IS OUR SPENDING EMOTIONAL OR LOGICAL
TODAY’S SCRIPTURE
Yet true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. But people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.
1 Timothy 6:6-9 NLT
TODAY’S THOUGHT
When it comes to spending, experts say that for many people our decisions are 90 percent emotional and 10 percent logical. Emotions can be destructive if we are not careful to channel them properly.
Here are six red flags to watch out for to avoid the emotional spending trap:
1. Shopping as a response to a stressful event in your life
2. Spending to try to keep up with the Joneses
3. Seeking a high through shopping to get instant gratification
4. Telling yourself you deserve to make a purchase
5. Spending even when you’re worried about money or debt
6. Shopping with the intention of returning items
Emotional spending temporarily brings joy into our lives. We spend money to regulate our emotions—we feel down, but we want to feel up. Discontentment is often at the heart of emotional spending. Learning the art of contentment can help you overcome this detrimental attitude.
The obvious side effect of emotional spending is using money you don’t have and going deeper into a financial hole. However, another side effect is the possibility of addiction.
Many people are addicted to shopping but fail to acknowledge it as an addiction. Those who do acknowledge it as such, think of it as a “safe” or socially acceptable addiction—better than alcohol, drugs, gambling, pornography, or sex.
Paul reminds us, “true godliness with contentment is itself great wealth.” Wow, great wealth is found in CONTENTMENT. That is a foreign word in a society that is driven by the push to have the latest and greatest.
Paul goes farther to say, “people who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction.” Wait a minute, I thought being an American meant you longed to be rich. Aren’t we supposed to work hard so we get rich?
The biblical pattern is learning contentment with what we have yet at the same time working hard. Our hard work is to provide for our family and to allow us to be a greater blessing to others. We are not driven as consumers but as contributors.
TODAY’S PRAYER
Holy Spirit please show me any addiction I have related to money. Help me to live with contentment and drive at the same time. Help my attitude to be adjusted by You concerning money.
“Scroll down to share what you feel God is saying based on today’s reading.”
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