Bad Mood Days

by Aaron

I Woke up today on “the wrong side of the bed,” not literally as that means I would have rolled over my wife like an out of control steamroller driven by an angry cal-trans worker – BUT metaphorically. Days, like today, leave me a lot of time for introspection, but I realize I don’t like a lot of introspection because I don’t really enjoy much of what I see on the inside of myself so I don’t spend a lot of time doing it (if that makes sense).
As people our emotions are fickle like a junior high girl trying to figure who she thinks is cute or who her new best friend should be. Our emotions are triggered by what we read, what we dreamed about while we slept, what we watched on TV, and even by what we ate the night before and yet I find it interesting that so often people stay stupid stuff like, “follow your heart.” If your “heart” could simply be the regurgitated ramblings of the pizza you ate last night then it probably is not a very good guide.


Jeremiah 17:9 says
The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure.
Who can understand it?

We think we understand our own hearts much better than we do, like an electrician who thinks 220 volts is the same 110 volts and then blows up half of your appliances on install (did I mention I was in a bad mood?). God tells us that we don’t understand our hearts because they deceive us into thinking that we know what is right when all we know is wrong. It is why some people who claim to be Christians will live with the person they ‘love’ before they are married to them, it is why we will spend all of the money God generously allows us to make at our jobs on ourselves while giving Him a tiny fraction of it, and it is why Christians have no problem judging others while not taking care of the plank in their own eyes.

Our hearts are deceitful; they are not great guides to life and freedom. But you know who is not just a guide to life and freedom but is LIFE and freedom? Jesus. It is why it is imperative that we listen to what He has revealed in His word to us. It is why we are to believe Him over and above our own silly emotions. It is why we are to trust Him in all things even when our hearts scream at us that things should be different. Our hearts are vain, they are stupid, they long to be God...but only God is God.
So next time you wake up wondering which side of the bed your attitude should be on, it should be on God side, because there is no other side that matters.