What is Directing You?: Controlling Our Feelings

" Faith often runs counter to feeling." Henry Teichrob
     Our society places a priority on feeling good. Things that tries to keep our feelings high are: First, we should be surrounded by the right things- latest fashion styles like clothing, a new car, a home in the right neighborhood etc. Secondly, we have to be free of all physical discomfort-a painkiller for headache, depression-there are stimulants, for tension we have depressants. 
     The culture today is - If  it feels good, do it! Just do it! 
     Remember, the first sin ever committed was that of  choosing to follow the dictate feelings rather than to obey God's commands. Why did Eve listened to the cunning serpent? To her eyes, the tree would satisfy her hunger, Satan promised her wisdom, and so she craved and she ate the forbidden fruit. Feelings! Feels good, just do it, without considering its  consequences. that's what happened to Eve, and we all know clearly the price she had to pay for following her feelings. That was the beginning of people living according to the dictates of their feelings. Of course, feelings in themselves are not evil.
     God created us with the ability to feel pain and joy. To ignore your feelings is to invite indifference. In fact, without feelings life would be so emotionless and boring. But your feelings are not a fully reliable guide for behavior. The feeling of hunger is given  by God to keep you alive, without it you will starve. But your craving for food must be kept in check. Similarly, it also goes with anger, live etc.
     No part of your being is enough to be your guide- your thought, will power,spiritual perception, physical activity etc. None of these, not even all these together is sufficient to guide you.
     Jesus said,"Man shall not live by bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." Matt 4:4. When Jesus was tempted by the devil in the desert, He was tempted to turn the stones to become bread and satisfy His hunger. The truth is, He is the Son of God, and He could do miracles by obeying the human desires. But He relied only on the Word of God. He was suggesting a life of balance under God's authority. Life based on feelings is an invitation to the sin of disobedience-countering God's will. As we have seen, Eve was guided by her feelings to disobey God's command.
     Love Vs Feeling It can be sometimes very misjudging between love and feeling. A couple after a few years of marriage had found out that there was no more chemistry going between them, is now ready to get divorce. Well, they don't seem to have critical situation, to the very extend that they have not committed any sin against marriage, for there was no charges nor accusation against each other on the matters of extra marital affairs. There just seem to have no more sweetness in their relation anymore. The husband replied,"How can you learn to love someone? You cannot produce feelings out of thin air!" The counseller advises that the Bible commands us to love one another. Husbands should love their wives as Christ loved the Church. Bible even commands us to love our neighbors, and since his wife is his closest neighbor, he is to love her.Rather, leave aside your wife, God commands us to even love our enemies! these couple made a common error, they are equating love  with feeling.
     You can choose to love, and God gives you the grace to do so. love is not emotion;neither is forgiveness out of emotion. John 3:16 for that matter is indeed a love letter from God, but not an emotional letter. Our weakness is we cannot forgive someone unless we feel like doing it. The danger of living by feeling is that, you may tend to derive your own doctrine from feeling. Another danger of living by feeling is we develop the sin of procrastination. We fail to give somebody in need a helping hand, or visit a friend in hospital, do chores at home etc. and procrastinate watching TV, or putter around. Same goes with housewives - keeping her housework bending because she doesn't feel like doing it. She thinks, even if she began today, there will be more work tomorrow, then lies at the sofa watching TV etc.
     Jesus Christ also struggled with feelings because He was also a human like anyone of us. For instance, he wept at the grave of Lazarus, Christ admitted His feelings in Matt 26:38...as He suffered to bear the sins of the transgressions of entire humanity. Christ also requested the support of His friends like the seventy who went house to house to proclaim God's kingdom, His Twelve Disciples, and His close friends Peter, James and John. Jesus did not feel beneath His dignity to approach His friends for prayer and companion.
Freedom comes to us when we understand that our walk with God is not dependent on how we feel when we get out of bed in the morning. Remember that feelings flow from action and not vice versa.
                        You can prove this tomorrow morning. If you follow your feelings, you will not get out of bed when the alarm clock rings. To wait for the proper feeling will mean that your day will begin behind schedule. But if you choose to get up and take a shower, whether you like it or not, you will soon discover that you are feeling good. And by the time you have finished your tea, you will be thinking that life isn't so bad after all. Proper feelings come because of action, they do not precede the action itself.


                                                    "Surrender Your Feelings To God"