How not to be swayed by emotion

Faith Creates a Short Circuit in the Cycle of Negative Reactions

James 1:5-8

If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you. 6 But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. 7 That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. 8 Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.

Faith is the decisive factor in life's difficulties. The more consciously we process negative experiences with Jesus, the more resilient we become.

What normally happens when we face hardship, unemployment, illness, divorce, conflict?

Event → Emotion

A negative event produces negative emotions.

Event → Interpretation → Emotion

But this diagram is incomplete. Between the event and the emotion lies something else:

our interpretation of the event.

We could substitute the word faith for interpretation.

The crucial issue is not what happened to us, but how we interpret what happened.

Faith in a God who holds us in His hands and is greater than our circumstances can profoundly influence our emotions.

Faith is like the rudder of a boat. The rudder, not the wind, determines the boat's direction.

That is why emotions such as anger, rage, envy, and fear reveal our faith. They testify to what we are relying upon—ourselves or Christ.

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