When I heard the sermon, “Taking Control of our Emotions” last Sunday, I could not have felt more like it was written for me.
Col. 3:4-5 Christ is your life. When he appears again, you also will appear with Him in heaven’s glory. 5 So put to death anything that belongs to your earthly nature. Get rid of your sexual sins & unclean acts. Don’t let your feelings get out of control. Remove from your life all evil longings. Stop always wanting more & more. You might as well be worshiping statues of gods.
For as long as I can remember, growing up I was told that I was a “fire ball” (not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but let’s just assume good for the sake of this story ha!). I remember being passionate with whatever it was I put my mind to. However, as I grew older, it became apparent to me that it was not just a cutesy name to call a 7 year old determined to build the biggest tree fort in the neighborhood, but in all actuality I was, in fact, a very, very emotional child who turned into a very, very emotional adult… It became not just about setting my mind to something, but also whether or not things went my way. I started to become lost in an endless battle of waves taking me up and down and up and down based on my circumstances.
Driving in rush hour traffic turned into wanting to curse out the people in front of me, long lines at the grocery store had me furious and impatient, even employees not finishing their sentence fast enough would get me irritated. I lost myself on an endless rollercoaster of anger and my flesh (mind, will, and emotions – NOT the spirit) to the point where I felt completely out of control of myself.
Turning to Jesus and His word, I felt a sense of peace, I felt I could give Him my emotions and ask that He give me the strength to be more like Him. I began to feel the impact of His promise, “The truth will set you free”. As I started to take inventory of my actions and how well they did or did not reflect Jesus, I began to pray and ask God for self control, a fruit of the spirit, and above all else, love, because God is love. It took admitting that I was emotionally immature before the Lord could do anything in my heart.
I want to set the record straight by saying that God created emotions. He created us in HIS likeness and our emotions are not necessarily always bad. In fact, the sweetest moments to savor come from what we experience in our feelings. Saying “I do” on your wedding day to the spouse of your dreams, feeling proud of your kids or family members for accomplishing their goals, getting a bonus at work and having some money left over for a family vacation finally. All of these are great feelings that in turn cause us to look to God and feel gratitude.
Eph. 4:32 Be kind & helpful to one another, tender-hearted [compassionate, understanding], forgiving one another [readily & freely], just as God in Christ also forgave you.
Our emotions also work as a gauge on where we are spiritually. They show us a clear picture of how much we need God. The biggest challenge is turning to Him and dying to our fleshly selfish ways.
This last weekend I decided it was finally time to pull the weeds out of our front garden area. I had been putting it off for some time and it was actually to the point of embarrassment. As I started pulling up weeds I noticed how the roots from one little weed went as far as two to three feet out in any direction! I would pull one and keep pulling as a whole row of weeds was connected to the same root. I was flabbergasted by this and couldn’t imagine how something so little actually was so far spread out below the surface.
It made me think of how a snappy comment back at your spouse or child can sometimes be the sign of something much more going on beneath the surface. Are you making time to spend with the Lord? Are you meditating on His love and the beauty of His sacrifice? It is enough of an eye opener to how much more we ought to forgive others.
Belief tends to overflow into how we behave. Sometimes it is obvious, other times it is not. Toxic belief patterns overflow into toxic emotions that will take hold of our entire life. Toxic belief patterns can start from as early as your first memory. Trauma from being hurt, rejected, or abandoned can begin to grow deep within, to the point where you start to believe that the lies are true and your behavior starts to reflect that.
From the book “Soul Detox- Clean Living in a Contaminated World”, author Craig Groeschel stated, “If you don’t handle the hurt properly, their sin becomes a catalyst for your own.”
The battle of our emotions truly starts in our mind. We can’t help the feelings we experience, we can, however, choose how we would like to respond. We can also choose what we focus on and foster.
Phil 4:8 “Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable-if anything is excellent or praiseworthy-think about such things.”
My challenge to you is to get to know your Father. No, not your imperfect earthly father, but your heavenly Father. The one who promises NOT to reject you, harm you, or leave you. The one who considered you worth the ultimate price to save. If He could turn a bitter, angry girl like me into his likeness a little more each day, I know he can for you too. It is an endless process of refinement with a goal of being a little more like him every day. While I am NO where near perfect, nor will I ever be, I am certain of his promise:
Phil. 1:6 “Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”