"Don't bother too much about your feelings. When they are humble, loving, brave, give thanks for them; when they are conceited, selfish, cowardly, ask to have them altered. In neither case are they you, but only a thing that happens to you. What matters is your intentions and your behaviour." - C.S. Lewis
When I first read this quote, I thought “What do you mean don’t bother too much with them?! They are a huge part of who I am!” Because it seems I am always feeling something, even if I'm not consciously paying attention to how I'm feeling! I might feel efficient at work, or tired hitting the mid-afternoon slump, or excited about my birthday, or fustrated with a friend. I actually found myself a little annoyed with good ol’ Clive Staples saying that they weren’t me.
What I did like about this quote, however, is that he describes feelings as a tool I was talking about in my last post: an arrow. Humble, loving, brave…give thanks. Conceited, selfish, cowardly…ask for help. God gave us feelings not to understand ourselves, not to dictate how our mood would be, but to point us back to them. Yes, they are our feelings, but they are not actually about us.
I don’t believe C.S. Lewis was trying to be dismissive of our feelings, I think he was trying to help us understand our feelings aren’t our identity. Martin Lloyd Jones contends that one of the causes of spiritual depression is putting too much emphasis on emotion. It’s NOT that emotions aren’t real or aren’t present or aren’t wonderful/painful, but our identity is Christ. We ARE His living temple. Thus, we can’t claim the emotions as our identity. God doesn’t look at us and see our feelings, He sees Jesus. He gives us feelings to point us back to Him (a behavior well worth developing).
I don’t know about you girls, but I can put a lot of focus on my feelings, even with good intentions. I usually think I’m doing the right thing by trying to understand them. Most of the time, I generally only get more confused. He is fully capable to then fill my heart with gratefulness if the feelings are glorifying to Him, or lovingly reveal a lie or attitude that is not producing good fruit in my life. Either way, I don’t need to try to figure them out, I just need to let them be a tool to further propel me into dependance on God.
Going Green!
Martha
When I first read this quote, I thought “What do you mean don’t bother too much with them?! They are a huge part of who I am!” Because it seems I am always feeling something, even if I'm not consciously paying attention to how I'm feeling! I might feel efficient at work, or tired hitting the mid-afternoon slump, or excited about my birthday, or fustrated with a friend. I actually found myself a little annoyed with good ol’ Clive Staples saying that they weren’t me.
What I did like about this quote, however, is that he describes feelings as a tool I was talking about in my last post: an arrow. Humble, loving, brave…give thanks. Conceited, selfish, cowardly…ask for help. God gave us feelings not to understand ourselves, not to dictate how our mood would be, but to point us back to them. Yes, they are our feelings, but they are not actually about us.
I don’t believe C.S. Lewis was trying to be dismissive of our feelings, I think he was trying to help us understand our feelings aren’t our identity. Martin Lloyd Jones contends that one of the causes of spiritual depression is putting too much emphasis on emotion. It’s NOT that emotions aren’t real or aren’t present or aren’t wonderful/painful, but our identity is Christ. We ARE His living temple. Thus, we can’t claim the emotions as our identity. God doesn’t look at us and see our feelings, He sees Jesus. He gives us feelings to point us back to Him (a behavior well worth developing).
I don’t know about you girls, but I can put a lot of focus on my feelings, even with good intentions. I usually think I’m doing the right thing by trying to understand them. Most of the time, I generally only get more confused. He is fully capable to then fill my heart with gratefulness if the feelings are glorifying to Him, or lovingly reveal a lie or attitude that is not producing good fruit in my life. Either way, I don’t need to try to figure them out, I just need to let them be a tool to further propel me into dependance on God.
Going Green!
Martha
December 8, 2011 at 10:26 AM
Martha, I have appreciated these Arrow posts SO MUCH! I get tangled in my feelings, I have friends who get tangled in their feelings--putting all this in perspective helps me and (I hope) enables me to be more helpful to my friends. I tend to marinate in my feelings (especially the rotten ones) until I am thoroughly soaked through. I think I'm beginning to feel less defined by them. I'm experiencing a deeper longing for a perspective shaped by truth and upheld by the joy and peace Jesus achieved for me.
December 8, 2011 at 10:51 AM
Oooh I like how you put it as "being less defined by my feelings" That's describes it so well; I definetly think I view myself in situations by how I'm feeling.