How many times have you heard someone say, “God made me this way!” Emotional justification for sinful action is a common claim made by many, and unfortunately, not only the unsaved make such an assertion. The idea is this: If emotions are uncontrollable, then we are not responsible for our actions. That’s a very dangerous proposition! “I’m not in control” sounds very much like, “Don’t blame me for my actions, blame God. He made me this way!” Therefore, I have justification to act as I will without remorse. “Do as thou wilt and whatever feels good do it” are, by the way, central tenets of Satanism and not Christianity.
It is true that God gave us emotions, but He also gave us reason. It is true you can choose not to lose your temper. You can make a different decision and make up your mind that you’re going to act on reason and not on emotion. That is one of the things that separates us from the animals. We have the ability to think things over and not act immediately on our emotions. Our feelings are not our thoughts, yet, sadly, many are ignorant of this truth or behave badly in spite of what they know.
Our ability to reason is a supernatural aspect of our God-given spirits. We can think before we act or react. Take, for example, King David’s lust for Bathsheba in 2 Samuel 11. David did not have to act on that emotion, and he was held accountable for the sinful actions that resulted. God holds us accountable for our emotions, and there are consequences to our choices. Emotions aren’t bad in and of themselves, but it’s when they are misused that sin enters the scene.
Consider love and compassion. Many define them as emotions, yet, biblically, they are identified as acts of one’s will. Love is not always a good thing, either; many love sin with a passion. We must be mindful of whom and what we love.
Far too many are proud of their sins. They claim they were born like that and credit God with their sinful practices. Yet, they have no understanding of the will of God. He does not program us to sin; rather, He grants us freewill. We have the choice to obey His Word or our own feelings.
Consider the crowds that heard Peter in Acts 2 and how they were moved to repent. Contrariwise, the crowd that heard Stephen in Acts 7 was moved to homicide. Did emotion justify Stephen’s murder or the former’s obedience to the Gospel? Remember, the men who killed Stephen felt that they were pleasing God; did not their hearts tell them so? They tore their garments, they were carried away by self-righteous rage, and they took up the stones and threw them with the intent to kill! Does emotion, as a God-given attribute, excuse sinful actions? Does it justify sin? God forbid!
Folks caught up in the emotions of religious fervor think because they felt something in their hearts, God blessed them in what they did. Many believe they are saved, and yet, God tells us to believe and to be baptized so we can be forgiven of sin (Mark 16:16), rather than wait until we get a fuzzy feeling inside! Salvation has nothing to do with an emotional rapture at a revival meeting but everything to do with an act of the will, based on the facts presented to us in God’s Word.
The obedient heart is not one where feelings control one’s thoughts; instead, that is an idea of our western culture. Rather, a person ought to practice the reasoning and logic described in the Book of Proverbs. Does our Lord have emotions? Indeed, He does, for He wept at the fate of rebellious Jerusalem (John 11:35). He shed tears of blood at Gethsemane, but He pressed on to the goal despite His fear. That is obedience and choice. That is the perfect example of not allowing emotions to control one’s actions.
Emotions play an important part in our humanity, but justifying our actions by claiming that emotions control us is not only an abdication of personal responsibility, but it is a placement of responsibility for our sinful behavior upon God! Considering the statement, “God made me this way, I can’t help it,” let’s follow that path of illogical reasoning. It is saying that God is to blame for my lashing out in anger, stealing the thing I desire, hurting others to gratify myself and outbursts of violence so that I get the results I want. If God made us to be governed by our emotions, then how can we be wrong? It’s what He programmed us to be—right? Wrong (Romans 3:23)!
The Bible says, in Isaiah 5:20, “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter.” God gave us emotions, not to control us, but as a gift. Let us not abuse that gift by making them an excuse for sin and holding God responsible for our wickedness.
