“I have come to cast fire upon the earth; and how I wish it were already kindled! But I have a baptism to undergo, and how distressed I am until it is accomplished!” Luke 12:49, 50
Jesus abhors sin. It is the opposite of His pure, holy character. We should hate sin too. Jesus is going to pour out His wrath against it. And He is literally going to cast fire on the earth. (See Rev. 8:7) At the time He made this declaration, His judgment on the earth was yet future. But before He judges the earth, He had to undergo a baptism. Jesus was referring to His death and He was in agony over facing the full fury of God's wrath. The knowledge that He would be crushed by His Father's wrath crushed His emotions. Jesus experienced emotions, we see that all throughout scripture. The money changers angered Him when they turned His Father's house into a house of merchandise. He experienced anguish and sorrow over Israel's unbelief in Him as the Messiah. The emotions Jesus experienced never led Him to sinful behavior, but that cannot be said about us. We often make choices to live based on how we feel. Living by our feelings is sinful. Living by how we feel often keeps us from doing the will of God.
What are we to live by?
We are to live by the same thing Jesus lived by - the Word of the Father.
We are made in God's image. He created in us the ability to experience emotions, just like He does. He created the emotions themselves. The emotions we experience are not sinful, but they can lead to sinful behavior. Our circumstances produce emotions in us - how someone treats us. I hadn't seen Daniel for two weeks and on Friday he spent part of the morning with me. Three times, he came over to me, wrapped his sweet little arms around me, and told me he loved me, all unsolicited. This is something he's never done before. If my heart had been a dish of ice cream, there would have been a puddle of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on the floor. Thank you, Lord, for creating us with emotions! When others act sinfully towards us, this can produce emotions in us. Sometimes it will be sorrow, sometimes it will be anger. We must give the emotions directly over to the Lord. When we find our emotions in turmoil over negative circumstances, we need to set our eyes on Jesus and not the circumstances. We need to go the Word and be in the Word. It's the only place where we find moorage. We need to remember that every negative circumstance is being filtered through God's sovereign hand, to accomplish His purposes. What man meant for evil at Jesus death, the Father used for granting us eternal life. When we live by and act on God's Word, it produces joy and peace in our hearts, even under crushing circumstances, and that's exactly where we want to be, isn't it?
Jesus abhors sin. It is the opposite of His pure, holy character. We should hate sin too. Jesus is going to pour out His wrath against it. And He is literally going to cast fire on the earth. (See Rev. 8:7) At the time He made this declaration, His judgment on the earth was yet future. But before He judges the earth, He had to undergo a baptism. Jesus was referring to His death and He was in agony over facing the full fury of God's wrath. The knowledge that He would be crushed by His Father's wrath crushed His emotions. Jesus experienced emotions, we see that all throughout scripture. The money changers angered Him when they turned His Father's house into a house of merchandise. He experienced anguish and sorrow over Israel's unbelief in Him as the Messiah. The emotions Jesus experienced never led Him to sinful behavior, but that cannot be said about us. We often make choices to live based on how we feel. Living by our feelings is sinful. Living by how we feel often keeps us from doing the will of God.
What are we to live by?
We are to live by the same thing Jesus lived by - the Word of the Father.
We are made in God's image. He created in us the ability to experience emotions, just like He does. He created the emotions themselves. The emotions we experience are not sinful, but they can lead to sinful behavior. Our circumstances produce emotions in us - how someone treats us. I hadn't seen Daniel for two weeks and on Friday he spent part of the morning with me. Three times, he came over to me, wrapped his sweet little arms around me, and told me he loved me, all unsolicited. This is something he's never done before. If my heart had been a dish of ice cream, there would have been a puddle of chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream on the floor. Thank you, Lord, for creating us with emotions! When others act sinfully towards us, this can produce emotions in us. Sometimes it will be sorrow, sometimes it will be anger. We must give the emotions directly over to the Lord. When we find our emotions in turmoil over negative circumstances, we need to set our eyes on Jesus and not the circumstances. We need to go the Word and be in the Word. It's the only place where we find moorage. We need to remember that every negative circumstance is being filtered through God's sovereign hand, to accomplish His purposes. What man meant for evil at Jesus death, the Father used for granting us eternal life. When we live by and act on God's Word, it produces joy and peace in our hearts, even under crushing circumstances, and that's exactly where we want to be, isn't it?
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