Have you ever heard someone tell you that? "Feel better." Like it's a choice. Like you'd say, "Oh, well, since you said to, I will. Thanks." Why is it silly? Because we don't choose how we feel. So it seems odd that we are commanded to feel. "Really? Where?" Over and over we are commanded to "love God" and "love your neighbor." That's a command to feel, isn't it? We are commanded to "rejoice evermore." That's a command to feel, isn't it? How is this possible? How can we choose to feel anything?
The question, of course, is wrong from the start because you can't choose to feel. Thus, these things we are commanded like "love" and "rejoice" must not be what our first idea is -- feelings. What, then?
According to Scripture, love is not something we conjure up to feel. Love is a fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) -- the first on the list. Paul describes love in 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 in terms that cannot be understood as mere "warm affection." There is emotional love, to be sure, but the love we are commanded to engage comes from God (1 John 4:7) and is a result of loving God (1 John 5:1). It is unavoidable for the believer (1 John 4:8). Sourced by God's own love, it cannot fail (1 Cor 13:8). That love isn't mere emotion. And it is a choice.
Joy is, interestingly enough, another fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) -- the second on the list. It isn't mere happiness; it's associated with our faith in God (1 Peter 1:8). Joy is our strength (Neh 8:10). It is derived from Christ (John 17:13) and fellow believers add to it (e.g., Php 1:7; 2 Cor 2:3; Php 2:2). It is a response to worship (Psa 33:1; Psa 66:1). Happiness is predicated on the perception of good circumstances; joy is predicated on God -- unwavering, exceeding mere happiness, a gift, inward and sure. When you cultivate your relationship with God, you cultivate joy.
"Feel better" is a non sequitur. It just doesn't follow that we can choose to feel anything. We might change how we think about things and feel differently. In fact, we should. But in those areas we are commanded to do what appears to be emotional, it's clearly sourced by God for God's glory with God's power. Choosing to feel better has very little to do with it.
4 comments:
I would insist that we do indeed have the ability to choose how we feel. We are naturally disposed to react to events, but to allow pure emotion to rule us is unwise, as emotion and intelligence are diametrically opposed. Emotion is a signal. How we respond is our choice.
We are commanded to love one another. If it's not a choice, we cannot be expected to obey such a command.
To allow emotion to rule is certainly unwise. How we respond is a choice, absolutely. We can choose to love since love is a choice and not an emotion. The emotional aspect we associate with love is the response to the choice to love.
But you go ahead and choose how you will feel and I'll choose how I think, expecting that to determine how I feel.
So what you're saying is you will choose how you will feel. You're saying the same thing in a slightly different way.
Yes, Marshal, that's what I just did. I declared publicly, "You know this whole blog entry I just made? It's trash. I don't believe a word of it and neither should you."
No, that's not what I said. Feelings are responses we don't choose. We have to choose things that we can choose. Emotions are not them.
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