We’ve all known someone who seemed to walk with God but when a major life crisis hit, they got mad at God and turned away from Him. When asked why they stopped walking with God, they usually say that they’re mad at God because they feel that He treated them unfairly.
But I have another reason why they turned away. It’s because they lived their life on emotions. Colossians 2:6 says, “Just as you received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to live your lives in Him…”
But how did you receive Jesus into your life? Was it by emotion only or by a decision of your will? I invited Jesus into my life by a decision of my will. For me, it was emotional also but for some people, it’s not. What Paul is saying in Colossians 2:6 is to live your life not driven by emotions but by your will. So if something happens to me that I don’t understand, I can decide to still follow Jesus even if I don’t “feel” like it. My will can tell my emotions what I’m going to do. If I follow my will long enough, my emotions will come into line.
An example of this is in Psalms 103:1 and 146:1, where King David tells us, “Oh my soul, praise the Lord”. Most of us think that David’s soul is enraptured with praise to God. But in the Hebrew language, this verse is a command, not a statement or request. In my life, when our 3 boys were little, there were times when getting them ready for church was EXASPERATING. By the time we got to church, I didn’t feel like praising God. I think in these verses, David’s emotions are saying, “We don’t feel like praising God right now”. But David’s will is telling his emotions, “But we’re going to praise God NOW, even if you don’t feel like it because it’s the right thing to do.” (Psalm 34:1). David’s will is commanding his emotions to get in line.
At first, I felt like a hypocrite praising God when I didn’t feel like it. But that was just my emotions having a temper tantrum. I went ahead and praised God anyway. It took me about a month or two of disciplining my emotions to praise God even when I didn’t feel like it, but it worked. Eventually, I could enter into worship right away and not feel hypocritical about it.
Are you running your life on emotions? Are you making decisions when you’re really emotional? Is your will telling your emotions how you’re going to act? I’m not saying to deny your emotions. Just don’t run your life according to them. Eventually, your emotions will come into line with your will. Some good scriptures are Proverbs 12:16, 13:3, 14:8, 15, 17, 29, and 17:27
This is an updated edition of a post originally published on bsssb-llc
