Our emotional lives are a huge part of our Christian walk. Most of us have been taught that feelings have a mind of their own, that we can’t control or help how we feel. We may not realize it, but this is giving way too much power to our emotions and feelings. While our emotions are very important to our relationship with God, He never intended us to live a life governed by them. Jesus Christ is Lord! He’s the head of our lives and once we surrender to the truth of our identity in Christ, everything must be submitted to him, including our emotions.
God doesn’t ever want any of us to be sad and down. He doesn’t want us feeling bad about ourselves or others. Quite the contrary. Our Heavenly Father is a happy God. There’s no possible way for Him not to be. He is the Creator of the universe and all that we survey. He is all-knowing, all-powerful, everywhere present, and perfect in every way. Nothing slips by Him, and He can do anything that He wants. He doesn’t need anything or anyone, and He’s perfectly happy within Himself, because He is a happy God.
We belong to God and He belongs to us. Ephesians 1:4(NLT) says, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes.” He loves us and He chose us to be His very own. He wants us to extract every ounce of happiness we possibly can from this life experience, and in His Word, He tells us exactly how to go about it.
2Corinthians 3:17-18(NLT) states, “17 Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 18 But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, and Heavenly Father are one, and His Lordship authorizes our freedom. It’s a freedom from the shackles of darkness, and it’s a freedom that clothes us in our divine design which is imprinted on our very cores. Darkness used to veil our eyes, and we couldn’t see our glorious reality in Christ. Now, because of his sacrifice on the cross for our sins, we can see! Looking at Christ is looking in a mirror, seeing all we were created by God to be.
All of God is in Christ and all of Christ is in us. As we take off the old deadness that holds us back and put on more of the love of Christ that propels us forward, we are being transformed from the inside out into the very image of Christ. The Holy Spirit that indwells us is doing this work. Philippians 2:13 tells us that through His Holy Spirit, God is working in us and giving us the desire and the power to do what pleases Him.
We don’t belong to ourselves. Every ounce of us belongs to God! Romans 8:2(NLT) tells us, “And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death.” Through Christ, God has made us free indeed, but make no mistake, freedom is not defined as card blanc to do anything any time we want. That’s not freedom. That’s immaturity. God doesn’t operate that way and He didn’t create us to operate that way either. Our Heavenly Father limits Himself to His love. In other words, He confines His every move to the boundaries of His unconditional, limitless, and perfect love. We must do the same.
Life was not given to us to be lived on our terms. It was given to be lived through, in, by, and with God’s love. You and I can’t fill our own tanks. If we tried, we’d run empty all the time. God’s love is our fuel. He’s our strength from day to day, and without Him we would fall. But in Christ and because of our union with him, Colossians 2:10 tells us we are complete! The completeness allows u to love as Christ loves, to give as he gives, and to share as he shares.
We spend a great deal of time trying to figure out our emotions. If we start out the day and things don’t go well, our emotions tell us to feel bad. If things are going great, emotions tell us to feel good, but as spiritually mature believers, we must get to a level of faith where circumstances and conditions do not dictate how we feel. Jeremiah 17:9(NLT) says, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” This verse makes it clear that sometimes, we can’t figure out what’s going on in our hearts, so we should not allow our hearts to lead. Only God deserves this place of authority and power in our lives. The very best gift we can give ourselves is to fill our hearts and heads with God’s Word. Then, His Word will take the lead, and our emotions and feelings will follow.■
Scripture quotations marked (NLT) are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Wheaton, Illinois 60189. All rights reserved.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by Permission of Biblica, Inc.® All rights reserved worldwide.
“Don’t Let Your Emotions Take the Lead”, written for Springfield Fellowship © 2022. All rights reserved. All praise and honor to God through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.