Feelings, Nothing More Than Feelings

From the brain of Tony:

Proverbs 25:28 says, "Whoever has no rule over his own spirit is like a city broken down, without walls."

A city without walls can function as well as any other city - except when attacked. You could live in that city with an illusion of safety, never realizing you were completely defenseless until it was too late.

Works fine if you have no enemies, or for as long as you can pretend no one wants to harm you. Works fine if you live in the fantasy world that people are basically good.

But we all have an enemy, even God. And His enemy wants to take it out on us.

So what does ruling our own spirit have to do with it? Understand that in our battle against Satan, truth is our greatest weapon, and the realm of emotions is his home field.

Continuing with the sports metaphor, athletes often try to manipulate their opponents emotions. It's a way to gain control over them, get them out of their game, cause them to fall for your fakes.

Think about it. If I can make you angry, you've just given me control of your emotions. This verse is saying that whoever cannot control their emotions is defenseless, easily controlled and manipulated by others.

I'm not saying we shouldn't have feelings. God has emotions, and He's made us in His image with the capacity to feel deeply. But emotions are tricky things. What we feel may not be truth. And we get in trouble when we let our emotions triumph over character and reason.

I'm very concerned that our culture has become more emotional than rational, where how someone feels about a situation is more important than reasoning out a solution.

I see the hand of God's enemy in it, obscuring truth and drawing our nation toward lawlessness. But I'm not falling for it.