Dr. Feel Good’s Medical Malpractice // eMOODjis // Read
Emojis have changed communication. With a single keystroke, we can boil down complex emotions or moods to one digital image. All too often we repeat this oversimplification in life outside our phones as well. Analyzing and articulating my emotions? Hard work! Letting my moods dictate my day? Easy! But the truth is, life according to “eMOODjis” comes at a cost. Your life will turn into a rollercoaster ride, making you a hostage to fleeting feelings. That’s no way to live. And luckily, we don’t have to. God has given you the ability to control your “eMOODjis” before they take control of you. It’s work, but it’s worth it!
One of the few uniting themes across humanity is that we all want to feel good. We want our emotions and moods to be those of joy, fulfillment, and happiness. It’s not just us—God wants us to have life, and have it to the full! We have to be careful, though, because our Enemy is looking to take that godly desire for joy and give us a problematic prescription for how to get there. In the process, we end up looking for joy, fulfillment, and happiness in the wrong ways.
Well, hey, today we are in our final part of our eMOODjis series. eMOODjis. Like I said last week, I love saying that word I'm bummed out the series is ending. Just because I can't say eMOODjis anymore. It's a big, big disappointment. But what we've been looking at in this series is something that is so critical, so vital that we get as Christians and as people who profess to follow Jesus Christ, we have been looking at emotional health, and how vital and how important and how critical it is that if we call ourselves Christians, we actually have a degree of emotional health that our emotions, our moods, our feelings are actually in check. Because like we said, week one, the fact is that people would rather be around emotionally mature nonbelievers, than emotionally unhealthy Christians. Any day of the week, you'd rather be married to them, you'd rather work for them, you'd rather have them be your neighbors. And so if us, the church, Christians, if we are emotionally unhealthy, not only are we hurting ourselves, not only are we hurting the people that we're in relationship with, man, we are killing our witness to the world. We're just killing and blowing our witness to the world. So we have got to get emotionally healthy, or we are going to drag our life down, and others lives in the process.
Now one thing that we have said from the onset, and I want to reiterate it here again today, because this is hugely important. Emotions are a good thing. Emotions are a good thing. That is that's one item that I've been so worried about. So I've said it every week of the series because I don't want us getting out of the series and people being like yeah, my pastor - we're talking about emotions and how bad they are and how feelings are a bad thing. That is not what we're saying at all. Emotions are not a bad thing. Feelings are not a bad thing. Moods are not a bad things, they are appropriate. Not only are they appropriate, they're our God-given right. Like the feelings you have the moods you have the the ups and downs you go through. Those are a God-given thing God made us, he wired us. He wasn't surprised whenever he made us and he's like, oh, wow, these these things have emotions like these, these things have feelings and moods, no, he knows that that was baked in it was part of his good and perfect design. So emotions are an appropriate God-given thing, which is true of most things in life.
I've heard of another pastor, I can't remember who said it. But they described sin in a way that I was like, man, it's so good. They said what sin is is sin is trying to meet a Godly desire in an ungodly way. I'm like, man, isn't that true? Isn't that true? Whenever it comes to our emotions, they're an appropriate God-given thing. And that's most of life. Like family. Family is an appropriate God-given thing. Yet there are so many of us out here who as soon as I said the word family, you like tensed up. Because like, oh, my family drives me nuts. And they're crazy. And there's so much tension between them right? And so it's this appropriate God-given thing, a family, but how we've managed it has jacked things up where we don't want to be around them. Right? Sex is this appropriate, wonderful God-given thing. Yet how often do we just completely jack it up and use it and abuse it in terrible ways?
Our natural skills, God has given some people, you're just naturally charismatic man, from the time you were little. You just, you had an outgoing personality really charismatic, and that's an awesome God-given thing. But some people use that to their advantage. And they manipulate people that charisma and they take advantage of people, right? All of these things are appropriate things, God-given things, but how are we managing them? And that is the same for our emotions. That is the same for our feelings, our moods, they're good, but how our we managing them?
Now I'm gonna say this is probably a pretty safe assumption. I think just about everybody in here. Everybody online would say that in life, you want happiness, and fulfillment and purpose, right? That's everybody I mean, that's, honestly, there's so much that divides us anymore, that might be one of the only unifying qualities of all of mankind, right? That everybody, no matter, your culture, your background, where you've been, you want to have happiness and fulfillment in life. And it's not just us who wants that, right? It's not just us who wants these feelings of happiness and joy. God wants that for us. God wants that God wants us to be emotionally healthy. God wants us to be in a place where we're actually enjoying our life, rather than just constantly getting through all of these mood swings, like God wants that fulfillment and that joy for us.
So here's where we find ourselves, then we say we want happiness and fulfillment out of life. God wants happiness and fulfillment for our life. So why do so few of us actually get there? Right? If we have ourselves and God wanting that end for us, why are so few of us actually in a place where like, man, our emotions are just in check. They're healthy. We handle we handle disappointment well, we handle highs well, we handle lows well, like why are so few of us there? If that's something we say we want? And that's something that we know God wants from our life, too. And whenever we do get there, why is it so hard to stay there? Right? Because I'll be there. Like, I'll have a day where I'm like, man, I handled things good today, I was emotionally healthy. I like I handled that disappointment. Well, then the next day, like just completely the opposite, right? One little thing will just ruin my day. And I'm like, what in the world? Why is this? Why is this so hard? I want a fulfilling life. God wants a fulfilling life for me. Why is it so hard to stay here? Well, I think the answer is something that we touched on last week, and we're going to dive in more today.
The answer is our enemy, the devil, Satan, whatever, whatever you want to call our enemy. He has a high value placed on your emotions, did you know that? He has a very high value placed on your emotions, you may not put a high value on your emotions and your feelings and your moods. And you just kind of think there's just something that happens. And whenever you get over them, you get over them. You may not value your emotions, but your enemy does. Your enemy does value your emotions, he places a very high premium on your emotions, your moods, and your feelings. He is constantly on the attack, looking for ways to tear you down looking for ways whenever you slip up in your emotions to to try to take you further and deeper into a place where you shouldn't be.
We talked about last week the fact that the vast majority of people we know who have ruined their lives have done so because of an emotion they had, or a mood that they were in. People can build up a solid reputation for literal years, and then ruin it all because they were in a mood or they had a feeling one day. And then it's gone. And that is because the enemy is constantly on the lookout, constantly watching your emotions and your moods and trying to see is there a way I can make them mismanage this thing? Is there a way I can take this emotion, this God-given appropriate thing and make them mess it up? He is constantly looking for that opportunity. We're going to be unpacking that idea today.
So are you guys ready? All right, well, we're gonna get ready to jump into scripture. We don't do this all the time, just every now and then, if you would, why don't you go ahead and stand if you can for the honor of reading of God's Word. We're going to look at 1 Peter 5:6-10. So this is one of Jesus's closest followers. The Apostle Peter, one of his disciples followed him for three years continued to follow after Jesus's death, and resurrection. This is the Apostle Peter giving general instruction to all people on how we should be and how we should approach life. This is what he says in 1 Peter 5:6-10. He says, "Humble yourselves, therefore under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. Cast all your anxiety on him. Why? Because he cares for you. Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. So resist him, standing firm in the faith because you know that the family of believers throughout the world is undergoing the same kind of sufferings."
Isn't it nice whenever you know you're not going through something alone? There's just there's comfort in that, you can be going through just absolute horror, but for some reason, knowing that you're not the only one going through it, it gives you a comfort knowing that you know what, not only am I not the only one going through this, other people have gone through this kind of thing. And they've made it out on the other side. "So take comfort that knowing that the world is going, undergoing the same kind of sufferings," and then verse 10, "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory in Christ, after you have suffered a little while, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast. To him be the power forever and ever. Amen."
Let's pray real quick Father, God. Help us to see the truth of your word today, that what we just read wouldn't be just words on a page, but that we would see no, these are the words of the living God who spoke to us who spoke to Peter, one of Jesus's closest friends. And because of your grace and your mercy, God, you have preserved this over 2000 years, so that we can be here today in Northeast Ohio, reading the words that you spoke to Peter all those years ago, in ancient Israel, how incredible that is, God. Speak to us in a new way, in a fresh way so that we can walk out of here different people than we came in today. And we will give you all the honor all the glory and all the praise and it's in your name we pray. Amen. Amen."
So one thing that really stuck out to me as we were reading through that verse that I just want to point out as we really dive in today is this is some good news for us. Okay? The devil. He's a bad hunter. Did you catch what scripture said about him? Alright, Be alert and be of sober mind because your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Whenever I read that, and I'm not like a lion expert, like I don't, I don't dabble in like lion study in my spare time. But I know just enough about lions to know, a lion doesn't hunt by roaring, right? A lion doesn't hunt, they don't go around and roar. But scripture is telling us that the devil goes around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. Man, lions, whenever they're hunting, whenever they're effectively hunting, it's all about stealth. It's all about stealth. I read about a lions a little bit. And I learned this, it's actually kind of interesting that the vast majority of food that a lion eats is faster than a lion. They're actually not quick enough to catch the prey that they go after. And so they have to use their stealth, they stay either upwind or downwind. And they try to creep up they try to get within 30 meters of their prey before they jump, because they're not quick enough to get them any other way. So whenever I read Scripture, and I see that like the devil is prowling around like a roaring lion. I'm like, man the devil is doing it all wrong. Like he's, he's coming about us, he's trying to trip us up and and get us in the complete wrong way. He is roaring he is giving himself away. That's the only reason that lions roar whenever you read about why, why they even roar. Yes, they roar to communicate, but one of the biggest reasons that they roar, is to give themselves away to let people know, hey, this is my territory. This is where I'm at. It's literally the point of a roar, is to give yourself away. So I feel like Scripture is in one way saying hey, look, the devil is dangerous, right? He is a lion. But he's a stupid lion. Like, like he's giving himself away. He is giving the goods away. He is showing you his cards of how he's trying to attack you. You just have to be able to recognize it. You just have to be able to recognize this. Let's keep that in mind as we go forward. The devil is a bad hunter.
So I want to talk to you real quick about appetites about appetite. So if you haven't had breakfast yet, I'm sorry, because you're probably now gonna be like, man, what are we going to be eating for lunch? Anyone ever been hangry before? That's a lot of hands. Amen. I see those hands. Hallelujah. I'm not alone. Online I want to see the hands in the chat, you ever been hangry it's that combination of hungry and angry where you're getting so hungry that you just can't help you feel like you start getting short with people. So you get upset with people because you're just so hungry. There is a meme that I saw. If you don't know, I follow all those meme pages on Instagram. There's a meme that I saw that I was like rolling. It just had me. I don't know, I was just cracking up. It was saying, If I say I'm hungry, we got about 17 minutes before I become a different person. Like, like we are on a clock. There's a running clock right now. And if I don't get food, you're not gonna like what you see. And that's exactly how appetites work. Right? That's exactly how appetites work. They come in and here's the thing they're an appropriate God-given notification right? Think about it, that's what an appetite is. It's a notification. It's a God-given thing.
That is your body sending signals that like hey, I'm hungry. I need something I some protein. I need some fuel. I need something in my stomach, that's what an appetite is. It's an appropriate God-given notification. So the question is, how do we manage it? How do we manage our notification of hunger?
So I brought some little props with me today. We've been using props this whole series. So here's some ways that you can handle your notification when you get hungry. I don't think there's going to be too many people salivating over this stuff like ooh, carrots, man, could you throw me a carrot? We got some carrots and a pineapple. We got lime, apple, all this good stuff, some some water, right? There's some good, I'll put it over here on the edge. All this just good stuff, right? Good stuff. Now, that's something you can use to satiate your hunger, right? You get this God-given notification, this appetite that comes up and says, hey, I need something, you need to pay attention to this, like, you're going to get hangry if you don't, you're going to become a different person, if you don't, so we get these notifications. We get our appetites. And here's one option we can go the healthy route. Right? Now, here's the thing, if we go this route, we'll get a lot of nutrients. Our hunger will be satiated, it will be satisfied for a longer period of time. This will help us in the long run. It will give us more energy for the day, it will fill us up it'll give us nutrients all this really good stuff. But there's another option, right? This isn't all that's going on right? That's only part of the grocery store. Here was the fun stuff. I went out and bought right. We also got some chips. I'm getting shouted down. I love it. I'm getting shouted down. People pulling out their cloth. Glory. Hallelujah. Some Lay's potato chips make their appearance.
You know, it's funny. I'm picturing people who are just now logging in online and they're just seeing this. They're like what kind of church is Cornerstone? Right? We got some Swiss Cake Rolls. And then all these good stuff. We got the little Hugs who needs water? We got these little Hug Chugs, right? We got peanut M&Ms. And we got KitKats. Snickers satisfies your need, you got your hangry you need a Snickers, right? That's the good stuff. See? It's not just pineapples and bananas, and apples and all that. Right? It's potato chips and Oreos. There's a lot you can do. Whenever you get that notification that hey, I'm hungry, hey, feed me, hey, pay attention to this. There's a lot of different ways you can go. Now, obviously, we know what the healthy choices. Obviously we know what the unhealthy choice is.
Now what I want to say is what we see on display here is the exact same thing going on with our emotions every single day. Every single day, moment by moment, we have a God-given notification of something we need to pay attention to, right, an appetite, or an emotion. Emotions and appetites are actually incredibly similar. It's crazy. They both come up out of nowhere, we seem to have little to no control over them. They come and go right? You can be really hungry and then it can go away, then you're really hungry again, then it goes away. And then you're really thirsty and that goes away. The same thing with our moods, you can be really happy and then it goes away you can be really upset and then it goes right? Like there's so much correlation between these two things, especially how we handle them, and how we manage them how we handle our appetites and how we handle our moods. So the enemy obviously wants us to go one way. The devil obviously wants us to choose one way again, remember, we know what he wants. He's a roaring lion. He has given himself away he showed his cards He wants us to take, whenever we have this God-given notification of our emotions or, man, I'm feeling sad or I'm feeling angry. I'm feeling a little bit bitter or jealous. I'm having these feelings come up. He wants us to take that notification that emotion that mood, that feeling and he wants us to manage it with crap stuff. It looks really good. And it tastes really good and it feels really really good. It's going down right? But then it saps your energy and ends up destroying you. Knocks your health down. That's what the devil wants us to do when we have emotions. When we have appetites that come up whenever we have these these feelings that come and go he wants us to throw junk at it. That's how he wants us to manage it.
He's Dr. Feelgood, right he's the one they call Dr. Feelgood. He's the one that's like, No, no, no, no, no, you're, you're not feeling good. You're not feeling good. I know what will make you feel good, you're angry. I know what will feel good. Take it out on this person. Oh, you're bitter. You have every right to be bitter. I can't believe they said that about you. He just puts all this junk that man it feels so good. And it tastes so good going down. And it always destroys us in the end. On the front end, it looks good. It's what we want to hear. It looks like it won't cost much, but it always hurts. And it never helps. It never helps. So why do we fall for it? If the devil has made himself so clear? Like, I didn't have to tell you guys what was healthy. And what was unhealthy up here. Right? You knew, like you just you knew. And in the same way, man, the devil has shown his cards. He showed his cards. So why do we continually fall for it? Why do we continue to fall for it? Whenever we know. It's junk, like me of being bitter, being angry, like tearing people down man doing all that out of my emotions and my moods, my feelings like we know that's junk. So why do we continually fall for it time and time again?
I think it's pretty simple. It's because the devil knows, man, we just want any kind of joy. It doesn't matter if it's healthy joy, or unhealthy joy, we just want something in that moment. And so whenever we feel that bitterness, he's like, man, I know what will make you feel good. Tear that person down to someone else. That'll feel good. That'll feel good. That'll make you feel better. And it's a momentary better. I've been there. I have been there I can i can say this, that I have been in that position before where I've, I've said something that I shouldn't have said, or put someone down when I shouldn't have put them down. And it does, as you're saying it feels good. And the moment, it's over, you're like, what did I just do? Like, what did I just do? I've hurt that person. I've also hurt this person, the way they see me and the way they view me, they maybe don't trust me anymore. Like, it hurts so much. But man on the front end, it tastes good. It feels good. And the devil knows man, people are just so deprived of joy. They'll go for anything. They'll go for anything. So if I can dangle what looks good, but isn't actually good out in front of them, they'll destroy their lives themself.
He knows we want any kind of joy. And so anybody or anything would be better. Whether that's a momentary fix of just stuffing our face, right? Maybe it's the the momentary fix of bringing others down, going to social media for attention, just binge watching Netflix and Disney plus until we pass out. Maybe it's telling lies about people because it feels good to kind of bring somebody else down. Maybe it's avoiding situations that we know we should tackle, but we just keep running away from it because it feels good to not have to deal with it in the moment. That is the devil's prescription. That's his prescription. That's Dr. Feelgood prescription, just do all the stuff that looks and feels good in the moment because you deserve joy. You deserve happiness. You deserve self-care if that means tearing other people down. So be it if that means lying. So be it if that means just running with your depression, just running with your anger or your bitterness. So be it because you deserve it. Because it tastes good. That's his prescription. That's his medicine and it is malpractice. It will get you killed. His prescription will kill you.
Again Scripture says he walks around he prowls like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. So thank God he's a bad hunter. Thank God he gives himself away in such blatant obvious ways we can look at it and go yeah, that's not going to be healthy. Like yeah, that's not actually going to be a good thing for me to do, no, take that bitterness out. I don't I don't like where that ends. Like thank God he is such a bad hunter that he gives himself away and that we know his prescription is junk.
On the flip side, God our Heavenly Father man, he is a great physician. He is a good doctor and a good doctor, they tell you what you need to hear. Not what you want to hear. Right? A good doctor points to this and says look, I know man, I know this looks good. I know this this is probably gonna taste amazing going down but let me tell you, if you want energy, if you want nutrients if you want to get in better shape if you want to feel better about yourself, this is where it's at. That's what a good doctor does. A good doctor if you have cancer doesn't say hey, don't for real don't worry about it. You know how many people die a year from this kind of cancer? Not that many. Just don't worry about it. No, a good doctor tells you man you have cancer. This is going to kill you if it goes untreated. We've got to get you into this program. It may hurt for a little while. It may not be fun. It certainly isn't going to feel good, but let me tell you, it's going to get you to where you want to be. That's what a good doctor does. And God is a good doctor, he tells us what we need to hear, not what we want to hear.
And in 1 Peter, what we read from today in Scripture, we actually see the outline of what we need to do to follow his prescription what we need to do to get into a good place of emotional health. So first off, and we'll just cover these real quick, first off what we need to do, we need to realize, and this is something that Scripture points to the first verse we read today, we need to realize that the enemy, Dr. Feelgood his prescription, the reason it's so problematic is because it lacks any and all perspective. There is no perspective when it comes to the enemy's prescription. Zero. It's all about right here right now, what feels good to you in the moment, fire off that tweet, hit post, make that comment, tear that person down, do this do that. Because there's no perspective. It's all just what tastes what feels good, what carries out that mood and that emotion you're feeling right now. That's why it's so problematic. That's why it's so deadly. There is no perspective. So this is what Scripture says to do. "In light of that, verse 6," humble yourselves therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up, in due time."
Humble yourselves, humble yourself. That is so key. That is so key. It's honestly it's one of the cornerstone foundations of being a healthy Christian is humility, humbling our selves, realizing this is what it means to humble yourself is having an appropriate view of who you are. So if you want to humble yourselves to avoid having the devil, just know where your goat is tied, it can take a heavy dose of humility, a big slice of humble pie to realize you know what, the devil may be a stupid hunter. But I a lot of times, I'm stupid prey. Like, I need to humble myself and realize I actually fall for this crap all the time. Like, let's not paint a rosy picture of you know, occasionally I struggle and occasionally, no, let's be real about our condition. Okay, let's be real about our condition, way more often than we would care to admit, if we could have our lives videotaped, and just follow us around, and some of us kind of have that in the form of a Facebook feed. There's some of those things you go back and look at, you're like, oh, I said, What? I can't believe I did that.
Or oh my gosh, right? And it's just because we don't have that humility. We don't have that humility to look at ourselves. And that's what we need that humility, to look at ourselves and go, man, so often, I feel a mood, I feel an emotion, I feel a feeling come up. And rather than go to God with it and ask him to help me, I just fall for this crap. Like, I just go for this. And we need that humility to be able to realize that about ourselves realizing, man, I fall for prescriptions that look and taste good a lot.
I can tell you one thing I know a weakness that I have. It's a very biblical word, discernment. My discernment is awful. Like, just awful. I could have met Charlie Manson before everything went down a bit, like he seemed like a pretty solid guy, like pretty, you know, pretty good guy. I have terrible discernment, like just no, none at all. My wife on the other hand, Jessica, fantastic discernment. She can she can just read people. So if you ever get a weird vibe from my wife, I don't know what to tell you. I don't know to tell you, right. She's, she's like a dog. Like, oh, they just know people. She just knows people. Like she's got very, very good discernment. And so if she would have a bad feeling about something about a situation, a person or relationship, how stupid would it be of me to just go with my level of discernment? Whenever I know she, she's tapping into something completely different than I am. Right? But it takes humility to admit that because it can be very easily like, I can tell you, I can read people. I can read people I can have that. No, I'm terrible at it. And I need to humble myself to realize that or else I'm going to get used and abused and taken for time and time again.
And the same thing is true for us. Realize, man, I am not as strong as I think I am. I really can't just handle this on my own like I think I can. No, God, I need your help. Whenever these emotions and moods and feelings come up, I need to turn to you. I need to humble myself and go to the good doctor that I have access to. Because that's the thing you and I we are not good doctors, but we have access to one. Like we're really bad at it. We're really bad at diagnosing and trying to treat ourselves but God is where it's at. God is a great physician, and he has a great prescription. This is what Scripture says in verse 7. "Cast all your anxiety on him." How much? How much? Oh, "Cast ALL of your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." You see, God is a great physician. And a good physician knows nutrition, a good physician knows what you need for your body for it to be optimized, and working at the best level it possibly can. So a good doctor is going to point you towards healthy choices, right? A good doctor is going to point you towards yeah, I know you get appetites. Everybody gets them. They're a God-given thing. Here's how to handle them. This is this is what you should do with them, whatever they come up, that's what a good doctor, what a great physician is going to do, point your appetites towards a healthy direction. And that's exactly what God is. And that's exactly what he'll do.
When you go to him and you cast all of your cares upon him. He will handle them. And he'll point you in the way you should handle them. He'll point you towards hey, yeah, tell me what you're feeling. Tell me how you're processing this. Tell me about your bitterness, and your resentment and your dysfunctions. Throw all of that crap on me, I want it. I want it. You see, God, He made us. He knows how we function. He knows that that's what we need. We need that outlet. Man. I've had times just recently, I was talking to Jessica, my wife in the car the other day, and there was something kind of heavy on on my mind. And so I talked to her about it. And it's insane how much better I instantly felt as soon as the conversation was over. And Jessica couldn't do a thing about it. Like not one thing. But for some reason, just casting my anxiety on someone else. Just it relief stuff. Like I was like, man, all right, I was on my way to a wedding, I was like, able to completely enjoy the wedding and the reception, not even thinking about it, just having a really good time. Because I cast my anxiety on someone else.
And think about this, I cast my anxiety, I cast my cares, my thoughts, my worries on someone who could do nothing about it. And I felt better. How much more so when we take the worries of our life, the depression, the dysfunctions, everything we're going through, and we cast it upon someone who can not only change us, but can change our situation and other people's hearts? How much better is that? Right? I mean, that's the prescription right there. You have emotions, you have moods, you have feelings, that's great, perfectly normal, totally fine, they're a God-given appropriate thing, just manage them, right? Stop going for junk, stop casting your cares upon people who shouldn't be hearing your cares. Take it to the person who should be hearing it, who can actually do something about it, who can not just change you, but can change the other person who can change the situation because he is a great physician with a great prescription, we can take our dysfunction to him and we can get healthy.
And let me tell you, I cannot stress this enough. As we close out the series, I've said it every single week, we could continue talking about emotions through the end of the year, and we wouldn't run out of content. It's that important. It's that vital. It's that crucial. Get your emotions in check. I am not exaggerating, whenever I say your world depends on it. The people in your life that you could influence, the people in your life that you could have a say in their life and you could not push them towards things that matter. You could push them towards the purpose that God created them for. You can push them towards a relationship with him. All of those things hang in the balance of your emotions. Because if you are constantly going from high to low if you're constantly angry, and really happy, and then bitter, and then are in a great mood and then suddenly depressed, like if you are all over the place, you're not helping the cause of Christ. You're just not.
And no I'm not talking about you know, a medical condition where you truly you're all over the place. I'm just saying that's how the majority of us are, where man we'll post on Facebook one day, God so good, everything's great. Then the next day God you've abandoned me, where are you? And people are watching us and we're influencing them. How are we influencing them, man get emotionally healthy your world depends on to get healthy for yourself, get healthy for your family get healthy for your friends, the world needs you healthy.
I would wager to say that we do more damage to the cause of Christ through our demeanor than through doctrine. We just do. I promise you if if the world goes to hell in a handbasket because Christians weren't doing what they should do, it is not going to be because well man, our doctrine fell apart. It's going to be because our demeanor, we say we serve a risen Savior who breathes life into every situation yet we're constantly, like, ugh, my life stuck in traffic again. Like we're just constantly down and constantly complaining and constantly bitter and resentful. And people look at us and they see, you know, relationships torn apart and bridges burn and churches split. And they're like, but you say you serve like a risen God who resurrects and breathes life into everything, like how? That's what will kill us, not our doctrine, our demeanor.
We have got to get emotionally healthy. The world needs it. And the prescription for emotional health like the thing that we need to do, it's not like a new advancement. This is something ancient. The prescription for emotional health, the cure that we need, is God's grace. It's really that simple. We need God's grace. That is the prescription for emotional health. Listen to how Peter sums up chapter 5 again, "And the God of all grace, who called you to his eternal glory, glory in Christ, will himself restore you and make you strong, firm, and steadfast." The cure that we need is God's grace, that is the prescription for emotional health. God's grace changes everything. It changes everything, it changes me, it changes how I treat others, changes how I see things God's grace changes how I see anger, right? Whenever I get this notification, I get this emotion, this this feeling of anger because of what somebody did, God's grace, it changes me because I realized, well, man, I'm angry with them about this. But my goodness, look at the grace that God's given me and the way I've just constantly turned my back on him the way I've constantly just neglected what he has had planned for my life. So why me? Why am I that angry here?
Whenever God has forgiven me here and isn't angry with me anymore, man, it's so it changes the way I see myself. And then it changes the way I see others it allows me to then give grace to other people going well, you know what I should be giving grace I should be giving the benefit of the doubt in this situation. I should be believing the best about people because God's believing the best about me. He's imputing Christ's righteousness onto me, I need to be seeing people better I need to be giving people the benefit of the doubt and grace changes everything. Because as we go towards God's grace, what we do is we are getting the right kind of foods in our diets. We are treating our appetites, we're treating our emotions, our moods, our feelings with the right stuff. And if you're someone who eats healthy, or you're someone who's ever tried going on a diet, you start eating healthy. It's crazy how once you start doing it a couple days in, you feel the change. You don't feel as lethargic anymore. You have more energy, it starts being certain times at night and you're like man, I normally would feel like just spent by now and I actually still feel pretty good. It starts to get you right? The same is true of God's grace.
As you start incorporating that in your life, you start receiving it and giving it to people you start noticing man, I feel different like, the highs that used to be super high and the lows that used to be super low, mean I manage these things better. I don't let things just take me down in the way that they used to. I'm a stronger person than I ever used to be. That's what God's grace will do. It will get you right and it will keep you right and that's because good food, it fends off illness and it builds up your strength. And that's exactly what God's grace does. It keeps out the stuff that we shouldn't be entertaining, the stuff that we shouldn't even be pouring into our spirit, it keeps that stuff out. And it lets the right stuff in.
God's grace is the prescription that we need to get emotional health it will get us right and it will keep us right and it'll help us treat others right. Here's the thing. It's free. It's free. You literally do not earn it. You can't. You can't earn it. That's what we try so bad to embody here at Cornerstone the idea that hey, like we're saving you a seat. Everyone is welcome to come. Every it's one of our core values, everyone is welcome to come, the ground is level at the foot of the cross. We don't just believe that we actually put that into practice that you know, it just come just come and receive God's grace because it is free. And it's for all of us. And there's nothing we can do to make ourselves more worthy or less worthy of accepting it. Right? There's nothing there's not like okay, well let me start trying to handle things. Well, then I'll come to God. No, no, you can't. You can't and that's not how you get in this good graces anyway. The only way you start handling things well is by giving your life to him. That's the only way. That's the only way. That's the only way that God works. And it works.
