"So much of the Christian life is a choice.
Every day (multiple times a day) we have the opportunity to choose God or ourselves, choose to say 'yes' to God or 'yes' to ourselves, choose to do what's right in the eyes of God or what's right in our own eyes.
Anger is a perfect example.
You can feel it coming, can't you?
Anger is an almost total out of body experience.
Muscles get tight.
Temples throb.
Jaws clench, and explosion feels imminent,
wooing us into believing we have no choice but to react.
But it's not true.
We almost always have a choice when it comes to anger
(or reacting to any other emotion, for that matter).
We can choose to embrace it and sin,
or we can put it aside and instead choose kindness,
self-control, compassion, and love.
----------
You see, I've allowed my emotions to control me too many times. I can tell when I'm nearing the danger zone, or as I like to call it, the downward spiral of emotions. For a long time, though, I didn't really care. If I wanted to get angry, I got angry, and if anyone tried to tell me I didn't have a right to get angry, it made me even angrier.
I thought I had a right to feel any way I wanted to,
whether my feelings were accurate or not,
simply because they were my feelings.
Wrong.
I've learned these last few years that this way of thinking is not only unbiblical but also highly destructive.
What I can see with my eyes and feel with my heart isn't always the truth.
In fact, if I'm feeling out of control,
I've probably embraced the lie that what I want is more important than glorifying God in every situation of life.
God gave us our emotions as a barometer--
something to alert us that there might be something off in our surroundings or in our hearts--
but He didn't give them to us to rule our lives,
or dictate our behavior.
He wants to rule our lives.
And when we're in Christ, we already possess the power to overcome.
We just have to choose it.
----------
When someone hurts me, I react out of the need to protect myself, forgetting that God has told me in His Word that He is my protector, my defender, my shield.
The truth is what God says in His Word,
no matter what my feelings tell me.
And as a Christian--
one who has given her life to Christ
and committed to following Him--
I have the power to choose the truth over my emotions."
Every day (multiple times a day) we have the opportunity to choose God or ourselves, choose to say 'yes' to God or 'yes' to ourselves, choose to do what's right in the eyes of God or what's right in our own eyes.
Anger is a perfect example.
You can feel it coming, can't you?
Anger is an almost total out of body experience.
Muscles get tight.
Temples throb.
Jaws clench, and explosion feels imminent,
wooing us into believing we have no choice but to react.
But it's not true.
We almost always have a choice when it comes to anger
(or reacting to any other emotion, for that matter).
We can choose to embrace it and sin,
or we can put it aside and instead choose kindness,
self-control, compassion, and love.
----------
You see, I've allowed my emotions to control me too many times. I can tell when I'm nearing the danger zone, or as I like to call it, the downward spiral of emotions. For a long time, though, I didn't really care. If I wanted to get angry, I got angry, and if anyone tried to tell me I didn't have a right to get angry, it made me even angrier.
I thought I had a right to feel any way I wanted to,
whether my feelings were accurate or not,
simply because they were my feelings.
Wrong.
I've learned these last few years that this way of thinking is not only unbiblical but also highly destructive.
What I can see with my eyes and feel with my heart isn't always the truth.
In fact, if I'm feeling out of control,
I've probably embraced the lie that what I want is more important than glorifying God in every situation of life.
God gave us our emotions as a barometer--
something to alert us that there might be something off in our surroundings or in our hearts--
but He didn't give them to us to rule our lives,
or dictate our behavior.
He wants to rule our lives.
And when we're in Christ, we already possess the power to overcome.
We just have to choose it.
----------
When someone hurts me, I react out of the need to protect myself, forgetting that God has told me in His Word that He is my protector, my defender, my shield.
The truth is what God says in His Word,
no matter what my feelings tell me.
And as a Christian--
one who has given her life to Christ
and committed to following Him--
I have the power to choose the truth over my emotions."
-Brooke McGlothlin-
"Leave your simple ways, and live,
and walk in the way of insight."
and walk in the way of insight."
Proverbs 9:6
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