Having a Heart in a Sometimes Heartless World
Day 185 – Shortcuts
Scripture focus: “Don’t look for shortcuts to God. The way to life – to God! – is vigorous and requires total attention…What is required is serious obedience – doing – what my Father wills. These words I speak to you are not incidental additions to your life, homeowner improvements to your standard of living. They are foundational words, words to build a life on…But if you use my words in bible studies and don’t work them into your life, you are like a stupid carpenter who built his house on the sandy beach. When a storm rolled in and the waves came up, it collapsed like a house of cards.” Matthew 7, selected verses
I rarely feel like exercising, eating fruits and vegetables, hanging up my clothes, or cleaning the lint out of my dryer filter. I rarely feel like putting gas in my car, flossing my teeth, or speaking kindly and calmly to the lady who just rammed my bumper with her car. I never feel like mowing the lawn, waking before dawn, making school lunches or unloading the dishwasher. It took me years to realize this was a spiritual malady.
When Jesus tells us that the two most important commandments are to love God and others as we love ourselves, he’s not talking about mushy emotions. He’s talking about doing things like:
· Exercising because it strengthens and cares for his temple – our bodies that house his Spirit.
· Eating right because it provides stamina and nourishment, improves our memory and equips us for whatever toil the day requires.
· Taking care of chores – like car maintenance, lawn care, and housecleaning is a spiritual act of worship. It’s a way to express gratitude for what we’ve been given, and it gets whatever we own fit for sharing with others.
· Speaking kindly and calmly is appropriate in every relationship. But learning how to do so takes lots and lots of practice. Whether we feel like it or not – it is what it means to love – even our “enemies.” (Enemy – anyone who tempts us to NOT dare to love like God.)
Waiting for a feeling to stir us to action is like waiting for my kids to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, clean their rooms, and do their homework because they feel like it – it’s not going to happen! I suppose that’s why I’ve come to believe that trying to use my feelings as the determining factor in my behaving is ridiculous. It’s a shortcut. It’s taking the easy way out. When my feelings match God’s prevailing purposes – that’s awesome. But waiting for my feelings to coincide with God’s way to life is risky behavior.
However, do not hear me saying that it is ever appropriate to just charge through life without giving our emotions the respect they deserve. God made us with emotions. He gave our brain a special, almond-shaped part called the amygdale – designed specifically to manage our body’s response to emotions. Feelings are a big deal to God.
So what exactly should be our response to our feelings? Should we ignore, embrace, exhort, deny, or deify our feelings? Should we pick and choose feelings to acknowledge, and others to discount?
More on the messy marriage of faith and feelings tomorrow.
Recommended reading: 2 Kings 22 and 23 in the morning; Acts 22 and Psalm 150 in the evening
I rarely feel like exercising, eating fruits and vegetables, hanging up my clothes, or cleaning the lint out of my dryer filter. I rarely feel like putting gas in my car, flossing my teeth, or speaking kindly and calmly to the lady who just rammed my bumper with her car. I never feel like mowing the lawn, waking before dawn, making school lunches or unloading the dishwasher. It took me years to realize this was a spiritual malady.
When Jesus tells us that the two most important commandments are to love God and others as we love ourselves, he’s not talking about mushy emotions. He’s talking about doing things like:
· Exercising because it strengthens and cares for his temple – our bodies that house his Spirit.
· Eating right because it provides stamina and nourishment, improves our memory and equips us for whatever toil the day requires.
· Taking care of chores – like car maintenance, lawn care, and housecleaning is a spiritual act of worship. It’s a way to express gratitude for what we’ve been given, and it gets whatever we own fit for sharing with others.
· Speaking kindly and calmly is appropriate in every relationship. But learning how to do so takes lots and lots of practice. Whether we feel like it or not – it is what it means to love – even our “enemies.” (Enemy – anyone who tempts us to NOT dare to love like God.)
Waiting for a feeling to stir us to action is like waiting for my kids to put dirty dishes in the dishwasher, clean their rooms, and do their homework because they feel like it – it’s not going to happen! I suppose that’s why I’ve come to believe that trying to use my feelings as the determining factor in my behaving is ridiculous. It’s a shortcut. It’s taking the easy way out. When my feelings match God’s prevailing purposes – that’s awesome. But waiting for my feelings to coincide with God’s way to life is risky behavior.
However, do not hear me saying that it is ever appropriate to just charge through life without giving our emotions the respect they deserve. God made us with emotions. He gave our brain a special, almond-shaped part called the amygdale – designed specifically to manage our body’s response to emotions. Feelings are a big deal to God.
So what exactly should be our response to our feelings? Should we ignore, embrace, exhort, deny, or deify our feelings? Should we pick and choose feelings to acknowledge, and others to discount?
More on the messy marriage of faith and feelings tomorrow.
Recommended reading: 2 Kings 22 and 23 in the morning; Acts 22 and Psalm 150 in the evening
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