Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Highs and Lows

Have you ever had a day (week, month, or year) were you felt like you were on an emotional roller coaster. One moment you were in a great mood and the world looked bright and cheery only to have something happen that caused it to seem dark and dreary?

So what do you do when these moments come and is it possible to get to a point in your life where "feelings" stop causing you to run a muck?

I believe there is an solution but first let's look at someone who dealt with a roller coaster of emotions.

We meet him early on in the four Gospels of the New Testament. His name is Simon Peter. Ring a bell?

As I was recently reading Luke 5:1-11, I could see Peter "in the beginning" and realizing that his "highs and lows" were present from the moment we meet him.

In the passage above, Jesus was in the early stages of His ministry on earth. We see Him teaching, healing and being pursued by crowds of people. On this occasion, we see Him by the sea of Galilee trying to find a good location to be heard by those seeking after Him.

He gets into the boat of Simon Peter and asks him to push out a ways from the shore. Jesus teaches and then makes an unusual request of Peter,  "let's go fishing".

This is one of the first occasions that we see Peter emote as he says, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing BUT at your word I will let down the net".

I don't know about you, but I can almost hear the "huff" in his voice as he says "BUT". as if to say "If it makes you happy...".

Phew, I cannot even begin to tell you how many times I have had that attitude. Already low because things have not gone my way, I retreat and settle into my comfort zone (for him, cleaning the nets), only to be asked to do something else that I am not in the mood to do. But to make someone else "happy", I do it.

In Luke 5:8 Peter's emotions take another turn as he sees an unexpected miracle, one that could only be explained by recognizing Jesus as God. He emotes again as he says, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord". A far cry from a couple of verse ago and the "if it make you happy..." attitude.

He now sees himself as wretched and unworthy, and to be honest, he was, but so are we.

This attitude is the first key; seeing ourselves as wretched and unworthy.

In today's society we strive to "build ourself and others up" so no one "feels bad" about who they are or what they do. The problem is that that idea spits in the face of God's Word.

Isaiah 53:6, Romans 3:23, Romans 7:24, I John 1:9-10

The second key to getting off the roller coaster of emotional highs and lows is found in Peters response in Luke 5:11, he along with Andrew, James and John, left what was familiar, giving up all they had and knew, to follow Jesus.

This is called faith. Believing without reservation. Giving up everything you are or will be and placing your trust in the One who created you, died and rose from the dead for you, and Who has a plan for your life.

This transformation from highs and lows did not happen over night for Peter. It took three years of being in the presence of Jesus, as well as His death and resurrection for Peter to get to the point were his emotions no longer had rule over him. Honestly, that makes me glad, because it means that there is still hope for me.

If I watch the progression of Peter throughout the New Testament, his highs and lows are caught and corrected by Jesus and the more faith/trust that Peter had in Jesus the less he over reacted.

So, for me, this means that I need to see myself as God sees me, wretched, unworthy and that I can only be made worthy through Jesus.

It also means that my faith/trust in Jesus must grow so that my emotions do not have rule over me.


When I base situations on my emotions then I end up on that roller coaster (and a mess). When I place my faith in Jesus as my Savior then trust Him to direct my life, then emotions will not have rule over me.






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