Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5:24)
A tendency for many believers can be similar to the world in that we treasure and cling to our independency. What I mean by this is that we love the idea of being in charge, in control and being a self -governing being that lives life according to our agenda. In other words we can go through life with this autonomous, self -ruling bent that we tenaciously hold on to. This of course is sinful as it is substitutes God’s all sufficient, Word and His sovereignty with our puny, ever changing ideas, emotions and feelings.
So how does this self-ruling independent bent persist in our lives?
I believe it begins when we undervalue the inerrant and fully sufficient Word of God. This lack of trust in the Scriptures leads to a trust and reliance on something else - our own emotions and feelings. We live in a ‘feeling driven’ culture and what you feel is generally promoted as a strength of character that can be relied upon on to give you direction. But this dangerous, because when emotion or what you feel are in control, it becomes sovereign and pampers your self-governing independency and rules God out of the picture.
I like how C.J. Mahaney states this in his book ‘The Cross Centered Life’
“We think with our feelings,” Sinclair Ferguson has said. It’s true. We allow our feelings to guide our thinking and we shouldn’t. Emotions are a wonderful gift from God. And our relationship with God should bring to our lives strong godly affections. However, our emotions shouldn’t be vested with final authority. This should be reserved for God’s Word alone.