Building on the Rock - Encouragement Café - March 24, 2017
Building On The Rock
By Samantha Jackel
Friday, March 24, 2017
Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city. Proverbs 16:32 ESV
“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty!” Wow! In other words, a person who can control their emotions (in this case ‘anger’) is seen by God to be better than another who is viewed by the world as ‘mighty’ (strong, capable, tough). That’s an amazing scripture.
We are emotional beings and image bearers of God, we reflect the emotional makeup of God. When we read the scriptures we see that God shows the full range of emotions (the same as us) – hurt, anger, despondency, joy, laughter, pain, passion, sorrow.
It is easy to blame an experience for our emotions and feel like we have a right to feel the way we do – maybe you have not had a good night sleep or perhaps it is the wrong time of month or you just can’t be bothered!
All of us have at one stage or another been challenged by our circumstances – the pattern is the same. We experience a situation, which raises an emotion within us and our thought patterns are influenced by our feelings, which then leads to a behavioral response. Our actions and reactions are generally driven by our emotional responses.
In the same way, we as Christians can be driven by our emotions if our heads and, more importantly, our hearts are not anchored in the truth of God’s word. When we reduce the importance of the word of God and elevate our emotions as the force that shapes us, we move onto dangerous ground.
Indeed, Jesus warned of this when he told the story about the two men who built their homes – one on the sand and one on the rock (Matthew 7:24-27). Jesus taught that storms would come to both men, the one whose house was on the rock of God’s truth would survive, and the other would fail.
Similarly, if our lives are based on ‘how we feel’ rather than what is the reality of God’s truth, then we will be shaken at every problem that comes along. How we ‘feel’ about God will start to shape who God is in our mind – if we are suffering a loss, then God is not good because he makes me unhappy. We end up creating a God of our own making.
As emotional beings our greatest challenge is to learn to manage our hearts without denying our feelings – we will have low days, tough days, happy days easy days. In all situations, we must grow in the truth of God’s word and allow those words to be the final authority in our lives. Then our ‘homes’ will be built on rock!
Dear Lord I thank You for Your Word that encourages us in every area of our lives. I thank You for Nehemiah 8:10, that states that “the joy of the Lord is our strength”, and for 2 Corinthians 5:17 that tells us, “we are new creations”. I pray Father that You will gently nudge us when our emotions begin to control us instead of us controlling them – Lord let us lean into to You. In Jesus’ name we pray, Amen.
© 2017 by Samantha Jackel. All rights reserved.
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