The Journey 272:How did we manage to stay for the last 50 years?
Read: Luke 19:1-10
Money and Marriage. There are normally number of reason that may cause rift between husband and wife. Reasons for these rifts could be flimsy while some serious. In a study that was conducted by Utah University, many marital couples had issues even on reason like who gets to hold the TV remote control, who has the maximum time watching TV, or who takes the trash to the waste bin, who irons the clothes and so on. But one of the major issues that has brought about marital breakdown and ultimately leading to separation is the fight over money. It is the battle over money that is causing havoc in many families. What is strange in the battle over money is that it cuts across all income groups. Most people think that fights over money happens only among people coming from low income group, but talk to people who come from the higher income group– sometimes the fights that happen over money in these homes can be worse than the fights in the lower income groups. Two individuals both who work in financial matters have released books that helps spouses to deal with conflict that arises out of fight for money. The first book is written by Jane Honeck who is certified public accountant and she has published a book titled “The Problem with Money? Its not about Money”. The second book is one written by Mary Claire Allvine who is a financial expert and the title of the book is “The Family CFO: A Business Plan for Love and Money”. She has been recently featured in the CNN news and her article is also featured in HLN. Both these authors suggest both short term remedies and long term goals. One of the main principles that they suggest is that priorities of married couple should be first made right. They need to have goals for each other and also collectively. They also talk about how responsibilities have to be shared by the spouses– it is not the duty of either the husband or the wife to pay of the debts or loans or the insurance amount, this is to shared together but more than that one of the major aspect that these authors suggest is that- the spouses first need to create an environment of mutual trust and understanding between themselves and in their homes rather than building a hostile environment of mutual distrust and blaming. I think this is something we all could incorporate in our family. How can we as Christians look at the concept of money and how can we bring about harmony in financial matters that will ultimately bring harmony in our home and in our relationships?
We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living”. The portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Luke 19: 1-11. This passage talks about Zacheus, the individual whose love for money caused not only havoc in his life and also in all areas of his relationship. Here is a man who focuses only on money and whose objective in life is just to amass wealth. We do not know what was the quality of family life that he lived, and whether he had arguments and fights with his spouse over money. But one thing is for sure he had no social relationship and he was hated by everyone and considered a sinner [ Lk 19: 7]. One aspects of the life of Zacheus that made him a recluse and an outcaste was his love for money. I think his only goal in life was to make money…….more money. For him it did not matter how the money came, as long as money comes, I think he was happy. The priority of Zacheus and sometimes the priority of many of the married couples today is the same. They forget to live and the only objective in life is to make money and then fight with their spouses telling that “I make this much of money, I contribute this much of money to the home, while you have only contributed this much…..”And the arguments continues daily. When Jesus encounters Zacheus the transformation that He does in the life of Zacheus was in creating a new priority in life. All these time he was concerned about “What I will get” and it is this priority that made him crave for more money. But Jesus changed his priority in life from “What I will get -to What I can give”. Jesus taught a truth to Zacheus that it is in giving that we receive the best and are blessed. If money is the root cause of issue in your life, change your priority from what I can get to what I can give. Then see the difference.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla
Money and Marriage. There are normally number of reason that may cause rift between husband and wife. Reasons for these rifts could be flimsy while some serious. In a study that was conducted by Utah University, many marital couples had issues even on reason like who gets to hold the TV remote control, who has the maximum time watching TV, or who takes the trash to the waste bin, who irons the clothes and so on. But one of the major issues that has brought about marital breakdown and ultimately leading to separation is the fight over money. It is the battle over money that is causing havoc in many families. What is strange in the battle over money is that it cuts across all income groups. Most people think that fights over money happens only among people coming from low income group, but talk to people who come from the higher income group– sometimes the fights that happen over money in these homes can be worse than the fights in the lower income groups. Two individuals both who work in financial matters have released books that helps spouses to deal with conflict that arises out of fight for money. The first book is written by Jane Honeck who is certified public accountant and she has published a book titled “The Problem with Money? Its not about Money”. The second book is one written by Mary Claire Allvine who is a financial expert and the title of the book is “The Family CFO: A Business Plan for Love and Money”. She has been recently featured in the CNN news and her article is also featured in HLN. Both these authors suggest both short term remedies and long term goals. One of the main principles that they suggest is that priorities of married couple should be first made right. They need to have goals for each other and also collectively. They also talk about how responsibilities have to be shared by the spouses– it is not the duty of either the husband or the wife to pay of the debts or loans or the insurance amount, this is to shared together but more than that one of the major aspect that these authors suggest is that- the spouses first need to create an environment of mutual trust and understanding between themselves and in their homes rather than building a hostile environment of mutual distrust and blaming. I think this is something we all could incorporate in our family. How can we as Christians look at the concept of money and how can we bring about harmony in financial matters that will ultimately bring harmony in our home and in our relationships?
We are meditating on the theme “Transformed Living”. The portion that we shall use for our meditation is from Luke 19: 1-11. This passage talks about Zacheus, the individual whose love for money caused not only havoc in his life and also in all areas of his relationship. Here is a man who focuses only on money and whose objective in life is just to amass wealth. We do not know what was the quality of family life that he lived, and whether he had arguments and fights with his spouse over money. But one thing is for sure he had no social relationship and he was hated by everyone and considered a sinner [ Lk 19: 7]. One aspects of the life of Zacheus that made him a recluse and an outcaste was his love for money. I think his only goal in life was to make money…….more money. For him it did not matter how the money came, as long as money comes, I think he was happy. The priority of Zacheus and sometimes the priority of many of the married couples today is the same. They forget to live and the only objective in life is to make money and then fight with their spouses telling that “I make this much of money, I contribute this much of money to the home, while you have only contributed this much…..”And the arguments continues daily. When Jesus encounters Zacheus the transformation that He does in the life of Zacheus was in creating a new priority in life. All these time he was concerned about “What I will get” and it is this priority that made him crave for more money. But Jesus changed his priority in life from “What I will get -to What I can give”. Jesus taught a truth to Zacheus that it is in giving that we receive the best and are blessed. If money is the root cause of issue in your life, change your priority from what I can get to what I can give. Then see the difference.
Rev. Dr. Joe Joseph Kuruvilla