Emotional Choices

Driving home in rush hour traffic has provided me with much personal revelation and insight. The task of trying to get home quickly from a long day of work so I can accomplish a few more ministry items in the evening has the potential to become an emotionally charged experience. I have occasionally passed motorists who have become victims of impatience, and the result has been a traffic-slowing fender bender!

Experience has taught me over the last year and a half that the third lane from the right on I-435 is the lane that consistently moves along at a better pace in all levels of congestion on the freeway, so I try to get in that lane and stay there no matter what! It usually works out for the best unless there is an accident in that lane. However, what I see most of the time are drivers who are constantly switching lanes, sometimes dangerously, if they think another lane appears to be moving faster – only to end up stopped again as I move by them in the “third” lane. The decision to change lanes like that, based on an observation of the moment, is typically what psychologists call emotional choices. I know because I have struggled with it, and even given in at times to the frustration (emotion) of trying to get through a little quicker, only to be blocked by stopped traffic.

Impatience in our lives is always driven by the emotion of the moment. We get frustrated that things aren’t moving fast enough at producing the results we want, such as situations at work or in our relationships with others. We push a little, only to have things blow up in our faces. Goals that we think should already have been achieved are abandoned, or blamed on the inefficiency of others. The emotion of impatience dominates our actions.

In typically opposite fashion we see the patience and long suffering of God in the Bible as He purposely worked out His plan of salvation, in spite of the hindrances that people perpetrated through their unbelief. Jesus showed Himself to be the King of patience as He steadily walked through His earthly life doing the work of the Father. He moved deliberately and methodically to the cross with each step He took. He avoided ‘emotional choice,’ relying instead upon the constant leading and empowerment of the Holy Spirit.

In like manner the Holy Spirit seeks to form in us the same character that Jesus displayed, so that we are no longer “tossed” by every emotion that sweeps over our minds. Rather than relying on our emotions, He leads us and enables us to walk patiently and victoriously through every obstacle we face – staying in the “lane” that moves us into His presence – every single day!

How exciting to be His people,

Pastor David Vanderpool