Imagine flying over a mountain range in a helicopter enjoying all the beautiful creation of God. In the valley below is a set of train tracks. To your shock and surprise there are two trains on the tracks; heading toward each other at a high rate of speed. You cannot communicate with the trains. You try to reach them but they are traveling too fast and you are too far away. You experience the horrible feeling of helplessness. All you can do is watch this terrible thing happen. The sad part about this scenario is – this could have been avoided with a little bit of communication and attention to detail.

The days surrounding Christmas can be days of intense emotional spending. Stores love emotional spenders. To avoid this we need to be wise and vigilant. Do you remember this important proverb from Proverbs 23:5? We have used it before. “Will you set your eyes on that which is not? For riches certainly make themselves wings; they fly away like an eagle toward heaven.”

Emotional spending can be fun and emotionally uplifting … for the moment. However, the train wreck will happen in a few weeks when the bills come due. Two personal stories are in order.

When I was a child, we loved it when mom would send us to the store with dad. Although my dad is a very frugal person, he had a weak spot – a sweet tooth. His sweet tooth along with our pleas would net us great treasure. We would come home with Circus Peanuts, Animal Crackers, and chocolate candy; none of which was on the list prepared by mom. It was the result of emotional spending and my sister and I were glad it worked.

A friend of mine used to go into temporary depression when his wife would leave town for an extended period; maybe to visit her mom and dad. To self-medicate he would buy stuff. Once he bought a new set of golf clubs. My golfer friends would say “What’s wrong with that?” Once while she was away, he bought a new car he really could not afford at the time. Wow! This particular story has a happy conclusion. Today he makes more money than the President does and he could probably buy the White House. Most of us are not so fortunate.

I will let you decide if emotional spending is a sin based upon our previous Financial Freedom principles. Stores love it when emotional spenders walk in. Dollar signs roll through their minds and they hear the sound “cha-ching.” In these days, we must be on guard for emotional spending or the financial train wreck will happen early in January. Let’s be wise and have a great Christmas.

Find a grateful person and you have found a great treasure. Spend too much time with ungrateful people and you will find yourself in recurring episodes of depression. Ungrateful people are all around us. They are emotionally and physically draining. One of the most devastating personality traits is ingratitude because it leads to bitterness. Both grateful and ungrateful people can be hurt and offended. However, the grateful person will avoid being trapped in the gall of bitterness.

In our home hangs a piece of artwork; an ever present reminder of the importance of gratitude. Here are those words: “A grateful heart sees many blessings.” Everyday at the end of the day Pat and I stop and record in a journal items of gratitude for the day. When you find yourself going bitter, do three things.

First, read and take heed to Hebrews 12:14-15.

Second, consider and reconsider these verses:

• “Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift!” (2 Corinthians 9:15)
•  “Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18)
• “Oh, give thanks to the Lord, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever.” (Psalm 107:1)
• “Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.” (Psalm 50:14)
• “Make a joyful shout to the Lord, all you lands! Serve the Lord with gladness; come before His presence with singing. Know that the Lord, He is God; it is He who has made us, and not we ourselves; we are His people and the sheep of His pasture. Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and bless His name.” (Psalm) 100:1-4

Third, stop and record on paper items for which you are grateful. Write down as many items as possible; do not stop with one or two. You will find joy returning to your heart. Remember, gratitude is the best attitude.

The reverse gear in a car is great … when you want to or need to back up. Imagine how ludicrous it would be to sit in your car, look out the front car window, and desire to go forward but have the car in reverse. With every passing moment, you would be getting further and even further from your destination. Eventually, you will crash.

Compare that picture to trying to achieve prosperity and financial freedom or financial success using dishonest practices. As crazy as it sounds, people try it everyday. Consider a few biblical reminders:

“Dishonest scales are an abomination to the Lord, but a just weight is His delight.” (Proverbs 11:1)

“You shall not have in your bag differing weights, a heavy and a light. You shall not have in your house differing measures, a large and a small. You shall have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure, that your days may be lengthened in the land which the Lord your God is giving you. For all who do such things, all who behave unrighteously, are an abomination to the Lord your God. (Deuteronomy 25:13-16)

“Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the short measure that is an abomination? Shall I count pure those with the wicked scales, and with the bag of deceitful weights? For her rich men are full of violence, her inhabitants have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth. “Therefore I will also make you sick by striking you, by making you desolate because of your sins. You shall eat, but not be satisfied; hunger shall be in your midst. You may carry some away, but shall not save them; and what you do rescue I will give over to the sword. (Micah 6:10-14)

These words are clear reminders as to how our Lord views attempts toward dishonest gain. Probably the most graphic picture of our Lord’s view of dishonest gain is when He overturned the moneychangers’ tables in the temple; not once but twice. Let us close with those words.

“Now the Passover of the Jews was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers doing business. When He had made a whip of cords, He drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen, and poured out the changers’ money and overturned the tables. And He said to those who sold doves, “Take these things away! Do not make My Father’s house a house of merchandise!” (John 2:13-16)

“Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you have made it a ‘den of thieves.’ ” (Matthew 21:12-13)

There are many opinions about work. Some people think it is right to work all the time and have no pleasure. Other people have the idea that other people should do all the work so they can use all their time for pleasure. The truth is somewhere between these two extremes is where we ought to be. The Bible teaches many lessons about work.

1. The Lord God worked six days and then rested. “And on the seventh day God ended His work which He had done, and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had done.” Genesis 2:2
2. Sleep is more pleasant after working. “The sleep of a laboring man is sweet, whether he eats little or much; but the abundance of the rich will not permit him to sleep.” Ecclesiastes 5:12
3. There are general benefits of hard work. “In all labor there is profit, but idle chatter leads only to poverty.” Proverbs 14:23
4. There are specific benefits of hard work.
   1. “He who tills his land will be satisfied with bread, but he who follows frivolity is devoid of understanding.” Proverbs 12:11
   2. “He who tills his land will have plenty of bread, but he who follows frivolity will have poverty enough!” Proverbs 28:19
5. When we work, we should see God as our boss. “And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men.” Colossians 3:23
6. We should be diligent about our work. “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with your might; for there is no work or device or knowledge or wisdom in the grave where you are going.” Ecclesiastes 9:10
7. As we work, remember God makes sense of what we do. “Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it; unless the Lord guards the city, the watchman stays awake in vain. It is vain for you to rise up early, to sit up late, to eat the bread of sorrows; for so He gives His beloved sleep.” (Psalm 127:1-2)

Some additional verses about work: Genesis 2:15; Exodus 20:9; Nehemiah 5:14-16; Proverbs 16:26; 19:15, 24; 21:25; Ecclesiastes 5:18-19; Ephesians 4:28; 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12; 2 Thessalonians 3:6-9, 11-12; 2 Timothy 2:6.

The bottom line is, there are powerful benefits and blessings in working especially when it is work as unto the Lord.