As we continue learning about emotions, how to control them, and not let them control us, it begins to feel very daunting. It can seem like our emotions are always going everywhere and controlling them seems hopeless. Anything can set my emotions in any way, someone does something that upsets me, and now my good day is bad and I am just angry or sad.

Someone does something nice or kind, and my bad day gets a little better. Or sometimes it just is a flux of angry, sad, happy, mad, glad, and nothing even seems to make sense anymore. 

In today’s world emotions are glorified in a sense. Everyone got so tired of trying to control them that they allowed emotions to be the deciding factor on what is or is not right. Culturally it is accepted and encouraged that your emotions should dictate who you are and how you act. 

Identity is formed in how you feel nowadays.But that becomes a very scary and uncertain place too. Because what happens when your identity is wrapped up in being one thing, but then your emotions flip and you no longer feel that way? Now you have a crisis every time your emotions shift, because your whole world and identity is changing.

In the same way, the world says that your emotion or how you feel dictates right and wrong. If it feels right, then it must be right. Or if it feels wrong/bad, then it must be wrong/bad. This works really well for you until what you feel is right, someone else in your life feels is wrong. Now there is this conflict and what is truly right or wrong is lost because it is all based on individual feelings. 

This becomes a scary, slippery slope very quickly because as humans we always tend to push the line further and further. One person might feel that stealing is wrong so you should never do it. The next person feels that stealing is ok if it’s from a big company that can afford it. Then the next person feels that it’s ok to steal as long as I need it more than the person I am stealing from. Then the next person is just a thief because they felt that it would help them or make them rich so it’s ok. It’s a silly example but that mindset is so common. It is all about me and what I want or what I feel and no one else’s wants or feelings matter as long as mine are met and validated.

Truth cannot be set only in what we feel or in what our emotions say. Truth has to be an objective reality that we can fall back on. Luckily, that is why we have the Bible and the words of God. He has told us right from wrong and when we aren’t sure, we have the Holy Spirit in us to help guide us to His truth. 

So why do I bring all this up when we are talking about regulating our own emotions? It’s just to say that the cards are stacked against us in this area. The whole world is saying to lean into your emotions and let them dictate your morality. Living as a christian in today’s world is incredibly hard when so many voices around us are telling us to just fit in and conform, yet we are choosing to be different and not to let our emotions or feelings define who we are, but to let that identity and morality come from God. He is the only one who is steady enough to not allow emotion to rule Him.

Question:

What are some ways the world lets emotions rule them or let them dictate right from wrong?

Why do you think the world has let emotions be the basis of morality?

What are some ways you can choose truth over emotions?

Why do you think God gave us emotions? How can they be helpful?

Challenge:

Continue your emotions journal this week. Use this emotion wheel to identify the root of the emotion you felt and why.