Who do you live for?

How are our lives different because of Christ?  We believe in His sacrifice, in His goodness and grace.  What does it require of us, anything short of our very lives?  Do the deeds of our heart outwardly show this level of devotion and thankfulness?  If we are no longer slaves to sin, but were purchased at such a high price to be slaves to righteousness then shouldn’t it move us to give up ourselves.

Jesus said that to gain our lives, our freedom in Christ, we must loose it.  Freely give up our “rights” of serving our own emotions and fleshly desire.  Give it away, give it all away!!!  If we try to hold on to our lives, we WILL loose it.  Let go of justice, let go of hate, let go of anger, let go of hurt, let go of the idea that we can not overcome or forgive certain sin, let go of the belief that matters are in our own hands.  They are not, believe...have faith and believe.  Believe that He parts seas, that He calms storms, that He heals the sick, He raises the dead to life, makes the blind to see and the unclean clean.  He heals the broken heart, returns the prodigal, brings the proud to their knees, brings hope to the hopeless.  Believe, truly believe.

We say we believe, but the truth is not in our words but in our deeds.  For out of the heart comes the actions of men.  If we are full of the Spirit, then it will bear fruit in the form of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness and self-control.  If our actions are full of anger, bitterness, jealousy, hate, judgment, etc.  Then our actions testify against us as to what is in our hearts.

In our self assessment, what is our spiritual food?  Are we getting any?  How much time do we devote to God, getting to know Him better, serving Him....living with heavenly purpose.  Is He our Sunday activity or is He truly our “all in all.”  Our actions speak the truth.  The hours of the day are for Him or they are not.  

Don’t tell me you’ve done your time.  Really?  Is that what you’re going to tell Jesus when you give an account for your life to the one who gave His very life for you?  Is this the view you have of the sacrifice He made, that it only deserves a portion of your life?  How lukewarm will we be before He spits us out of his mouth, before we stand before the throne and He says, “depart from me, for I never knew you.”

“Not everyone who calls out to me, ‘Lord! Lord!’ will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. Only those who actually do the will of my Father in heaven will enter.  On judgment day many will say to me, ‘Lord! Lord! We prophesied in your name and cast out demons in your name and performed many miracles in your name.’  But I will reply, ‘I never knew you. Get away from me, you who break God’s laws.’ Matthew 7:21-23

Are we doing His will?  Is our life bearing the fruit of the Spirit?  What comes out of our hearts and is manifested through our actions and emotions?  Only those who do the will of the father...will enter. Is it enough to claim Jesus as savior with our words, but deny Him with our hearts?  You decide and live accordingly. 

As we think... we are

Proverbs 23:7 “So as a man thinks in his heart, so is he.”

Ephesians 4:22-24 “You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by it’s deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness.”  

So as we think... is what we become.  Where do we spend our time thinking and what do we want to become?  Break down a day. 

How much time is given to...

• worry
• selfish desire (Getting new stuff, making ourselves happy, etc.)
• making more money (to serve God or serve self)
• watching tv (of good moral character or lustful, self serving characters glamorized)
• reading (of good moral character or lustful, self serving characters glamorized)
• relationships (building one another up and holding accountable or in gossip and promoting self interest)
• listening to music (full of hope and encouragement or sad, depressive and angry)
• anger, bitterness, jealously, resentment, hate, hopelessness, etc.

What do we want to become...

• lustful
• self serving
• discontent with life as it is
• a worry wort
• sad, depressive, hopeless
• angry, bitter, jealous, etc.

or 

• loving
• full of joy
• content
• fulfilled, full of purpose & hope

Should we be surprised when we struggle with these issues?  We could probably pin a lot of it down to how and where we spend our time. When I'm struggling,  a lot of the time it is my own choices that put me there.  Have you ever sat around and listened to sad depressing music all day and thought, " I am just so happy today!"  Nope, we become sad and depressive.   As we choose to spend our time and attention on different activities that fill our mind with thought and persuasion; what is it leading us towards becoming?

Simple, yet profound thoughts to chew on,

Brian

P.S. We'll start the Beth Moore study in a couple weeks.  I will be teaching with it as a Sunday school class so I thought it would be best to do them at the same time!

Ever feel like you're in an inescapable pit?

In the deepest parts of us, below the surface, no matter how hard our exterior shell is...those layers of armor and toughness to protect ourselves; we all want to be known and loved.  We don’t spend much time, if at all, talking about our deepest fears, our pains, our sorrows, or even our dreams, our desire for love and acceptance.  Perhaps we think it shows weakness, more likely we’ve been hurt and we don’t want to risk it again.  The people we love failed us, let us down, injured us, jaded our view of life.

Now you’re left empty and afraid; feeling lonely.  You may even be surrounded by people, friends, family...but there is a disconnect.  They don’t even know how bad it hurts.  They don’t know about the internal discontentment with life, the stirring in your soul for something more, something meaningful...they wouldn’t understand if you tried to tell them, at least you think.  So you smile and go along for the ride, but you’re slowly dying inside.

The love you seek is not what you think it is.  It’s not romance or even friendship; it is intimacy.  For your innermost self to be known by another; a deep relationship. To be accepted as you are and loved in spite of yourself; unconditionally.  Is there such a thing...does it exist?  We desperately want it to, what a relief that would be. 

However, the days roll on and the aching continues and grows.  It becomes unbearable at times and leaves your numb inside.  You’re just going through the motions.  There are moments when you just want to feel something, anything.  It doesn’t matter.  You feel trapped in your circumstances, tied down by the weight of what feels like a meager existence or perhaps the feeling that it will never get any better than what you have now.  You are desperate to break out, but from what?  You don’t really know. It’s a living nightmare in some ways; empty, empty, empty.  

You feel exhausted from just thinking about it.  Time to crawl into bed and escape into a dream.  Perhaps it’s worse, escape takes the shape of a bottle, a pill, a warm body...anything for some temporary relief.  Some short term pleasure, a fleeting moment of happiness, a distraction or even just forgetting about it for a short while - we cope.  If only that were enough, but it’s not. Matter of fact, it somehow makes it worse.  The void, the emptiness, gets bigger so we cling to our choice for coping even more.  We spend more time with it, increase the frequently...but it only intensifies our thirst for relief even further. Our coping mechanism might even be considered healthy by any standard, but it’s purpose and effect are the same.  It is a vicious cycle we can’t seem to break.  Something has to give.

In the mix of all of this we begin to feel a sense of worthlessness, insecurity...if we weren’t feeling that way already.  We become super sensitive to the words others use to define us.  Anything that sounds negative cuts like a knife inside of us.  We may not show it on the surface, we fight like mad to cover it up, but we hurt desperately.  Somehow it almost feels like we are unloved, even if others tell us differently.  We may even feel unlovable, flawed somehow...broken, unfixable.

Some days we don’t even think we deserve to be rescued from this mess or that it’s not possible.  Others we could practically cry out to be saved, please, at any cost!  Who do we cry out to, who can help us?  We’re frustrated...it seems hopeless.  Pointless to even try perhaps.

Every day our thoughts destroy us a little more, our perception of life as we see it.  We value our life, we value our family and our friendships.  We have expectations for the way these relationships should be.  Either what we have created in our own minds or perhaps what has been created for us on a tv show or movie.  There is this ideal picture; if we could only have that!  Everything would ok.  Instead, they seem hollow or superficial, disjointed, forced, painful...I don’t know.  They consume a lot of energy just to maintain and they are full of injury.  Over and over you’ve been burned, cast aside, made to feel insignificant, belittled, controlled, abused...and here we are again; worthless.

“Why can’t I find or change the circumstances, the person or people to make it all better?  To find relief and comfort” you ask yourself.  It feels like your running away, but from what and where to?  You don’t know, but the sensation won’t go away. So the question becomes, have you had enough? Are you ready to give up?  The hard truth is we’ve tried just about everything haven’t we...nothing is working.  Why? Because we are doing life our way and failing miserably at it.

You may have tried religion or spirituality.  Maybe you worked hard at being a good person and living an honest life.  You could have gone the route of living for the moment and doing whatever makes you happy and brings you pleasure.  Perhaps you are a Christian doing all the things Christians do; going to church, participating in Bible study, serving in ministry at the church.  Yet, with all these different ways of doing life...these feelings still plague you.

I have wrestled for a couple weeks now with this post sitting unfinished of how to bring the answers.  How can I boil down the solutions to one blog post, making it applicable?  Oh, believe me there is a way out, I know because I’ve been there too!  You don’t have to stay in this place any longer and the alternative is simply beautiful!

Beth Moore describes this sensation as being stuck in a mirky, muddy pit, being unable to escape.  That’s one good way of putting it.  As a matter of fact, I would like to explore the situation from this viewpoint as Beth writes about it in her book, “Get Out of That Pit.”  I propose you join me in an online study of the book over the next 10 weeks.  What  do you have to loose?

Go buy a copy at a Christian book store or order it online.  If you are not a Christian, don’t freak out on me!  I’m not asking you to join a religion...we gonna talk about this problem specifically and talk about relationship.  If you are a Christian, don’t freak out on me!  If you resonated with this entry then you don’t have it all figured out...good news, neither do I!  You’re in good company.  We’ll work on it together.  Also, I realize Beth Moore has been “branded” as women’s studies...get over it!  Send me a facebook message, email or blog comment if you might join me.  We’ll start in a week, so get to it!

And you will know we are Christians by our Anger…

No, that’s not how the phrase goes does it?  By our bitterness, our resentment, our hatred, our selfishness, our pride, our envy…still no.  What was it then, oh yes, by our love!

“Be on your guard; stand firm in faith; be men of courage; be strong. Do everything in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:13-14

“Anyone who claims to be in the light but hates his brother is still in the darkness.”

1 John 2:9

“A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.  By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.” John 13:34-35

“…Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you.” Luke 6:27-28

If we love our Christian brothers and sisters, it proves that we have passed from death to life. But a person who has no love is still dead. Anyone who hates another brother or sister is really a murderer at heart. And you know that murderers don’t have eternal life within them. If someone says, “I love God,” but hates a Christian brother or sister, that person is a liar; for if we don’t love people we can see, how can we love God, whom we have not seen?


We know what real love is because Jesus gave up his life for us. So we also ought to give up our lives for our brothers and sisters. If someone has enough money to live well and sees a brother or sister in need but shows no compassion—how can God’s love be in that person?   Let’s not merely say that we love each other; let us show the truth by our actions. Our actions will show that we belong to the truth, so we will be confident when we stand before God.


This is his commandment: We must believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ, and love one another, just as he commanded us. Those who obey God’s commandments remain in fellowship with him, and he with them. And we know he lives in us because the Spirit he gave us lives in us.


But what happens when we live God's way? He brings gifts into our lives, much the same way that fruit appears in an orchard—things like affection for others, exuberance about life, serenity. We develop a willingness to stick with things, a sense of compassion in the heart, and a conviction that a basic holiness permeates things and people. We find ourselves involved in loyal commitments, not needing to force our way in life, able to marshal and direct our energies wisely.


Legalism is helpless in bringing this about; it only gets in the way. Among those who belong to Christ, everything connected with getting our own way and mindlessly responding to what everyone else calls necessities is killed off for good—crucified.


Since this is the kind of life we have chosen, the life of the Spirit, let us make sure that we do not just hold it as an idea in our heads or a sentiment in our hearts, but work out its implications in every detail of our lives. That means we will not compare ourselves with each other as if one of us were better and another worse. We have far more interesting things to do with our lives. Each of us is an original.


What is written above is challenging, it begs of us to look internally and examine our lives.  Today’s entry; every word is from scripture except the first paragraph and what I am writing to you now.  We are called to be different than the rest of this world…we are called to love.  If not, do we have the love of the Father in us?  What did the scripture have to say?


For some of us it means recognizing that we have yet to truly be transformed in the Spirit and live according to His purpose for ourselves and not by our own path. We have yet to die of self.  Maybe today will be the first day that you say, "I'm not who I was."


The body of today’s entry is from:
1 John 3:14-24 NLT
1 John 4:20 NLT
Galatians 5:22-26 The Message


Today's song by Matthew West - I'm Not Who I Was
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZpOLyR8MwiA


I wish you could see me now
I wish I could show you how
I'm not who I was
I used to be mad at you
A little on the hurt side too
But I'm not who I was

I found my way around
To forgiving you
Some time ago
But I never got to tell you so

I found us in a photograph
I saw me and I had to laugh
You know, I'm not who I was
You were there, you were right above me
And I wonder if you ever loved me
Just for who I was

When the pain came back again
Like a bitter friend
It was all that I could do
To keep myself from blaming you

I reckon it's a funny thing
I figured out I can sing
Now I'm not who I was
I write about love and such
Maybe 'cause I want it so much
I'm not who I was

I was thinking maybe I
I should let you know
I am not the same
But I never did forget your name
Hello

Well the thing I find most amazing
In amazing grace
Is the chance to give it out
Maybe that's what love is all about

I wish you could see me now
I wish I could show you how
I'm not who I was

The hardest lesson I ever had to learn

What do you value most? Your job, your car, your house. Maybe your values go much deeper, you would say your family, your kids, your health, your spouse. Those things are good and it would only seem right to place a high value on them, but we would be wrong in doing so. For years I placed great value in my wife and my relationship with her. I pretty much worshiped her, held her up on a peddle stool in my eyes. I remember I used to tell her that if she snapped at me in the morning I was crushed and useless for the rest of the day. It was true and I thought it was a good thing that I placed so much importance on her. I found my identity in her, my self worth (value), because I valued her so much. Do you know what I’m talking about? Of course you do.

What if you lost what you valued most? Would it destroy you, crush you? It almost did for me, until I learned the hardest truth I ever had to face. The values that I had were all misplaced. My marriage, it would be gone one day, in death at the very least. My kids, on loan from God entrusted into my care. My house, my car, my money, my job, my time…it is all His from the beginning. I simply had to admit that truth to myself. It isn’t mine, it is all His.

My identity was misplaced as well because of my flawed value system. Bluntly honest, I found my worth in her, in my job, in being a father, a friend etc. Because of this I was in bondage to this identity and value system. When things fell apart Satan exploited it to cause me great pain and agony. To keep me in fear and panic, to spend a lot of time asking “what if” questions regarding the past, present and future. When something threatened my “values” my world came crashing down and I couldn’t even function sometimes, the pain and anxiety was paralyzing. Can you relate?

So what changed? Beginning to understand that it all truly belongs to the Lord and that my value, self worth and identity should come from Him alone. Again, in all honesty, that was a bitter pill to swallow at first, but it soon became the most liberating fact of my life outside of salvation. As I rebuilt my identity squarely on my life in Christ, creating a value system solidly on valuing the things of God’s heart, on pleasing Him and living in His will for my life; Satan suddenly lost all power over me. His strongholds in me were torn down and the chains that weighed me down were broken and stripped away!

Now I have a new identity in Christ, He is my value and I have much value in Him. So as the storms rage around me I do not fear, I do not fret. There is no pain or anxiety and there is no sorrow; only joy and peace. I worship Him alone, to Him all my praise and adoration is given.

My wife may never come home, but I will rejoice in the Lord still. More calamities may come my way, but they will not injure me or cause me to stumble. “There is no fear in (His) love. But perfect love drives out fear...” 1 John 4:18 Please don’t misunderstand me. I love my wife dearly, more than she will ever understand. I would love nothing more than for her to come home, but it does not define me, the marriage is not what I live for anymore, it is not my purpose.

Satan can no longer exploit those values for pain because the value is not there to be exploited. Also, I’m not saying they are of no value, but in comparison to His glory, they are mere shrinking shadows of what they were previously.

This also allows us to live out 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 with greater ease and clarity. If our value was perfectly in Him alone then it would be impossible to threaten our values, which means that jealousy, envy, pride, selfishness, etc. could not exist. Take a look for yourself: “Love is patient and kind. Love is not jealous or boastful or proud or rude. Love does not demand its own way. Love is not irritable, and it keeps no record of when it has been wronged. It is never glad about injustice but rejoices whenever the truth wins out. Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance. Love never fails.” For example, if we value His love instead of the love from others, what is there to be demanding of?

Like I said, the hardest lesson I ever had to learn, but also the most liberating and instantaneous in its effects on me. This is the freedom we have in Jesus Christ. I fully believe this is the beginning of understanding that has the potential to free you from all kinds of grief and medication.  It will also make for better relationships, better marriages and release us to live the way we were designed to live.

So what is it that you value? Where is your identity found? Is any of it misplaced, holding you back from an abundant life?

Here’s to freedom!
Brian

Today’s song

This may throw some of you completely off, but I think it is interesting how secular music has some great worship lyrics sometimes. They just miss out on who the object of our praise, worship, adoration and affection should go to. Here is a perfect example.



Halo by Beyonce

Remember those walls I built
Well, baby they're tumbling down
And they didn't even put up a fight
They didn't even make up a sound

I found a way to let you in
But I never really had a doubt
Standing in the light of your halo
I got my angel now

It's like I've been awakened
Every rule I had you breakin'
It's the risk that I'm takin'
I ain't never gonna shut you out

Everywhere I'm looking now
I'm surrounded by your embrace
Baby I can see your halo
You know you're my saving grace

You're everything I need and more
It's written all over your face
Baby I can feel your halo
Pray it won't fade away

I can feel your halo halo halo
I can see your halo halo halo
I can feel your halo halo halo
I can see your halo halo halo

Hit me like a ray of sun
Burning through my darkest night
You're the only one that I want
Think I'm addicted to your light

I swore I'd never fall again
But this don't even feel like falling
Gravity can't forget
To pull me back to the ground again

Surrender and exposing the lies

So how is life? Are you tired of the rut? Is it just a series of events?  Christian or not, do you ever wander if this is as good as it gets? If you are feeling this way you should know there is another path, an infinitely more amazing path.  I know that I give you glimpses into my life through this blog.  If I wrote everything down, every encounter, every story...you would not believe me and probably think I was out of my mind!  For that matter, I have no desire to boast except to say how AWESOME our God really is.

I can honestly tell you that my daily life is FULL of ADVENTURE, packed with PURPOSE and MEANING and any movie script or novel pales in comparison at this point. Not because of what I’ve done, but because of who He is and what He accomplishes through people like you and me.  Do you crave adventure?  Do you desire purpose, meaning and deep relationship? Of coarse you do, we were designed by God for it!

Starting in December, I am going to teach a Sunday school class at Kingsway on everything that I have come to understand, the things that have brought me to this place.  I want to see EVERYONE out of bondage and living a daily miracle filled life! Yes, it does exist!!!  If you are hurting, emotionally scarred, trapped, depressed, full of anxiety, feeling empty, addicted, afflicted, stuck in coping through life, haven’t figured it all out, stressed, tired, lonely, broken, messed up, want more of life...come.  If you think you have it all figured out (I haven’t), don’t bother, He can’t help you right now.

You have to be in the place where you are willing to SURRENDER. Say I quit, I give up.  I can’t do it my way anymore, my way stinks.  I give it ALL to you Lord!  You have to really want it.  I admit that I am a failure on my own accord.  I screw it up every time I do it MY WAY.  Now that I’ve given up and surrendered, let’s do it your way.  I give you my schedule, my preferences, my time, my talent, my money, my job, my spouse, my kids, my problems, my pains, my everything...my life.  It belongs to you.  It was really yours to begin with, but I’m just now admitting that. I am finally broken of my selfishness, now please Lord, build me into what you wanted me to be.

The question now is, how do I go forward?  I don’t even know what that looks like.  I’ve been doing it my way for so long.  Me too.  We are going to build on surrender in class.  He is going to show you the path, in practical application, of how to live life in full surrender and bring you to a place of joy, peace, adventure and purpose like you never thought possible.

Why didn’t you think it was possible?  Because there is a liar among us.  He is the father of lies and he steals away God’s truth in our hearts and replaces it will lies and half truths.  Satan has been busy lying to you and me, keeping you away from the life God desires and you desire.  He tells you, promises you that you can fill up that pain, that emptiness through stuff, movies, relationships, whatever.  The truth is it just makes it worse.  He is a liar!  Even now you have probably thought that what you are reading can’t be had for you, or “Brian’s really stretching it this time, I don’t deserve what Brian is talking about, my life is ok the way it is, I have time to fix my life later.” I don’t know what he said to you, but he is LYING TO YOU. STOP LISTENING and call him what he is, a liar!

He feeds me lies everyday.  Who are you Brian, to be helping people?  Who are you to write a blog on such subjects?  Who are you to teach Sunday school?  People will turn on you for writing such pointed stuff.  I will tell you who I am, nothing, but Satan...you are missing the point with your lies.  HE, JESUS, my savior is EVERYTHING.  Through HIM alone I can accomplish such things, be empowered to speak the truth, be bold for Him and expose your lies Satan.  You have lost this battle!  YOU LOOSE now go away, flee from me!

Tell Satan you are aware now of his lies he tells you.  You know what they are.  You know what he says to you.  You are not good enough.  Lie! You have to fix your own life, before getting right with God. Lie!  You’ve done too much wrong, too much damage and there is no going back. Lie! Lie! Lie!  You are not someone who can make a difference. Lie!  Your problems are too big to be dealt with.  Lie!  Everything is hopeless. LIE!!!  You don’t have time for church or Sunday school. Lie!  That you are going to "find happiness" by some other means than God Himself.  What a HUGE lie!!! What crap is he feeding you?  Think about it, identify it, then tell him he’s been busted!  You’ve caught a thief stealing away your life.  NO MORE!

He will give you a million reasons why NOT to come to Sunday school.  Why to even stop reading this blog.  He is squirming in his seat, desperate and will do anything to pull you back into the box where you are controlled, managed. If you aren’t struggling with Satan at all it’s probably because you gave up; you are defeated.  He doesn’t need to bother you.  You have been disabled and taken out of the fight.  WAKE UP CHRISTIAN!!! Know who your enemy is.  Know that he is real, know that he wants to destroy you, your family, your friends, your marriage...everything!

What will you do now?  Satan has no power over you.  What are you waiting for? Take him head on and tell him exactly where to go, back to hell!  Fight for your life in Christ!  Break free from any bondage that his lies have caused, the lies that weigh you down.  This is one HUGE step towards your complete freedom in Christ.  His burden is light for you, I know. I rarely talk about my personal storms directly because they are just noise. It is ALL in His hands and when we focus on him and cast aside the liar everything else fades away.

Will you join me?

I love you more than you know, but He loves you so much more than you can understand!

Brian

P.S. If you can't get to class because you live outside of Indy or whatever, then I will send you a book, but it is only half of the equation for what we will be learning.  Send me an email with your name and address at wheelergroup@gmail.com and I will mail it to you.  If you are coming to class, don't worry, you will have a copy of the book too! :)

P.P.S. If this is your first time on the blog take a look at past entries.  It will shine some light on what's going on.

P.P.P.S. My next post will be on how God is moving through people right now in Avon, Indiana.  Check out our newly established Charity caring for Orphans/Foster kids, families and single moms at dynamisministries.org We are also connected to a sister organization that focuses on broken marriages at riseofthehome.com If you need help, this is the place to start.

"Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone)"


Amazing grace
How sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me
I once was lost, but now I'm found
Was blind, but now I see

'Twas grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fears relieved
How precious did that grace appear
The hour I first believed

My chains are gone
I've been set free
My God, my Savior has ransomed me
And like a flood His mercy rains
Unending love, Amazing grace

The Lord has promised good to me
His word my hope secures
He will my shield and portion be
As long as life endures

The earth shall soon dissolve like snow
The sun forbear to shine
But God, Who called me here below
Will be forever mine
Will be forever mine
You are forever mine

The words you may not want to hear

They say that philosophy teaches us and confronts us with what we already know. It brings subconscious knowledge to the conscious level. “Self knowledge is like a lost innocence, however unsettling, it can never be un-thought or unknown.” Michael Sandel, Professor at Harvard University. Simply put, once we become aware of the truths that are deep inside us, in our moral compass given by God, we are confronted with the truth at a conscious level. We can’t go back, once we know, we know. This is my warning to you today before we proceed. If you choose to read on there is no going back. It will force you to confront some difficult truths.

What goes into a decision or choices we make? There are different internal forces that pull at us aren’t there?

Emotions
In one corner we have our emotions: anger, sadness, happiness, excitement, etc. How well do our emotions serve us? When we are angry, for example, and we allow our anger to direct our actions…do we feel good about those actions when we self judge ourselves after the fact? If we were honest we’d have to say usually not.

What about when something “forbidden” comes along and it makes us feel so good, it makes us happy…are our emotions leading us in the right direction? The Bible tells us that “The human heart is most deceitful and desperately wicked. Who really knows how bad it is? But I know! I, the Lord, search all hearts and examine secret motives.” Jeremiah 17:9 NLT

How many times have we heard or said something along these lines:

“If it makes you happy (or insert feel good)”
“Go and find happiness”
“I feel at peace with my decision”
“I feel like it is the right thing to do if…(or it’s best if...)”

These common statements seem to indicate that if we simply follow our emotions we are in good shape, but the Bible indicates otherwise. “But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh.” Galatians 5:16 NASB Where you read the word “flesh” you can plug in the words “desires” or “human nature”…i.e. emotions, feelings or wantings. There are times when it might feel really right and still be so really wrong. Where does that come from? “…even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light” 2 Corinthians 11:14 NASB He is the greatest deceiver is he not?

Logic & common knowledge
So if our emotions tend to lead us down the wrong path, then what? Logic, common knowledge…that must be the answer! Statistics are easy to get or hear from someone as to what happens in most circumstances, how people react or feel about any situation; the final outcome. The stats are supposed to indicate “normal” or “common” behaviors in our society; what most people do. They tell us what to expect and therefore we should act accordingly.

This goes right along with “just part of life” arguments that should go down like a spoon full of medicine that makes it all o.k. Have you heard this one, “it’s only natural to…” Fill in the blank. The word natural comes from the word nature, remember, meaning flesh. (see above) Chalk one statement of common knowledge up to being derived directly from our emotions. Brilliant. This is where our logic stems from.

There is a double standard for us adults isn’t there? We tell it to our children like this, “Just because everyone else is doing it doesn’t make it right” or “if everyone jumps off a bridge does that mean you should?” Perhaps this is one of the reasons Jesus tells us to be like children. We’re just too grown up for our own good; can’t even make out simple black and white truth. We try to complicate it, justify our ways and make it NOT apply to us somehow.

So where does this leave us then? What is left to help us make good, intelligible decisions that are in our best interest? The kind of decisions that see past our own short sightedness; the tough ones that are good for us in the long run. Turn not to our emotions or our faulty logic, turn instead to spiritual truth. It is timeless, perfect in all matters of the heart, unfailing to steer us in the right direction AND it always has our best interest in mind.

Spiritual Truth
The more we read and learn spiritual truth from the Bible, the easier it is to apply in our lives cutting through the clutter of opinion, emotion and dangerous statistics that are only heading us toward the cliff. I’m frankly tired of being told the “odds” of things going a certain way or how things “most likely” turn out usually so as to influence my decisions and behavior. Listening to such nonsense only leads to my own destruction. Destruction of hope, destruction of my faith, destruction of my resolve in Christ and in character, destruction of ministry, destruction of opportunities to let God show me His plan and watch it carried out. That is a lot of bad stuff! I feel sorry for the ones who speak in such terms because I know they have already been defeated, surrendered, given up.

I have yet to run into a scenario that I can’t find an answer to in scripture and I don’t expect I will.  It was right in front of me all along! All my life I’ve been told that the Bible is an “instruction” manual for life, but just like any manual for a complex project to assemble; it’s no good, useless actually, if we don’t read it and the result is a messed up, half way assembled something or other. In this case our very lives; mine, yours and all the people we love. So I stopped trying to “assemble” (read-solve problems, find answers, make important decisions) on my own and started to dig in. The results are staggering!

The Harmony of the three
Emotions and logic do serve good purposes. Emotions, for example, are a good early warning system in danger and troubles just for starters. There are also times when the Bible says we can have “righteous anger.” Logic and common knowledge help us to use our God given brains. All of these come from God to work in harmony together. The problem arises when our emotions and knowledge are void of spiritual and scriptural guidance as the foundation for their employment.

Now we have brought to the conscious level what may have been suppressed or hidden in our hearts. I remember that day for myself. A little unsettling isn’t it, to face such stark truth? The question is what to do with it. When we self judge ourselves for our decisions, made in full understanding of the truth, what will our judgment be? You’re in the driver’s seat. Hopefully the answer is that we make better decisions rooted in spiritual truth, which will yield great things for us in our lives. It is a breath of fresh air to refocus our compass and head straight for the narrow gate.