Zeal without Wisdom

In episode three of How I Met Your Mother we have Ted Mosby rediscovering a dress shirt which he was not too fond of some time earlier. The rediscovery of this shirt caused Ted to rethink those things which he disliked in the past and reconsider them for his future. This same mindset would be directed toward past relationships he had with women, thinking that perhaps one of his ex-girlfriends could possibly be "the one." With some help from his bar going friends, they are able to pinpoint one which they believe was the right one for Ted.

The situation is complicated by the fact that Ted broke up with this woman three years earlier on her birthday by leaving her a message on her answering machine. To her in embarrassment, the message was being left at the time of her surprise party as her guest were waiting for her arrival.

Determined to rekindle the relationship, Ted attempts to get in contact with this woman who at first is resistant but then after a few innocent and sweet gestures by Ted she agrees to go out with him again. Things seem to be going well at first, however three weeks into the restored relationship Ted decides to break up with her again. This time however doing it the mature way, in person; however timing is not necessarily on his side when he finds out that the day he decides to break up with her again is on her birthday. She does not take the news very well and the whole situation results in Ted been beat up by this woman.

Ted Mosby was in a very vulnerable state as he reminisced through the past looking for the one among his ex-lovers. At the moment of vulnerability we are susceptible to looking back to those things which were good in our pass and pursue those things in hope for happiness in the future. Such things can be beneficial to us, however if we are driven solely by emotions that are not accompanied by wisdom we can find ourselves making decisions that will ultimately be more harmful than the initial vulnerability that caused us to pursue those things.

I do not at all discount the importance of our emotions. I believe that so often we in the Christian culture demonize emotions because we determine them to be dishonest. I sincerely believe that God designed us to be emotional beings and can drive us toward his will through our emotions. However I stand on the basis that emotions need to be company by wisdom if we are to step effectively in the way in which the Father is taking us.

Proverbs 19:2 mentions that it is not good to have zeal with out knowledge or wisdom, and not to make hasty decisions. Yes, it is difficult to make wise and reasonable decisions when our emotions are on overdrive. Let us no longer be ashamed of our motions but incorporate wisdom and knowledge in the decisions that we make. It is easy to share the positive and uplifting emotions with others, yet we hide or put away the negative emotions that we don't want other people to see. We need to find trustworthy friends who we can share those negative interactions with that way we are notsulking in our grievances but lifting up one another in encouragement and in prayer, fulfilling the Lord desires for us to share our burdens with one another.