Emotions and Money

As I was speaking with a young man and talking about life and relationships, the topic of emotions and money came up.

Emotions
Most of the time we let our negative emotions have a upper hand in our lives. What do I mean by that? I mean, we let our negative emotions rule our decisions. E.g. We don't feel like going to church and so we choose to sleep in and then go out later to do our own thing. Or we feel very upset and we choose to let it out in the facebook and let all our "friends" read it. In doing such things that are governed by our negative emotions we reap what we act out. We missed our the precious opportunity that week to worship God with His people and be refreshed and strengthened. We showed our friends our lack of self control and allow the enemy to take advantage of that to draw precious friendships away from us.

Mature and responsible people are able to manage their emotions well. The fact is that we will all experience negative emotions BUT mature people knows how to handle them well. They do not let their emotions rule their life. They let their inner being rule their life. They live responsibly no matter how they feel. They choose to love even when they don't feel loving. They choose to give thanks even when they feel like things are not going well with them. This is faith in God. This is being mature. And in families, fathers and mothers must live responsibly to love and build their partner and children.

Marriages break down when a partner does not know how to handle their negative emotions. In their frustrations they speak words that ought not be spoken. In their impatience they release their anger on their partner and hurt them and their relationships.
A key to successful marriage is the ability to handle negative emotions wisely and lovingly.

Galatians 5:22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.

Money
Money is also one of the main causes for relationships to break down.
A mature person knows how to manage money. It doesn't matter how much or how little money they have. A mature person can live a wholesome life even if he doesn't have "lots" of money. On the other hand an immature person will be destroyed by money. In fact if they have lots of money that they can't control, it will control and destroy them.
A test of your level of maturity, the level of your wisdom and strength is your ability to live a wholesome life with whatever amount of money you have.
If God cannot trust you to handle money, He cannot trust you to handle His sheep (precious people that He loves) and His true riches.

Luke 16:10 He who is faithful in what is least is faithful also in much; and he who is unjust in what is least is unjust also in much.11 Therefore if you have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches?12 And if you have not been faithful in what is another man's, who will give you what is your own?

Conclusion
All of us need success in these 2 vital areas - emotions and money.
May the Lord grant us the grace and wisdom to have victory in these realms.
May we also be open to learn from one another so that we can grow and be mature in these 2 areas. AMEN!