The Price for Catering To Emotions

Managing Your Emotions: Instead of Your Emotions Managing You
by Joyce Meyer

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So then those who are living the life of the flesh [catering to the appetites and impulses of their carnal nature] cannot please or satisfy God, or be acceptable to Him. Romans 8:8

The Amplified Bible tells us that to live by the flesh is to cater to the appetites and impulses of the carnal or fleshly nature.

Now we have all been at banquets and other events which were catered. It is always fun to be catered to, to have our wants and needs met immediately and fully by someone else. But there is always a price to be paid for that kind of service.

The same is true in the area of emotions. There is a price we must pay for falling into the position of catering to the desires and demands of our emotions - what the Bible calls our "flesh.'

Now the mind of the flesh [which is sense and reason without the Holy Spirit] is death [death that comprises all the miseries arising from sin, both here and hereafter). But the mind of the [Holy] Spirit is life and [soul] peace [both now and forever]. Romans 8:6

This means that if you and I follow the dictates and demands of our flesh - our unbridled emotions - we will have a price to pay. Why?

…because the mind of the flesh [with its carnal thoughts and purposes] is hostile to God, for it does not submit itself to God's Law; indeed it cannot. Romans 8:7

Part of the price we must pay for catering to our emotions is not being able to live the Spirit-filled life:

For those who are according to the flesh and are controlled by its unholy desires set their minds on and pursue those things which gratify the flesh, but those who are according to the Spirit and are controlled by the desires of the Spirit set their minds on and seek those things which gratify the [Holy] Spirit. Romans 8:5

The Bible clearly teaches that the flesh is opposed to the Spirit, and the Spirit is opposed to the flesh. They are continually antagonistic to each other. This means that we cannot be led by our emotions and still be led by the Holy Spirit, so we have to make a choice.

Now when the Bible says that those who cater to their emotions cannot please or satisfy God or be acceptable to Him, it does not mean that God doesn't love them.

You and I can be in a terrible emotional mess and still be loved by our heavenly Father. The fact that we are having emotional problems does not mean we are not going to heaven. It just means God is not pleased with our lifestyle. Why? Because it puts Him in a position in which He cannot do for us what He would like to do.

As I have mentioned previously, we all want our children to be blessed and to share in our inheritance. But if one of our children chooses to follow a lifestyle of unbridled sensuality, we will not be inclined to entrust our inheritance to him because we know he will just squander and waste it on "riotous living," fulfilling the "lust of the flesh." When the Apostle Paul says God is not pleased with those who live by the flesh rather than by His Spirit, I believe Paul means they cannot be trusted with God's best.

Ordinary Impulses

For you are still [unspiritual, having the nature] of the flesh [under the control of ordinary impulses). For as long as [there are] envying and jealousy and wrangling and factions among you, are you not unspiritual and of the flesh, behaving yourselves after a human standard and like mere (unchanged) men? 1 Corinthians 3:3

In his letter to the church in Corinth, the Apostle Paul called the Corinthians unspiritual because they were living not by the Spirit of God but by their own human nature, which was under the control of "ordinary impulses."

Notice Paul did not say these people were unspiritual because they had ordinary impulses, but because they were under the control of ordinary impulses. Instead of controlling their impulses, they were allowing their impulses to control them.

I define impulse as a sudden urge that compels a person to take action, or an inherent, irrational tendency. I think an impulsive person is one who tends to act on emotion rather than on logic or wisdom.

We often speak of "impulse buying," which, of course, refers to buying something without really giving careful thought to the purchase.

Paul says that being impulsive, being led by ordinary impulses rather than by the Spirit of God, leads to all kinds of evils such as jealousy, envy, strife - in short, all the things that cause divisions and factions among us.

Emotions as the Enemy

Watchman Nee made two important statements about emotions in his book. Spiritual Man: 1) "Emotion may be denominated the most formidable enemy to the life of a spiritual Christian," and 2) "He therefore who lives by emotion lives without principle."

What he was saying was the same thing Paul is saying in this passage. We cannot be spiritual - that is, walk in the Spirit - and be led by emotions.

Emotions will not go away, but we can learn to manage them. We all have emotions, and we must deal with them, but we cannot trust them! Why? Because emotions are our greatest enemy. More than anything, Satan uses our emotions against us to keep us from walking in the Spirit.

We know the mind is the battlefield - the place where the battle is waged between the Spirit and the soul. I have read that when emotion pulsates, the mind becomes deceived, and conscience is denied its standard of judgment.

People often ask me, "How can I know for sure whether I'm hearing from Cod or from my emotions?"

I believe the answer is to learn to wait. Emotions urge us toward haste. They tell us that we have to do something, and we must do it right now! But godly wisdom tells us to wait until we have a clear picture of what it is we are to do and when we are to do it.

What we all need to do is develop the capacity to back away and view our situation from Cod's perspective. We need to be able to make decisions based on what we know rather than on what we feel.

Many times we say, "Well, I feel that God wants me to do this or that." In reality what we are saying is we sense in our spirit that the Lord is telling us to do or not do something. We are not talking about operating by our own emotions, but by what we perceive spiritually to be the will of God for us in that situation.

Whenever we are faced with a decision, we need to ask ourselves: "Am I making this decision according to my feelings or according to the will of God?"

Let me give you an example from my own personal life.

Copyright © 1997 by Joyce Meyer

About the Author

JOYCE MEYER has been teaching the Word of God since 1976 and in full-time ministry since 1980. She is the bestselling author of more than fifty inspirational books, including How to Hear from God, Knowing God Intimately, and Battlefield of the Mind. She has also released thousands of teaching cassettes and a complete video library. Joyce's Enjoying Everyday Life radio and television programs are broadcast around the world, and she travels extensively conducting conferences.