You are not what you feel

following Jesus is better

each school options have challenges

one of the common struggles at this age is emotions

distorTed view of world, Christianity, home/family

hormones

lack of control

Music is a great friend. Helps with thoughts.

You are what you feel.”

Feelings are the untouchable definition of reality.

“If I feel something is true, then it is true—and no one can tell me otherwise.”

Thoughtful Christians recognize that this mindset is far from what Scripture teaches.

Jesus tells the disciples. Mark 4:35 “35 And the same day, when the even was come, he saith unto them, Let us pass over unto the other side.”

They should have enjoyed the journey

Their emotions would have fought their belief. Actually their unbelief caused the emotions,

Control your thoughts, direct your emotions.

Direct your emotions, turn your reactions into a response.

Respond and not react, and your influence will grow.

Manage your influence, benefit from deeper relationships.

Strong relationships, leads to opportunities.

Example: Shad Langford on the basketball court

Can Feelings Be Controlled?

We live in an emoji world where self-expression and “being the true you” hold highest priority — no one can tell us how to feel.

Social Media is so different now. People go there to process emotions then share it. Not to tell about their lunch.

God commands obedience “from the heart” (Romans 6:17) — the vessel we often judge as ungovernable. Romans 6:17 “17 But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.”

God tells us what to fear and what not to fear (Luke 12:4–5); Luke 12:4-5 “4 And I say unto you my friends, Be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. 5 But I will forewarn you whom ye shall fear: Fear him, which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell; yea, I say unto you, Fear him.”

what we must and must not delight in (Philippians 4:4); Phil 4:4 “4 Rejoice in the Lord alway: and again I say, Rejoice.”

what we must abhor Romans 12:9 “9 Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil; cleave to that which is good.”

that we must never be anxious Phil 4:6 “6 Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God.”

and how we can and cannot be angry Eph 4:26 “26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:”

When we only deal with our actions, we are left with moralism, not Christianity. Outward conformity in behavior alone is meaningless when inside we are full of emotional uncleanness Matthew 23:27 “27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which indeed appear beautiful outward, but are within full of dead men’s bones, and of all uncleanness.”

God searches hearts Romans 8:27 “27 And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.”

Proper view of emotions

Emotions are expressions of worship that should neither be suppressed or blindly followed, but rather engaged.

Being driven by emotions is immature

Ignoring emotions is unhealthy and unnecessary

emotions reveal what we worship and love, whether good or bad.

Our emotions are not intrinsically sinful—God created us with emotions because they are meant to be vehicles of worship. They have, however, been affected by the fall like everything else in this world. The reason we struggle with disordered emotions is because our worship and love has been disordered by sin.

As we recognize the source of our emotions, we are called to the hard work of evaluating not just our circumstances, but what our response to those circumstances says about what we love.

Biblical response to emotions requires engagement. Engaging our emotions includes identifying what an emotion is, examining what it says about what you love, and evaluating which aspects of a given emotion are good and which are bad.

Paint bucket example

Your emotional state at any moment is like that paint bucket with streams pouring into it from your heart. Your heart is pouring out a stream of emotion (sometimes as just a trickle, sometimes a torrent) for every care you have. The machine at the paint store has only a few nozzles, of course, but your heart has thousands of different pipes carrying color into the mix of what you feel. (47)

Our emotions were never meant to be engaged outside of the presence of God. In fact, the authors note “our relationship with God should be the most emotional one we have”