Feelings

Dallas Willard in Renovation of the Heart says:

" ...the feelings that harm us are, for the most part, not bad in themselves, but are somehow not properly limited or subordinated.  They are out of order.  Feelings are, with few exceptions, good servants.  But they are disastrous masters."

In the not so distant past I've allowed my feelings to be the motivation for what I did and did not do.  And Dallas Willard is right, they make disasterous masters.  It is far better to have the correct motivation for our actions than to perform our actions for a feeling.

For example, choosing to worship God because of the emotion it causes can be disasterous to my relationship with God.  Because when the emotion is gone (and it will go) I feel that God has left as well and my worship suffers.  So my motivation for worship should be because God deserves it and because it is "my reasonable service".

The same thing goes in my relationship with Andrea (my wife).  If my only motivation for love is the feelings I get from it, then when the feeling is gone I will decide I've "fallen out of love".  But when love is a choice and I love out of regard for the interest of the other I get more out of our relationship and the feelings associated with love aren't my master.  But when the feelings come ... they are an incredible bonus and are more satisfying than if I pursued the feeling alone.

These are lessons I've learned the hard way.