Changed Emotions

Since I’ve grown into an adult and have matured in Christ, I have noticed that I do not like a significant amount of change. That is, I don’t like change in terms of my relationships including the few positive relationships in my family or friends. Although they are few, it is better to have only a few friends then many snakes in the grass but I do not mind changes in terms of my professional and/or work environments as I do embrace different changes but when dealing with people, I do not like changed emotions.

When dealing with people, unfortunately, there are a lot of changed emotions which is why I find it difficult to open up or trust another individual. The few people that I do trust enough to open up to works well for me and Christ only chose twelve disciples to carry His work forward after He left and we know the story with this. Peter would deny Christ three times before the rooster crowed and Judas, well, betrayed the Savior which helped send Christ to the cross which may be the ultimate example of changed emotions.

There have been different times in my life when a woman told me her emotions had changed so the relationship ended and I have observed many relationships that involved changed emotions that resulted in the ending of a relationship or marriage. While life is unpredictable, emotions are very tricky which is why, as Christians, we must not always lead with our hearts: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 29:11). While I do believe that most people have innocent hearts and they mean well, scripture warns us that the heart can be easily deceived and we must be cautious when dealing with it.

This is why we are told that we need a new heart not found in this world but one that is entrusted and centered around none other than Christ. While I passionately love the woman I am with, other experiences have made me bitter in terms of trusting people and we would be naïve to think that just because we treat someone well, that they will treat us the same. Sometimes they do, yes, as there are great people in my life that have done great things for me but there are too many others who have caused much disappointment and hurt and when we look at the life of Christ, we see it’s always been this way but we do not have to worry about the changed emotions with Christ: “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever” (Hebrews 13:8).

When I put my trust in God, I do not have to worry about His feelings changing and or ever think about His love stopping: “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Although things will get messy at times here on Earth, we do not have to worry about God ever going anywhere or leaving us nor do we ever have to do things on our own: “For I the LORD thy God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee” (Isaiah 41:13). And we can never get too high up or think that our love for God can never be matched because scripture clearly informs us that we love God only because God first loved us: “We love him, because he first loved us” (1 John 4:19). The truth is, God’s love is unmatched and we, as His children, are to love one another just as God loves.

Again, being led and guided by our emotions is dangerous because human nature is tricky. When we live in the flesh, we run the risk of disconnecting from God. When we live in the flesh, we are threading on Satan’s territory because not everything that we desire and/or seek is of God which is why we cannot forget about God’s word. A friend told me on Sunday that I am stubborn because I put God’s word first and am unwilling to listen to what others have to say and while I did take this as a compliment, he did not mean it as one but I am reminded that God loves us regardless of what others think: “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, [saying], Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee” (Jeremiah 31:3) and we should always remember it because nothing can separate us from His love: “Herein is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son [to be] the propitiation for our sins” (1 John 4:10).