One of the fantastic ways about how God created us is that he gave us emotions. They allow us to feel and experience life in remarkable ways. Whether it be the excitement of a new adventure or the satisfaction of accomplishing a project, we can gain pleasure from our emotions. You can experience the extreme joy of having your girlfriend say “yes” when you propose and also feel the sadness of being away from your newborn son for a week. Emotions allow us to experience life as we would never have been able to without them. They are indeed a gift from God. 

However, we also live in sin filled world, and sometimes we allow our emotions to control us and don’t trust our God and His word. I have seen too many people who are controlled by their feelings. One day they are going to serve God with their lives and going to do great things for Him. The next day they are mad at God and don’t want anything to do with Him. I have known people that could not keep a job for more than six months because they are excited and emotional at first about their new role, but after a few months, the excitement has worn off, and they are looking for something else. I have seen times in my life when I am excited and motivated, and other times when I do not want to do anything. We are all going to have ups and downs, but we cannot allow our emotions to control our lives. Here are a few ways to stop your feelings from controlling you. 

Base your decisions on truth  

The problem when you live based on emotions is that many times they give you a distorted reality of the truth. Your circumstances tend to control your emotions, so if everything is going well in your life, then you will think what you are doing is right. But when your circumstances change, you will begin to question everything that you are doing and believe in. If your circumstances are good, then God is good, and if your circumstances are difficult, then God is unfair to you. 

The Word of God is our ultimate basis for truth, so we must look to see what God’s Word says. In the Word of God, we can see the truth that God loves us unconditionally and sent his Son to die for us. In the Bible, we can see that we are supposed to love others even if they don’t like us. We must look to the Word of God to help us know what is the truth, even when our emotions are telling us something else. 

Sleep on it 

Perhaps you have heard about how Abraham Lincon would write a letter expressing his anger and frustration at someone and then put it in a drawer and not send it immediately. The next day he would come in and realize that he shouldn’t have written that letter, and he would never send it. He understood the value of sleeping on it. It is not the act of sleeping that makes a difference, but just simply taking time to think something over will make you realize that you were acting on emotions and not on logic. 

Many times I have regretted something that I said or did in the moment without thinking. I am sure that you have done something similar in your life. Let’s learn to take a moment and step back before we tell someone what we think about them. We should take a day or two to consider making that significant job move or ending a relationship. We are going to be affected by our emotions, but we should take some time to think about what we are going to do on a rational level. 

Talk to a mentor

When you are facing a difficult decision in your life, you should get advice from a mentor or someone with more experience and wisdom than you. It will allow you to think through the situation and perhaps see it from a different light. Many times your mentor can see the real reason why you want to make this change and expose selfish motives that you did not want to acknowledge. It does not mean just asking your friends who want to please you but asking someone that has your best interest at heart even if they do not agree with you. If you would like to read more about why you need a mentor, you can click here. 

You are not always going to agree with your mentor or mentors, but the majority of the time, it will allow you to make a much better decision. The Bible says in Proverbs 11:14 14 Where no counsel is, the people fall: But in the multitude of counsellers there is safety. We should get wise advice from others

In conclusion, emotions are a wonderful gift that God has given us, but we should not allow them to control our lives. Our feelings will change from day to day, and if we allow them to control us, we will be like a ship without a rudder never going anywhere. We should be grounded in truth from the Word of God and not make rash decisions solely based on emotions. We should seek wise counsel from others and not live lives controlled by emotions.