Stick to the facts!

I'm sitting typing a sermon, and Pastor Mark says we're not to let our emotions be dictated by rumors or half the facts. I thought, "Do I do this?" Nah. Not me. Um, wait. Yeah. I totally do. And I don't think I have ever put it in that context. Letting my emotions run roughshod over me is always a bad idea. Letting them run roughshod over me based on rumors, suspicions, hunches, gut feelings, educated guesses (which are still guesses, after all) is a double super duper bad idea. Actually, it's downright dangerous. I came across an article that, for me, goes hand in hand. (Here's a link, and I encourage you to read it! http://theaquilareport.com/i-felt-led-to/) Basically, if it isn't based in Biblical fact - whatever "it" may be - discard it.

If I find that I'm making decisions based on any sort of emotion, I'm headed the wrong direction, especially since I just discovered my emotions aren't always even based on solid facts. That led me to II Corinthians 2:5, "We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ." If I'm doing what the online article said and "instead of going by [my] gut feelings, promptings, or some kind of leading, [I] go by the word [of God] first and foremost," I'm setting myself up for spiritual success and eliminating my human need to over-analyze, fret, worry - call it what you will - over circumstances and situations that I don't control to begin with.

So I have a checks and balances system for my thoughts. I check the source of the emotion that produced the thought, then I take that thought captive "to make it obedient to Christ." Done and done. Now, I end up operating in Biblical wisdom and knowledge instead of being at the mercy of my faulty emotions.

Man, God is so awesome.