A gauge, not a guide.

I don’t know if I am the only one but sometimes I think that I can be here and there and everywhere with my emotions. I let little things that seem to come out of nowhere sideswipe me emotionally. Next thing you know, I am in the “dumps.”

It is so important for us to remember that our battle today is not against “Flesh and blood” but against deceitful forces (Ephesians 6:12) and the deceitfulness of sin inside of us (Hebrews 3:13). These two deceitful forces will use your emotions to try and redirect your life to unhealthy thought, which lead to unhealthy actions.

Remember, God created your emotions to be gauges, not guides. They report to us what our heart loves, trusts and fears. They report, not dictate. Because your emotions are wired into your sinful nature and your regenerated nature, Satan has access to them and will try to use them to have us act faithlessly. When we are tempted our emotions try to act like imperatives (you must do this) when in reality they are indicative (just what you are being told). To think that these are our guides is to be deceived.

Emotions are not your boss, they were never meant to be in charge. Again, they are simply indicators. When confronted with emotions we are to compare them to the promises of God. If they do not line up, then they are just merely indicators of the war raging in us and we need to actively engage that war by reviewing what God has said.

Romans 12:2 says we are to be transformed by the “renewing of your mind.” Renewal followed by transformation. In other words, we combat emotions with the truth of God’s word. The more we renew our mind with the word, the more control I will have of my emotions.

And remember that this “light momentary affliction is preparing for [you] an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison” (2 Corinthians 4:17) and very soon, it’s going to be over. And God, your Great Reward, will be all the inheritance you will ever want forever.