Adventures in the Land of CanaanBerry, R. L. (Robert Lee)
Religion
Adventures in the Land of Canaan
Berry, R. L. (Robert Lee)
Christian life
The will, not the feelings, is the controlling factor in life. The
feelings are like a family of children who may, if allowed to grow up
disobedient and unruly, cause one much trouble, but if controlled and
made obedient, contribute to one's happiness. Feelings are a part of us.
Christian experiences are felt; that is, they affect the emotions as
well as the will. Feelings fluctuate, and, in fact, in many cases become
very unruly, like spoiled children, and want everything their own way.
Bad news will produce sad feelings. If you receive a letter today
announcing the wedding of a friend, you rejoice; if it announces a death,
you sorrow. If you are sick in body your feelings may partake of the
quality of your physical condition. It is well that our feelings enter
into our lives in this way, else we should lack the sympathy, love, and
other emotions that are essential to social happiness. So let us thank
God we have feelings; they connect us with the joys and sorrows of others.
But let us not gage our Christian experience by the way we feel.
Sanctified people have feelings that are natural. Man was created with
all the social instincts before the fall. Before sin came in, he was
told to multiply and replenish the earth. Out of the two natures, male
and female, arise all the social instincts that produce families, homes,
laws, and governments.
Man, however, is twofold in being, with soul and body in union. Soul and
body function together and each affects the other. By steadily thinking
you are sick, you can become sick; by overexerting the body, the mind
can be deranged; etc.
Sanctification restores man morally to where he was in Eden. Sanctification
cleanses away the nature of sin and leaves all the God-given instincts
intact.
Without trying to be technical, we may set down man's natural instincts
and feelings as follows:
Man's nature as created by God had capacity for love, joy, sorrow,
justice, fear. These may be called basic instincts. There are phases of
these we may profitably mention and discuss in connection with how or
what a sanctified person may feel.
A sanctified person may feel: (1) The working of the law of self-
preservation. (2) Sorrow at the death of loved ones. (3) Pleased when
receiving words of appreciation. (4) Rising of righteous indignation at
times. (5) Impatience at the slowness of justice or the wrong actions of
others. (6) Pleasure in social life. (7) Craving of sex impulses and
desires. (8) Hurt when illy spoken of or to. (9) Heavy through many
temptations.
Taking these in order, let us explain them more fully. And we shall give
here the results of over twenty years experience in the sanctified life,
and many of these facts have been learned by bitter experience.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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