Emotions, Truth, and Freedom

One of the most precious and glorious and profound scriptures in all the Bible, I believe is also one of the most neglected.

John 8:31,32 says this:

If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.

When this great passage is not neglected it is often used incorrectly by the world. You’ll see it on government buildings, and in political rallies of the most unbiblical kind. People sometimes think that THEIR idea of truth is what sets free. But of course, it’s the truth of God that truly sets us free.

Emotions, or the way we feel, often governs the way we act.

Ask any trained salesman, and they will tell you an old maxim that goes like this, "People buy according their emotions, and then justify their purchase with logic."

That’s just one example, of course. Much of what we decide to do or not do in life is decided by how we FEEL about it. And this is not automatically bad. Emotions certainly are a gift from God.

To be able to feel often means to be able to enjoy. To be able to feel often means that we don’t just live as robots, but that we live with zest and passion and compassion and focus and fun.

Of course emotions also may allow us to feel grief, despair, depression, rage, and misery.

But how do we take these wild mustangs of emotion and drive them into the corral, and train them to do what is best for them? To be able to value them, and not dread them? To get them to help us in making decisions in life that are wise decisions? Without becoming robots?

The answer is in the word TRUTH. As the passage says, The Truth shall make you free.

Let me make a radical statement here. I have tested this statement for many years, and found it solid. Like any generalization, there may be exceptions, but they are rare. This radical statement is solid. And here’s the statement:

"Whenever we are in bondage, in our minds or our emotions, it is because of error in our thinking."

Now this is actually good news, for three reasons:

1. We can limit the error that we take into our minds. We can’t eliminate it, because it assaults us through our eyes, our ears, and even internally from repetition of past error. But we can limit it. We can stay away from input that we know contains great amounts of error, whether it be books, TV shows, or a particularly destructive person.

2. We can fill our minds with truth. The most obvious source of this truth for the Christian is the Word of God. Secondary sources may be trusted teachers of the Word, including books, spoken messages, and so forth. But filling our minds with truth sets us free.

3. Our emotions are the result of our thoughts. And our thoughts are the result of what seems true to us. And what seems true may not be true at all. If you think a rattlesnake is inches from your face in the dark, it doesn’t matter one bit if it’s only a rope. Your heart will pound, your skin will perspire, your muscles may go rigid…you get the idea. It doesn’t matter what the truth really is in this case. What you THINK the truth is affects your emotions.

Now the reason this is good news, is that if you can limit the error you take in, and if you can fill your mind with truth, and if your emotions will respond to that truth, then you can be made free. Free in your thinking, free in your feeling, and free in your decision-making.

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

Christian Artist Association

There is a new organization whose goal it is to honor Christ in Contemporary Christian Music.

You may want to take a look:
http://www.christianartistassociation.com/

They're called the Christian Artist Association, and provide promotion for Christian Artists, and a way for others to help the cause. Their motto is "worship inspire create serve".

Too Much Theology?

Don't be afraid of Theology. Christian Theology, while technically, "the study of God", encompasses all the study of all the truths of Scripture.

We all have a Theology framework, a way of understanding Scriptural truths. Some of our Theology frameworks may be defective, some may be accurate.

When you see someone who is "so Theological that they're no earthly good", don't think, "They are just filled with too much Theology."

The truth is, they need more Theology, not less. But they need the right part of Theology, added to, or replacing their current parts.

For example, if they delight in the death of the wicked, they need to understand that the Lord does NOT delight in the death of the wicked.

2nd example: If they are operating under the Mosaic or Old Covenant, they need to understand that the Old Covenant is made obsolete by the New Covenant.

3rd example: If they are "cold" in their Theology, they may need to incorporate the Theology of 1 Corinthians 13, the famous "Love" passage.

4th example: If their Theology understands that they can do anything if they set their mind to it, they may need to understand that we can do nothing apart from the Lord, and must walk in His Spirit.

5th example: If their Theology puts them under condemnation because they fail, they may need to understand that there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.

6th example: If they think they're "better" than the next guy because they have some theological knowledge, they need the theology that asks them, "What do you have, O man, that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you didn't receive it?"

Etc, etc.

Don't throw out the "baby" of Theology with the "bathwater" of bad or incomplete Theology. Keep seeking the face of the One who IS the Truth, keep studying the Scriptures, and be being filled with the Spirit, and your Theology will be the better for it.

In other words, we need to be full of the Word of God, rightly divided, and filled with His Spirit, and that's Theology of the highest sort.

Listen to "Grace For Life" Radio Program.

Loving Jesus vs. Admiring Jesus

Admiring Jesus seems to be admitted by practically everyone.

From Mahatma Ghandi, who through modeling the peaceful ways of Jesus changed the face of India and the world, to Mohammed, who called Jesus a prophet, to the average person on the street, just about everyone admires Jesus of Nazareth.

In fact, I’ve never met a person who would not say that they admired Jesus, at least until His gospel rips open their heart and separates the real admirers from those who admire from ignorance.

But my real point in this message is not to cast stones at those who are outside the church of Jesus Christ, who are outside the body of Christ, yet claim to admire Jesus. My real point is to encourage those who are in the body of Christ, to go beyond admiring Jesus, to a new level of loving Him.

There are those believers who have been born again, basically love the Lord, basically know their bibles, and know for a fact that Jesus is God, that He is good, that He is righteous, that He sacrificially gave His life for our sins, that He rose again, that He is Lord over all, and that He deserves all the glory and honor that He could ever receive.

But with all that born-again admiration, with their cries of "we must glorify God in all we do", with their exhortations of obedience, obedience, obedience…with all that, I often see a lack of loving intimacy with this admired Savior.

Why is that? I think it’s for two reasons.

1. Many travel in theological circles that are law-oriented.

They see the Christian life, not primarily as a relationship or fellowship with our Friend and Brother and Savior Jesus, but as a life of rules and regulations. They know Jesus loves them, but the degree of that love is dependent on our performance. You will find them emphasizing that verse, "If you love me you will obey my commandments." But you won’t often see them quoting the verse, "…[nothing] shall be able to separate us from the love of God which Is in Jesus our Lord."

So some lack this intimate loving relationship with Christ, just because it is considered sort of selfish and distasteful in their theological circles. Sort of mystical, sort of anti-good-doctrine. They use derogatory terms such as "touchy-feely" or "kum-ba-ya around the campfire emotionalism".

If you are one of these, please keep reading.

2. Many are scarred by a perceived lack of love, or perceived rejection, in earlier times of their lives.

Now, don’t think I’m getting all psychological here. And particularly, if you belong to category 1, the law-oriented type, I know the hairs are standing up on the back of your neck at the very mention of our past lives affecting our walk with Christ.

But here is the simple fact. We are fearfully and wonderfully made, not just physically, but mentally and emotionally as well. And when we are born again, and come to Christ, and we become new creations in our spirits…we sometimes still have a lot of renewing of our minds that are needed.

Many times, a perceived lack of love, or perceived rejection of some kind by parents, or peers, or a teacher, for example, can make us instinctively feel that we can’t really be loved. And that carries over into our feelings about whether God can really love us. And that can keep us from really having the intimate and loving fellowship with Jesus that we may want to have.

And then sometimes a mis-guided kind of cold-steel theology is piled on to make it even worse. These perhaps well-intentioned folks say things like, "You don’t just feel unworthy, you are unworthy. Get over it. You’re a sinner. You’re a worm and a jerk. Don’t let these Dr. Feelgood softies make you think you’re loveable. Just pull up your bootstraps and start obeying. Bring glory to God. It’s all about Him, it’s not about you, you selfish pig. Start performing, and see if you can bring your level of performance up to where it should be – in the power of the Spirit, of course."

And the implication is that if you perform well enough, that then you might be loveable . . . at least a little.

But of course this is hogwash. If you feel unloved, you feel unloved.

Now listen please to this: The only way you will ever feel loved by God, is through understanding from His Word that you were loved by Him long before you were "loveable". And He loves you because He chooses to love you. And there is nothing you could ever do to make Him love you more, and there is nothing you could ever do to make Him love you less.

And it’s because of one thing…Grace. There is a rest for the people of God, the Bible says, wherein they rest from their works! That doesn’t mean we don’t do good works. We will, as God works them in us, and we walk by His Spirit. It means we rest from our works as means of gaining love and acceptance and fellowship with God, with Jesus.

Read these verses in Romans Chapter 8 (or read the whole chapter), and you will see the love of God in writing: 10, 15b, 16, 18-19, 28-30, 32, 35-39. Don't doubt it. Don't think it can't mean you. It does mean you. And when you really "get" how much He loves you, apart from your performance, then you can experience and appropriate His love, and then you can really love, too.

Frederick Lehman was deeply moved by a poem written in 1050 A.D. in Worms, Germany, the site of Martin Luther’s historic meeting, the Diet of Worms, 500 years later. And it led Lehman to write a hymn in 1917, in Pasadena, California, part of which goes like this:

Could we with ink the oceans fill,
And were the skies of parchment made,
Were every stalk on earth a quill,
And every man a scribe by trade,
To write the love of God above,
Would drain the oceans dry,
Nor could the scroll contain the whole,
Though stretched from sky to sky.

O love of God, how rich and pure!
How measureless and strong!
It shall forevermore endure
The saints’ and angels’ song.

Don’t just admire Jesus. He wants you to be in close, intimate loving fellowship and communion with Him. There is nothing standing in the way. Not even your sins. They are paid for. They are forgiven. "It is finished."

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