Emotions...

I am not a counselor. I counsel, but I am not a trained counselor. There are many things I am not trained to help a person overcome. But one thing I seem to run into a lot is not deep, dark stuff from the past. It is a mistaken approach to life that many people live by, but it's dangerous.

Many people seem to live by their emotions. I think that the church has even helped this happen by telling people that God's goal for our life is for us to be happy. That we are in the center of God's universe. He is pursuing us.

Please don't be offended, but I truly think that sometimes God doesn't care at all if we are happy or not. (Just ask Job, Jonah, Moses, or Paul). You see I don't think I am in the center of God's universe. I think He needs to be in the center of mine.

With the popular teaching that God wants you and I to be happy, I think it has led us to believe that happiness is a top priority of life. Therefore we allow our emotions to be our master. To quote a popular pastor "Emotions make great servants, but lousy masters."

If you are making life decisions based on how you feel, how happy you are, or how happy someone makes you, you are headed for tough times. Emotions lead us up and down like a roller coaster. When we are happy we choose to be devoted, generous, and caring. When we are NOT happy we tend to be less devoted, stingy, and self-focused.

One of the attributes I love about God is that He is not whimsical. He is immutable. Unchangeable. He will always act in accordance with His character. Could you imagine if God behaved in accordance to His feelings! I am pretty sure that there would be times I would be in BIG trouble.

Let's remember, God is not in existence for our happiness. Rather, the opposite is true. We exist to make God happy.