LIVING THE CHRIST LIFE

INTRODUCTION:
According to the dictionary, emotions refer to an intense feeling. This definition therefore suggests that emotions can be applied to things and people. And most of the time we user our emotions when we feel something for other people.

And most of the time our emotions are a bit off target when it comes to putting them into what really matters.

You see, if there is one point that I would like to make today, it is this. Whether you believe it or not, emotions are not trivial, as a matter of fact they are very important in our lives and that we are actually investing our emotions and what we invest in today will reap its dividends in the future.

And so in our talk this afternoon I would like to hopefully show you where you should be investing your emotions, and this begins with a Biblical view of your current status in life which is called “singleness”

SINGLENESS REDEFINED:

Many Christians and Non-Christians define singleness as “an empty bus station in the middle of nowhere”. Now if you think about it, that’s not too encouraging. If you’ve ever been stranded before, you know what I mean.

And yet, if singleness is such a burden, why did God allow us to experience this season in our lives. A season where we experience the most intense emotions and somehow have the most energy and passion for things? And this question if you are paying attention, has a very obvious answer.

Our singleness was not designed by God to be a burden, but rather it is the season in our lives where there is an enriching of our relationship with the Lord. Sadly however many of us fail to maximize this time and rather than seeing it as a time of growth we see it as a time to court.

 

 

AN EXCELLENT INVESTMENT:

I would like for you to think about this for a moment, “who is the greatest “single” in history and where did that person invest his life? The answer is JESUS! “How amazing it is that God would come to earth and carry out his entire earthly ministry as a single man!” another person who we can see had a great impact on history and who invested his emotions on the right things was Paul.

According to Scripture (Colossians 3:1-11) we must set our minds on things above not on things on the earth because our lives are already hidden in Christ. And so the question begs to be asked, “Where are you investing your emotions in?”

> many young people today invest their emotions in fashion
> many invest their emotions on computer games
> many invest their emotions in looking for romance
> many invest their emotions in school
> many invest their emotions in sports

we invest our emotions in so many things that there’s nothing left, we give God the leftover emotions, how wrong is that!

Scripture tells us to set our minds (emotions) on things above, which basically means our relationship with God and yet many of us find it silly or ridiculous or to use a stronger term, many of us find the things of God as stupid.

But what is more ridiculous? Wasting our emotions on the things of this world that take more from us than satisfy us? Or investing our emotions in God and knowing Him and having our emotions satisfied and reciprocated to us to the enth fold?

> I believe its time for us to realize that the only way that we will not waste our emotions is by giving our all for the Lord.
> But I believe that many of us if not all of us know this already but I believe that the problem lies in our perception of what is a waste and what is not.
> You see until we come to realize, truly realize that we waste our emotions on so many trivial things we will not truly live our lives to the full.

 

PRINCIPLES:

> but of course that is another topic altogether, so let us go to some principles about how not to waste our emotions.

1. The sovereign hand of God has placed each of his children in his or her present status. (1 Corinthians 7:17).

> This principle tells us a very important fact of life and it is this “RELAX! GOD IS IN CONTROL!” and that God has placed us where we are right now for a specific purpose, and that is to serve Him, love Him and glorify Him.
> But this is the deeper perspective that we fail to see. What we see is I have to be cool, I have to be popular, I have to be beautiful and I have to have everything. And we waste our emotions on these things.
> But if we are truly Christians and we love the Lord, we will see to it that this time of our lives will not be wasted. And if we have this kind of perspective there is an encouragement for us and it is this, “with God’s providential positioning comes supernatural enabling”. This means that God gives us the ability to do His will and to know His will and to love His will.

2. Using our emotions to glorify God.
(1Cor. 7:7)
> How do we use our emotions to glorify God? good question.
> We glorify God in our emotions by using these emotions, these passions and channeling them towards loving God, trying to express the most intense love for Him that we can.
> Explain channeling of emotions.

3. Our present situation should be shaped by an eternal perspective

> (1 Cor. 7:29;31) Paul is urging us too live in the ongoing reality that the eternal future is pressing into the temporal now. He is concerned that we live undistractedly in joyful anticipation of the approaching kingdom. And that call is given to those who want to make a difference.
> We must realize that though we are in this world we are not of this world, and it would do us well to remember what Paul said, that we are sojourners (tourists) in this world and that our citizenship is in heaven.
CONCLUSION:

For my final point I would like to state this principle, WHAT CONCERNS US DEFINES US. If your emotions are invested in the right things what concerns us will be the affairs of the Lord, how we can please God in our lives. And our aim will be a whole hearted devotion to the Lord (1 Cor.7:32-35). This whole hearted or undivided devotion to the Lord is the essence of what it means to not waste our emotions.

“it is rooted in the sovereignty of God who places people in appropriate situations for the best possible reasons. It is steeped in the love of a God who uses even the most difficult of situations for the greatest possible benefit. It is sustained by the wisdom of a God whose timing is perfect and whose guidance is true.”

End with John’s story.