You are sitting or standing in a church service. The music and singing are beautiful and elevate your spirit and emotions to new heights. It feels awesome! It seems like a special moment that motivates you to be the believer that you know you should be. If the emotions are intense enough, you might even find yourself in some euphoric state with your hands in the air. I have experienced this too… and I like it!
Then, you leave the excitement of the music and the crowd and step back into the world that resides outside the four walls of the church building. BAM! You have the same struggles, the same bills, the same thankless job that you had before… right? So, the question is, how can you sustain that wonderful feeling and comfort that you experienced in that awesome worship service? Let’s explore that for a moment or two.
First, realize that your emotions can be way too fleeting. Especially the good ones. Riding that emotional spiritual high just seems to be much shorter than the dark emotions caused by fear, anxiety, and depression. Even the believer struggles with this reality. Remember that even though you have the Spirit of the Lord dwelling in you, you are still trapped in a fleshly body. Romans 12:15 tells us that we will experience both sides of this emotional coin. Sometimes in life, we will be happy and sometimes we will be sad. This is just a reality of our pre-heaven existence.
Second, we tend to try to figure out things for ourselves before we actually turn to God. Kind of crazy, yes? Why do we seem to exhaust ourselves with intense effort and emotional capital before we cry out to the One who can actually make a difference? Well, this is another issue with the flesh. A very wise man tells us in Proverbs 3:5 that we should not put our faith in our own knowledge or skill. Now, this seems to be a big problem for some of us… especially men. For some strange reason, we just get so puffed up with our own successes that we begin to think that we are actually the cause of all the victories that we experience. DUH!
Now, we have established that we are prideful creatures – and – we will experience good times and bad times in this life. So, back to the euphoria thing. Is there a way to live in that state of heightened emotion. In my opinion, probably not… at least not yet. However, we can live in a state of continuous peace, which may actually be a better thing for us anyway. Think about it… this happy / sad roller coaster can wear you out, but having real peace will bring a consistent comfort. Jesus tells us in John 14:27 that it is He who gives us this type of peace. A peace that is not of this world. The type that drives trouble and fear from our hearts. Thank you Jesus!
Wrapping up, let me assure you that these comments are not designed in any way to disparage beautiful emotional worship services. I have stood there in such services with my hands raised high and tears streaming down my face. Music tends to get to me in a deep way. Yet, after I exit the building and begin dealing with “life” again, the deep consistent peace that I have with God is what keeps me going. This peace assures me that when my head hits the pillow at night, I am safe in His arms. Eternity is settled and my life in Christ is so much better that what I experience in my earthly existence. Do you have this type of peace? If not, talk to me sometime and I will tell you how to find it. Jesus saves… amen.
