What does a person do when his or her friend is doing something that the person knows in his or her heart is wrong? A person can only go down two paths, one of Regression or one of Aggression. These make up the branches of two roads, one consisting of Worry and the other Wanting. Now the reader might be confused as to the what the writer means by Wanting since it seems in no way contradictory to Worry. Many times a person can worry about something and want that thing at the same time. The definition of Wanting in this article is, “Wanting God’s best and not mine own for the individual or situation in question”. Again there are two roads Worry and Wanting, two forks on each road, Regression and Aggression.
First of all the road of Worry. The effects of this road are many and both forks will result in physical symptoms. Those symptoms can include and are not limited to, vomiting, tenseness, anxiety, fear, muscle pain, ulcers, shaking, and a lost sense of reality. The path of Regression will lead a person down till the he or she becomes a wraith, a non-existent entity in which there abides no life. This person will be the one who loses his or her sense of reality. Problems will become larger than they really are and the true “problems or difficult situations” in life become small or insignificant.
The second path, the path of Aggression, is a road in which a person becomes intrusive and obnoxious, they will attempt by pushing others to gain a sense of peace, a recess in from their worry by pushing or dumping their worry on others. It is a sort of transference, an “I become free of my worry if I make others worried around me instead”. The physical symptoms of this path are similar but not limited to those spelled out in the previous section devoted to the path of Regression.
The second road, is the road of Wanting. The first path of this road has physical symptoms as well and they are but not limited to, a sense of peace, a true grip on reality, a settled stomach, a heightened awareness of what others need, joy, and a oneness with the One who made him or her. The first path is the path of Regression and on this path the person will become a listener and a faithful ear to those who have questions or are in the middle of something they should not be. This path is more suited to the person of a phlegmatic nature.
On the other hand, the path of Aggression is more suited to those of a choleric persuasion. This person will become a strong leader, a force by which those in trouble whether by their own accord or otherwise, will cling to and follow. Now of course this is just a cursory introduction to the four ways in which one can go when they have a friend who is doing something they should not.
This will be the first in a series of financial articles about financial contentment. I will set a good foundation of the attitudes you must have about finances before you can change the situation that you are in financially.
So, is materialism god to many people?
Here in America at least, if not most countries, materialism is god. Things people desire keep them stagnant in many ways. It imprisons them in dead-end jobs and leaves people cut off from the things that really matter in life. People miss the important things in life working to earn money to buy more stuff. The things you have are why you are stuck at a job you don’t like. The things that you don’t have, but just have to get will be the reason that you stay at the job that you hate. Some would say that there is no staying put in life. You are either moving forward or moving backwards. This point of view is probably more accurate for most of the world. While you may be stuck in some aspects of life, you are probably on a downward spiral in most areas. The never-ending quest for more leads most people into debt, which leads to marital strain, which leads to divorce, which just leads to many sorrows throughout life.
Surely, you have heard it before, but the love of money is the root of all evil. Money is not evil by any means. In fact, money is great, every piece of money you have ever owned was a blessing from God, whether you believe it or not. James ch. 1 says “every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father”. Therefore, money in itself is not evil. Paul says it is the love of money. The thing that gets people into trouble is that they love money (hope I did not sound too redundant there). People cannot get enough money. They spend more than they have, so, they always need more to cover what they have already spent. If you will be honest with yourself, most of you reading this blog love money.
You may say “If I loved money so much surely I would have more of it.” Well, in reality most of the people that love money are living paycheck to paycheck. Because the love of money is not simply the love of money, but is the love of what money makes available: power, position, and/or materials. The love of money could be defined in part if not completely as materialism. Materialism, or the love of “stuff”, is then according to scripture one of the main causes of evil. According to the apostle Paul in 1Timothy 6:6-10 those with much are not content. His advice and God’s advice is that if we have food and shelter we should be content. Anyone reading this hoping to get out of debt and take control of their finances should take that to heart. Contentment with the small things is the key to true happiness in your financial life.
