SM post, last month

Fear, anger, hate are emotions. They’re often described as negative, wrong, evil. Here’s the problem: God hates sin. Jesus was angered by the desecration of the temple. Fear warns of danger. Those things aren’t evil. God is good. The adversary is evil. Emotions simply are, neither good nor evil. It is what we do with our emotions that determines whether we’ve chosen good or evil. Hating the trafficking of people for profit is seeing as God sees. Anger that warns of a healthy boundary being violated is seeing as God sees. Listening to God’s danger message is seeing as God sees. The question is: Now that you see as God sees, what are you going to do? Allowing anger, fear, and hate to fester is choosing the adversary’s way, choosing to do nothing, choosing to allow the emotions to have control. Allowing those same emotions to motivate us to do something good is choosing God’s way. The importance of seeking God and remaining close to Him is in making sure we are choosing God’s way, choosing to be like Jesus. Jesus didn’t allow His anger to control Him; He controlled His anger. Jesus didn’t hate the man filled with demons, He set him free. Jesus knew a moment of fear; He hesitated a moment, in the Garden of Gethsemane: “Father, let this cup pass from me.” And then He mastered His fear and added, “Not my will but Thine.” ~ Laurel Hawkes