world, there's internal impact, like
Are you getting a return on all those things? Are you multiplying all those things? Or are you just holding on to them? The third servant played small, the first two played big. They said, okay, God gave me this. I'm going to go multiply this. And if you want one more just picture of what God cares about, look at what he does with his miracles. It's all of them. But let's look at the feeding of the 5,000, one of the most famous ones, well-known ones.
And people think the miracle is that Jesus took, you know, five loaves and two fish, and he broke them and multiplied them. Interestingly enough, again, it's crazy. Don't read the Bible too fast. Read it slow and look at the details. Jesus blessed them and broke them, but gave the five loaves and two fish to the disciples, and they passed out the food, meaning the miracle happened in their hands.
The multiplication happened in their hands, not in Jesus' hands. He wants us to participate in the multiplication, the expansion. And that's what happened visually, where he breaks it, blesses it, and then hands it to his disciples. And those 12 guys walk around the hillside with 5,000 men, not including women and children, so closer to 15 or 20,000 people. And as they're handing out the food, it multiplies in their hands, which is a picture of what we're supposed be doing, by the way. That's just a side bonus note. But then get this.
Graham Cochrane (24:29.949)
After somehow magically that food has expanded to feed everybody till they're full, it says, not just like a little hors d'oeuvre on a stick. You know, when like there's hors d'oeuvres going around at a nice party, and you're like, this is great, it's free, but it's just can I have 17,000 more of those little stick things? Like I that's not gonna fill me up. No, these people were full, bro. They were full. And at the end, what does it say? And there were 12 baskets left over. 12 baskets of bread and fish left over.
Why? What are they gonna do with that? It doesn't matter. It's a picture of what God is all about. God is not a God of just enough. He is a God of more than enough. Like stupid amounts more. Like it's just dumb that he made that much. It's not necessary. That's the point. God is a big God. God's about expansion. He's about showing off. And he likes to show off through you and through me.
He li he's generous, like he wants to use us in the process. We're his kids going to work. And it's like if you build things with your like tools and you let your little kids come and like help put the thing together, the little bookshelf together, and you give them a little hammer, you're like, all right, hit this little nail here. And they're like, look, I'm doing it, Dad. He the the joy you get when you see your little kid feeling like he or she is helping you build the thing, that's the joy the father gets when you and I work with him to expand his kingdom and make small things big, little, much.
Less than enough to more than enough, he gets so much pleasure letting us be a part of it.
Graham Cochrane (26:07.374)
So, what I'm trying to paint a picture of is that contentment is not the goal in the terms of like, I just need to stop growing so I will be content. No, contentment, you can be content right now. Contentment is a state of being, being at peace, knowing I don't need anything else. God's got me. And you're content so that, get this, you can be ambitious. man, what?
Yes. Turns out contentment and ambition are not polar opposites. It's not an either or. It's not I'll have that or that. It's not a good or bad. It's first and second. You become content and realize God is my provider. I have nothing to worry about. The Lord is my shepherd. I have all that I need. He takes care of me. I don't need to stress. I don't need to prove anything to anybody. I don't need to worry about my family or taking care of them. God's got me. And
Out of that place of peace and contentment, and I am good because of God. Now I can go do what He told me to do, and I can be fruitful and multiply, and I can have dominion and I can expand and I can rule and I can reign and I can reach more, I can have more, I can desire more, I can pursue more and be as ambitious as I possibly can. Not so that I can feel great about myself, not so that I can just have lots of money that is to spend on myself. I mean, think about this. I don't know where you are financially, and I pray that you take all of my content that I drop every week.
Or if you're a client of mine or you've read my book or whatever, I pray that you take this stuff and go make a ton of money because at some point you're gonna realize I make more money than I need. And I I want you to get to that point where you realize, I don't like I'm making so much money. Like, what am I gonna do with it? Buy another pair of shoes, take another vacation. And I want you to get to that point so that, not so that you go, money is stupid. I shouldn't want money. No, no, no.
God wants you to have everything you you desire. He wants you to have a wonderful, abundant life. Jesus said, I came, the thief comes to steal, kill, and destroy. But I have come that they may have life and have it to the full. God wants you to have a full life. And part of that includes money. But the reason I want you to have more than you need is so that you start to realize, I can do more good with this money. I don't need all of this. I have, I'm, I'm so good now. What do you do with the extra? Now.
Graham Cochrane (28:30.525)
Now we start to understand why God wants us to expand. When you have extra, you can do something that most people on planet Earth can't. You can help people. You can fund the kingdom. You can make things that are impossible possible. Because there's people willing to do the work. There's people with great solutions and ideas to solve problems that the world has. But you know what they don't have? They don't have money. And everything takes money. So if the whole Christian community
Play small under this myth of, contentment means just don't make too much money, just don't be greedy, just you know be okay with scraping by. Then guess who has all the money? The non-Christians. And I'm not saying all non-Christians are evil people, but I'm starting to think of the people that can think of a lot of really dangerous, evil, satanic, crazy stuff to do with that money. I don't want all of them to have the money.
I want you to have the money, want me to have money. I want the Christian community to have the money because the Christians have historically used that money for good. Do we always know? Because guess what? Christians are people and people are sinful and make mistakes. But the reason we have education in America, the reason we have hospitals in America, the reason we have a democracy in America is because of Christians.
Because Christians were like, let's freaking take care of people. Let's take care of the poor. Let's take care of the sick. Let's get people educated. Like, all of these things are Christian ideals. No matter what people tell you, they're Christians that came up with this because God invented all this stuff. Just re-read the Old Testament. Like the Jews get it. Like it's been there forever. God's ways are the for community and society are the healthiest ways. Okay? So
I want you and I and all the Christians to have so much more than we need so that we can start funding the work. We can start helping people. And it can be as simple as like things that my my family and I have been able to do, because we have more than we need is fund adoptions. I don't have a call on my life to adopt children, but I have a lot of friends who do. They they foster and they adopt, and they don't have $50,000 laying around extra to adopt a child that they desperately want to. But I do. So I fund adoptions.
Graham Cochrane (30:41.973)
I've helped pay off people's student loans. That it's holding them back from pursuing a career that they want to pursue, but they they can't make a change because they need to make a certain amount of money to pay off their student loans. I've helped buy people cars that are driving around in Florida with no AC and they can't afford a car. It's a it's falling apart. Bought them a car. Right? I've helped people I've helped people have a down payment on a house. Like, and this is not bragging. Like, this is why I take a giant risk doing this video. I I know I'm gonna get hate and I totally get it.
But it's worth it. Because I want to paint a picture of what's possible when you when you expand so much that you have more than you need. The most selfish thing you and I could do is say, I just want, I don't want too much. I just want to make enough for me and my family so that we're okay. That is the most selfish thing anyone could do. Just make enough money for you and your family to be okay. What about all the other people that need help? Like, go do what you're good at, do business until God returns, expand, multiply.
Be fruitful, just dream big, be as ambitious as you possibly can, not because you need more stuff in your closet or in your garage, no, because then you can do awesome stuff. And bro, the most fun you'll ever have with money is giving it away. And guess what? That's not the only thing you can do with extra money. You can reinvest it in your business. If you're a business owner, one of the worst things you can do is not reinvest in your business. And that means not reinvest in yourself through coaching, not reinvest in your business through team.
Or new software tools or things to make the user experience better. If you if you barely put anything into your business, it's only gonna be but so good and you can't serve people at a higher level. Right? As my business makes more money, I'm able to hire client concierges to take care of my clients. And I'm able to create better content that looks better, better cameras. I'm able to host events and pay for the events so I can do in-person stuff like give my people a better user experience. I've invested
Hundreds of I've probably invested over a million dollars in coaching. Like last year I invested half a million alone in one year. I've invested over a million dollars in coaching and masterminds so that I level up, so that I can serve you at a higher level and get my clients better results and bring you better content. You see what I'm saying? Like if you want if you see the value of reinvesting in your business, you become more so you can give more. And then the business grows more and then you make more money and all of it, like.
Graham Cochrane (33:07.281)
It becomes this beautiful like the universe is expanding. You and your business and your wealth expands. Not because you need to buy another pair of shoes or fly another flight in first class. Those things are fun and I do all of it. But like y that's you can only have but so many nice steak dinners before the steak starts to taste like rubber. You know what I'm saying? Like it's don't feel bad about it. Have fun. Literally, that's part of our our mandate is to enjoy life. If you're not sure about that, go read the whole book of Ecclesiastes. That's literally Solomon's conclusion is
Is God's like saying, just enjoy life, enjoy food and drink, enjoy your work, enjoy your wife, enjoy your family, fear God and keep his commandments. Like that's the whole point of life. So I'm just painting a picture of what's possible when you when you are ambitious. Like the only time the word ambition is used, I think in scripture, and you can correct me if it's re used somewhere else. I didn't look this up before I shot this, the one that least it gets pulled up the most.
Is in Philippians chapter two, where Paul says, do nothing out of selfish ambition or conceit. Right? That was beaten to my brain from the men that discipled me. Do nothing out of selfish ambition. That's a unique compound word in the Greek that's not used anywhere else, I don't think. And that's I like the English translation because ambition is not a bad thing. Selfish ambition is. Ambition is one of the best things. Without ambition, you don't have a Martin Luther King Jr.
Risking his life for the civil rights movement. Without he would just stay home. He'd be like, bro, I'm not gonna deal with that. I'm not gonna put myself in like I'm just gonna be content to just like live my life as best I can and try to fight. No. He went after it. He's like, this is important. It took ambition to put himself out there and start a whole movement that changed the course of our country's history. Without ambition, you you don't have anyone like
Graham Cochrane (35:11.33)
Without ambition, there is no Mother Teresa spending her life trying to eradicate poverty in India. Like that it's a huge country with a lot of people, and there's a lot of poverty. Like she could have been like, that's impossible. I'm just gonna just work with a few people in my little town. She's dedicated her life. It took ambition to to even pursue that. Without ambition, Steve Jobs wouldn't have created the iPhone.
Right, which revolutionized cell phone technology.
Without ambition, we wouldn't have Amazon. And I don't know what you think about Jeff Bezos or Amazon, but like you use Amazon and Amazon has changed the way you at least use other people's i you know shops. If you don't shop at Amazon, where you get free two-day shipping, free same-day shipping. You could buy whatever you want. You have to leave your house. Like that took massive ambition to build that and to delay gratification and not take profit out of the business and think large enough that we
Only way to get fast shipping to everywhere around the country is to have not just one warehouse, but warehouses everywhere and call them distribution centers and decentralize it and like, bro, it took massive ambition. And your life is better because of ambition. Like, ambition is not the problem. Selfish ambition is. But the great news is Christians are the most selfless people I know. But they're shooting themselves in the foot by saying you shouldn't be ambitious, you should just be content. We're destroying ourselves.
Where we're we're reigning on God's parade. We're poo-pooing what he's commanded us to do. We're literally saying, No, God, I know better than you. I'm not gonna expand and multiply and have dominion. I'm just gonna have a nice little life with just me and my family. And I'm not gonna want too much because I'm I'm so noble. I'm so content. I don't want anything more. Great. If you don't want anything else, that's fine. I'm not telling you to want something you don't want. I'm speaking to the person who intuitively knows there are desires to do more.
Graham Cochrane (37:09.506)
Have more, reach more, become more. And they've they're being talked out of it by their Christian community. And let me just land with this.
Graham Cochrane (37:20.31)
The whole beautiful point of having this large, massive, ambitious goal is not even so that you reach it. It is so that you become more in the pursuit of that thing. Like, if you've never made a million dollars in a year, there's nothing wrong with you. It's just that you are not the person yet who is able to make a million dollars a year.
But you can become that person. And if you set a goal, I'm gonna make a million dollars a year in my business, if that's your goal, a lot of things about you are gonna have to change. You're gonna have to level up. And in this journey, this pursuit of this ambitious goal of making a million dollars a year, in that pursuit, the greatest thing will happen. You will mature, you will grow, you will learn new things.
You will start to bump up against the parts of you that are keeping you small. You're gonna deal with limiting beliefs, subconscious traps, things that are just holding you back. Something Gay Hendrick would call the upper limit problem. You're gonna address, you're gonna deal with a lot of these things, which when you deal with them and you level up, everyone around you benefits. If you're a husband and you level up in pursuit of more, your wife benefits.
Your children benefit. If you're a wife that's pursuing more, your husband benefits, your children, but your friends benefit, your community benefits, your team if you have a team benefits. Because you have to become more to get more. And as you become more, you become a better person. You become a more skilled person. You become a more mature person. Do you understand? If you don't shoot for anything big, you stay the same. You literally give your permission yourself permission to stay the same. That is not God's design for you. God's design for you is to expand.
And multiply and become more to move from being a spiritual infant to a spiritual mature adult. And part of that growing up only comes when we have an ambitious goal. It doesn't matter if you make the millions a year, it doesn't matter if you get the millions of views a year. I have crazy goals. Like I want one of my books to sell a million copies. That's really statistically hard to do, right?
Graham Cochrane (39:38.297)
But why would I not want to pursue that? Because in the pursuit of selling a million copies of a book, guess what's going to happen? I'm going to have to write a really darn good book. I'm going to have to reach a lot of people. I'm going to have to grow my platform. I'm going to have to meet new people. I'm going have to do new things that I've never done before that can only make me better and help more people, whether I sell a million copies or not. It's that ambition that drives me to becoming all that God's called me to do and be.
Graham Cochrane (40:11.426)
You level up in the chasing, in the pursuing, not in the having. It's cool if you have it, but it's the pursuit of it that makes you who you need to become. And let's be real every time you've achieved a goal that you've had, it's fun for a couple of days, maybe a couple of weeks. But then the high wears off. And the point of that is not to go, you shouldn't achieve more, pursue more because it doesn't last. No, of course it doesn't last. That's by design.
We are wired like God to achieve and pursue more and more and more, not because we're chasing some high. Again, we're operating from a place of contentment. I have everything I need. I don't need, I don't need to sell a million copies. I want to. I don't need to reach $10 million a year in my business. I want to. Think about how much good I could do. I can't I can't spend all of that. I mean, I'm probably, if I really tried hard, I could probably find a way. But like,
I I wanna I wanna pursue big things because that's what makes me feel alive. That's what makes me feel like I'm operating in my design. That's what makes me feel like I'm literally imaging my creator by being a person of expansion, because my God is a God of expansion.
So let's land the plane. Oof. I want to address two people listening to this right now.
If you're the one that's guarding your heart, someone told you, guard your heart, bro, guard your heart, sis. If you're the person that's guarding your heart, but you're basically creating a small life.
Graham Cochrane (41:51.507)
I want you to say this out loud or journal this today or tomorrow.
That it is the most godly, God-honouring, biblical, and healthy and selfless thing I could do to be ambitious and expand and reach for more. You have to say that and journal it over and over again till you start to believe it.
It is the most God honoring thing you could do to become all that God's called you to be. Have all the things He's called you to have. Reach for all the things He's called you to reach for. Do all the things He's called you to do. He wants you to be a good and faithful servant, one who multiplies what you are given.
And if you're the person who is is chasing something, so you're you're you're you're you're dealing with the tension and saying, I know I feel the tension, but I'm gonna chase it anyway, but I feel guilt and I feel shame and I feel conflicted.
I want you to hear me. You are so courageous to reach for more when the Christian community is shaming you for it. There is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. It is not a sin to pursue more.
Graham Cochrane (43:14.412)
It's almost sinful to stay small. It's considered at least wicked and lazy. So it is not sinful to reach for more or want more or desire more. All I want you to lean into is Psalm 23. The Lord is my shepherd, I have all that I need. You have everything you need. And from that place of fullness and contentment and provision, now go be ambitious, as crazy as you can possibly be.
To become all that God's called you to be, to make as much impact as He's called you to make, in the way that sounds exciting and fun and energizing and creative and innovative to you. And if you have to ignore the noise of your friends, family, Christian community, it's worth it. Because you're not doing it for them. You're doing it for him. And he's the only one you have to make an account for. He's the only one you're held accountable to.
Not your friends, family, spouse, church, community, pastor. It's God. And when in doubt, read the Bible for yourself. Read it slowly and ask God to help illuminate what it means to you through the Holy Spirit and allow that to be your North Star. Not even me. I get stuff wrong. I'm just a guy. But read the Bible for yourself because when you do, you realize it's a whole different world than what a lot of the Christian, air quote, community is telling you.
All right. If this blessed you, please let me know. I took a risk to do this. if it didn't bless you, that's fine too. It's my YouTube channel, bruh. I can do what I want. It's my podcast. But I love you. I hope this helped you. I hope this set you free in some way, shape, or form. I'm cheering for you. We need you. The world needs your ambition. So let's go do it. I'll see you in another episode real soon.
