Feelings Need to be the Caboose of Life, Not the Engine – Part 1

Blog Series

Helpful Tips for Saving Yourself from Trouble

It is said that you cannot break the laws of God. You can only break yourself against them when you violate them. In this Helpful Tips for Saving Yourself from Trouble series we are looking at some of the simple and clear “laws of God” – that is to say, “biblical principles” – that we must follow if we do not want to bring very negative cause-effect consequences into our lives.

Unchecked emotions can lead us astray

High school football is wildly popular in Texas. I heard a story one time of an oil tycoon from West Texas who, many years ago, in desperation for a victory by his local team, promised each player and coach a free car if they would defeat their bitter rivals in the next game.

The team went crazy with anticipation. They jumped and hollered in delirium as they each envisioned themselves in their new cars. For the next seven days, the boys ate, drank and breathed football, fortified to before-unknown heights of enthusiasm with continuous fantasies of new cars and the exalted life they would bring.

Finally, the big night arrived and the team assembled in the locker room. Excitement was at an unprecedented high. The coach made several inane comments and the boys hurried out to face the enemy. They assembled on the sidelines, put their hands together, and shouted a simultaneous “Rah!” Then they ran onto the field and were demolished, thirty-eight to zero.

The team’s exuberance didn’t translate into a single point on the scoreboard. Seven days of unbridled enthusiasm simply couldn’t compensate for the difference in talent, discipline and coaching.

Such is the nature of emotions. They don’t make a good engine. They only make a good caboose.

Leading with your emotions is like a boxer leading with his chin. It’s only a matter of time until he gets decked. Yet today, leading with emotions is Standard Operating Procedure. People gush about “following their heart” and “just wanting to be happy.” Then they don’t understand why they are always getting knocked face down on the canvas of life.

The reality is, truth is what God says it is, regardless of what we believe,  regardless of how much faith we have in our beliefs, and regardless of how we feel.

Feelings or emotions aren’t bad. In the Bible, we see that God has emotions. That’s why we have emotions. We are created in His image. God experiences joy, sorrow, peace, compassion, and anger. As a result, so do we. We are emotional beings, and that isn’t bad.

But emotions can be a reflection of decisions we’ve made, or truth we believe, or values we possess.  If we’ve made bad decisions, or believed a lie(s), or possess faulty values, our emotions can spiral downward in God’s severe mercy to alert us to our need to correct bad decisions, wrong beliefs or faulty values.

So how do we live with our emotions? We must understand them, know their place in the Christian life, and know when to trust them and when not to trust them.

God uses positive emotions to enrich our lives.

Emotions can obviously enrich our lives when things are going well. When we receive a promotion or earn a reward or go through a positive life transition, deeply rewarding emotions can significantly enrich our lives.

When we live a life of faithful obedience to God, a life of trust in Him, a life of love, compassion, and forgiveness toward others, we feel enriched and blessed. We experience the fruit of the Spirit, which are love, joy, and peace.

This is especially important when circumstances are difficult, exemplified when the apostle Paul was imprisoned with his friend and fellow-laborer, Silas. Before being jailed, they were arrested, taken before the city officials, and beaten with rods. The Bible says: “When they had laid many stripes on them, they threw them into prison, commanding the jailer to keep them securely. Having received such a charge, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks. But at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God” (Acts 16:23-25).

Paul and Silas had been arrested, humiliated, beaten, and imprisoned, yet they prayed and sang hymns of praise afterward. That is what can happen when one lives in deep trust and obedience with the Lord.

Paul is the same person who was beaten many times, shipwrecked, attacked by animals, stoned and left for dead, yet said that these “light momentary afflictions” were producing an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison (2 Cor. 4:16-18). Even in the midst of the most difficult of circumstances, the Lord can give us positive emotions, which make such experiences much easier to deal with.

God uses negative emotions to warn us of a need to change something.

Negative emotions, such as unresolved anger, depression, and anxiety can warn us that our life is out of balance, and we need to change something. When David was at the height of his power, he committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of one of his greatest generals. Then to cover up the adultery, he had the general killed. It was a ghastly abuse of power, which he likely would have gotten away with if it were only a matter of his brute power as king. But the eyes of God saw, and David fell under deep conviction by the Holy Spirit. He writes of that experience in Psalm 32:3-5:

“When I kept silent, my bones grew old through my groaning all the day long. For day and night Your hand was heavy upon me; my vitality was turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin.”

When we sin, God convicts us of that sin (John 16:8), and the terrible negative emotions we feel are intended to get us to repent and change our behavior. In 2 Corinthians 7:10, the apostle Paul acknowledges that, “Godly sorrow produces repentance.”

Negative emotions can be the result of physical problems. Maybe we are ill, or our blood chemistry is out of balance, or medication we’re taking has us emotionally off balance. Perhaps we are working too hard, not getting enough rest, or eating poorly. These issues should all be addressed. However, when negative emotions are the result of spiritual issues, God can use them to lead us to Scripture, prayer, wise counsel, repentance and anything else the Lord might lead us to, to grow us and strengthen us in our spiritual walk.

Conclusion

So, we’ve seen that emotions, in and of themselves, are not bad, but we need to understand them. They can be good. They can deeply enrich our lives. But, on the other hand, unguided and unguarded emotions can lead us astray and turn our emotional experiences into pain instead of pleasure. We’ve also seen that God uses negative emotions to convict us and guide us into correct and joyful living.

We must understand emotions, know their place in the Christian life, and know when to trust them and when not to trust them.

Next week, in Part 2, we’ll take a little further look at how God uses emotions in our lives. See you then!

For previous posts in this series, the entire “Helpful Tips for Saving Yourself from Trouble” series is in the archives, beginning with the first post on July 26, 2022, Happiness: King Solomon’s Conclusion.

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