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EMOTIONS:
CAN WE TRUST THEM?
by Erwin Bourne-July 22, 2002
Human perception sometimes poses questions the mind
is incapable of answering. But valid answers always
exist. Dr. James Dobson invested nearly 200 pages to
answer this question in the negative. No, we can't
depend on our feelings and passions to govern our
lives. Emotions are unreliable-biased-whimsical.
Hormones often manipulate our lives-especially in the
teen years. Dobson writes that "one of the evidences
of emotional maturity is the ability (and the
willingness) to overrule ephemeral feelings and govern
our behavior with the intellect and the will.
Mother and I raised five children. While the first
three were preschoolers, I became diabetic. I thanked
the Lord over and over that I had by then become
spiritually established. Diabetes affects the
emotions severely. So my wife and children had to
live with my depression moods and various other
extremities. As a father, I suffered much-for my
children's sake-over this condition. We tried to
instill erstwhile principles in their lives.
When we had five adolescents in the home, we moved to
Alaska seeking an emotional outlet for my adventurous
spirit. The children often told me that it was the
best thing I could have done for them. As I once
walked under the night shadows of the giant palm trees
in our South Texas home-praying for our children's
salvation-so now we pray today for the grandchildren
(some of them ready for college). The mind, the body,
and the spirit are very close neighbors-the one
suffers the ills of the other. These three faculties
seem inextricably linked together and weaken the
objectivity of the other.
At times when we can't feel God's presence, we cannot
believe He cares. Feelings about the Lord's
inaccessibility means nothing! Absolutely nothing!
God's Word is infinitely more reliable than our spooky
emotions. Rev. Reuben Welch, said, "With God, even
when nothing is happening-something is happening."
The Lord is at work in His own unique way even when
our prayers seem to echo back from an empty universe.
Establish your foundation not on ephemeral emotions
but on the authority of the written Word. "Faith is
holding on to uncertainties with passionate
convictions.
By Erwin Bourne
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