Taking Charge of Our Emotions

Some are surprised to discover when they read the Bible for the first time the range of emotions Jesus exhibited.  Emotions are a normal part of being human.  Jesus was emotional and was not embarrassed by His emotions;  He never tried to hide or stifle them.   Jesus could thrive within His emotions because they were perfectly aligned with the Father on every matter.  So why are our emotions out of whack?  Our failure is summarized in Psalm 4: 4.  In your anger do not sin…  When our emotions are drawn into sin, they collapse into a fit of rebellion and vanity.  The depression that forsakes God in its despair, the anger that strips fellow sinners of their humanity and the fear that immobilizes us and keeps us from being led by the Holy Spirit need a Savior.  In Psalm 68:3 we find God’s plan for the normal Christian life.  God has designed  you, regardless of your circumstances and difficulties, regardless of where you were raised or who is in your family, to live happily.  But may the righteous be glad and rejoice before God; may they be happy and joyful. (NIV)  Of course you may think that this is impossible.  You may call it a pipe dream or something only for those who die and go to heaven.  But the psalmist is quite practical and states without equivocation what God’s plan is for you here and now.  However, you have to decide if this is something you want!  Are you ready to have Jesus rework your emotions?  Do you want God to give you supernatural happiness?  Jesus maintained His joy because He continually aligned Himself with the will of the Father.  It takes courage and faith to believe that your circumstances are Christ given, that those who surround you are placed there by God and that your body is safely in the hands of the Father.  Each time you find your emotions sweltering with panic, rage or despair, breathe deeply and whisper a prayer of child-like dependence upon Christ to rework your heart.  “God, save me.  Come to my rescue and restore to me the joy of my salvation!  I have a Savior.  I have a Father who loves me.  I am safe.  My Lord is good!”

Jesus wept. John 11:35 NIV

Will-ingly

You have the opportunity to be crucified with Christ but no one can force you into this.    It requires an act of the will and the will is never taken from you by force.  Just as the spirit is unsinkable and eternal so is the will.  The will can be broken and it can be corrupted but it will never be stripped from you.  Satan can touch your will but only as it continues to be yours.  You can surrender your will but that is solely your determination.  One can be born again yet fiercely cling to the will and not let go of it.  The Holy Scripture is God's plumb line for evaluating the identity of the possessor of the will.  If I keep my will, then the Bible will be a stern taskmaster that confronts me at every turn.  I will fight over who I should forgive, how often I will let my cheek be struck by good and bad people stew over what I give away and the degree to which I will pray about everything with the consequence of fretting about nothing.  If I am crucified with Christ, then my will is in His possession and His to defend and honor.   It makes no difference to the one whose will is God's if he lives in poverty or riches, is recognized for his accomplishments or not, has made something of his life or lost the opportunity that was at hand.  The will that has been turned over to Christ cannot fret over tomorrow because it has no power over him.  What does tomorrow matter to the one who given over the will to the one controlling tomorrow.  The last bastion of idolatry is the will.  Jesus was able to steadfastly go to Jerusalem where a cross awaited Him because He settled the matter of the will…"not my will but your will be done."  All internal strife, depression and bitterness can be crucified at the point the will becomes the possession of Christ's and is not taken back from Him.

For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me.    John 6:38 NIV

Branch Life

Can we step back a moment and take inventory of our condition?  Are we bearing much fruit?  Are we connected to the vine?  Are we availing ourselves to the gardener and giving Him freedom to prune us as He wishes or have we begun to argue with Him and bend away from His shears?  The branch that bears little fruit is usually the most comfortable of the branches until it begins to look about and see just how impoverished it is.  Satan does not tear at us in a mighty rush of hardship and anguish, he merely rocks us to sleep and before we know it, we have become useless but settled.  You can tell when you have given up on truly following Christ if you argue about what fruit-bearing means...Is it external to us or internal...Is fruit bearing what we do with the Gospel or what the Gospel does with us?  When the sleep gets knocked out of us by some great crisis or upheaval, we find that we are free once again to face ourselves honestly.  If we can get past the "Why is God doing this to me", there is the possibility that we might once again bear fruit and become available to God to transform both in us and through us.  Fruit that "will last" is obvious and not theologically determined but spiritually discovered by obedience and faith.  If we would just do what God tells us to do, whether a big thing or small, it will manifest itself in fruit bearing.  Much depression, discouragement, frustration and disharmony within the Christian community would be tossed aside if we would simply begin bearing fruit as Christ works His way in us and through us.

This is to my Father's glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.    John 15:8 NIV

How Long Will You Wait?

The problem we face as Christians who sincerely want to see our neighbors and friends come to Christ is the misconception we have about what this means for them to make such a dramatic left turn.  The vast majority of people we contact daily who are not born from above are completely content as they are.  They don't want our assertions or our "great opportunity".  It is absurd to them that they should change their lives so dramatically as we insist and their conscience is not the least bit troubled by what they do.    Divorce is reasonable if they are no longer in love, pornography is enjoyable and maybe even helpful, what we call sexual immorality is moral to them and greed honored.  The itch is meant to be scratched every time it surfaces and the audacity of demanding something approaching limits to freedom is irrational to them.  We are not, and never have been offering something so enticing it cannot be rejected.  Jesus did not say He came to bring peace but a sword.  Most people do not see Christianity as a better life; a less tolerable one perhaps, a constricted one probably.  Even many Christians are a tad bitter about what they find Christianity to be.   The deceit of Satan is thorough and penetrating.  The lie that being in Christ is a meager and impoverished existence is believed almost universally, even many times within the church.  Why would those infatuated with death want to cross over to life?  The Gospel is not seen as good news but a bitter pill to swallow.  What can we do about this?  The Lord has given us two directives.  Pray for the hearts of our family, friends and neighbors and say the Gospel clearly.  Rather than being confounded by a  wasteland of wrecked souls, grab the hope Jesus Himself had when He happily proclaimed His mission...The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.  (John 10:10 NIV)  Not everyone will realize their lives are bankrupt without Jesus but some will.  Not everyone will want to hear what you have to say but some will.    We must not be dismayed by the prevailing blindness.  The Lord is present shedding light in the darkness so not every soul is trapped in the shadows.   The Gospel is even now unlocking rusted padlocks binding hearts and you have that same key in your hand.  Don't worry yourself with strategies for trying to convince people to come to Christ.  Let the Holy Spirit do that work.  Give  the Gospel  away though as if it were the  hope of all mankind; don’t hold back when your time has come to be the great angel of grace, God's personal messenger.  Someone is waiting for you.  God has prepared the way!

Jesus said to him, "Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God."   Luke 9:60 NIV

Normal Christianity

Is it not the easiest and most natural thing for a Christian walking in the freedom of the Holy Spirit to do what God says?  There is no real hindrance in this for the believer who trusts God.  He is absolutely without barriers for he can rise above every disappointment and difficulty, unencumbered by worry or fear.  The love of Christ is empowered by the conquering work of the Cross and it will not let the disciple be wrecked.  Too often we mistake a trial or a temptation or even a bruising wound of Satan for a death blow to our peace and joy.  The life we have in Christ is too big and too vibrant to be held back for long.  We are genetically enabled by the work of Christ when we are born again to rise above each Satanic attack.  Follow Jesus at any moment and trust Him then and you will find a heavenly flow coming upon you, an outpour of living water reviving you.  You have God in you and you are free to be happy and content.

Real Freedom...Real Thanksgiving

Why is it that so many who turn away from Christ and the salvation He alone offers do so because they want to be free?  There is no freedom outside of the life hidden in Christ.  Don't we see it in the laboratory of daily activities?  The one who drifts away from God is not free of anger, not free of selfishness, not free of jealousy and craven desires!  He is not free of self deception and mistaken longings.  The one enveloped in the love of Christ loses her bitterness and prejudice and mad strivings and wounded ego and is no longer a prisoner of any desire or shattered want.  Jesus Christ and only Jesus Christ can and does take the entire person and make her free to love and free to be at peace.  The turn into Christ is always a turn out of bondage toward unpretentious freedom.

Blinders

One Sabbath, when Jesus went to eat in the house of a prominent Pharisee, he was being carefully watched.   (Luke 14:1 NIV)

There are only two reasons to carefully watch Jesus.  Either you do so to know where to turn away from Him or you do so to know where to turn into Him.  Jesus put the Pharisees and religious leaders on the spot when He asked them if it was lawful to heal on the Sabbath.  If they said, “yes”, then they would begin to turn into Him but if they said, “no”, they would move away.  Jesus is the way; every turn from Him is toward hell and the bitterness of perdition.  Turn into Him and your soul begins to light up with the golden blaze of heaven and the comfort of His glory.  The move into Christ is subtle and quiet, away is loud and boisterous.  The cheers of the world give you a great boost as you jump out from His shelter.  It is exhilarating; freeing to turn outward and gain something fresh and pretty.  Yet the maggots begin to eat at the corpse and it soon becomes clear that the move out is one of the grave and the façade gives way to a very real end point. 

Turn inward though to Christ and the stillness of the move shocks you for you had hoped it would be more glorious, livelier than that.  You had planned on a great pleasure to overtake you, a mighty rush of joy to prove your rightness but it is more still than the breeze of the butterfly or the whisper of the creeping lizard.  The aloneness of the move inward frightens you for it is at once quite final and at the same time uninspiring.  Yet you are alive and living will take you captive, just as the antibiotic takes you captive with its dripping health.  The death of self is not a dying death; it is a living death that becomes more vivacious as you escape into Christ.  Your tears will come alive along with your wounds and terrifying doubts for the deadness of them before will wiggle free with the life of Jesus.  All wounds will be cause for glory, all heartache a well of sweet freedom and hope, all doubts a cup of faith.  Turn into Christ with each moment of the day, every trial you face and temptation stumbling your plodding steps and you will gain a bit more life, a bit more dynamic gumption.  Your mind will grow free of the former bondage that fooled it into thinking it was already free.  You will see and love and bless and be a well of living water springing up at the moment within the hub and bub of your normal contentious day.  Someone will feel your touch and it will be the touch of the Spirit slipping to them with all the power of the resurrection of Christ Easter morning.