- A dead giraffe.
- Cecil the lion.
- Planned Parenthood’s harvesting of dismembered baby parts.
There’s lots to be outraged over, that’s for sure. Have you ever stopped to think about whether or not our outrage is prioritized correctly? What do I mean by “prioritized correctly?”
In an emotionally-driven society, it can be tempting to make our emotional reactions inerrant (i.e. without error). Implicitly, we are often told our emotions are equivalent to the rules so whatever they are telling us must be true. This can be characteristic of both non-Christians and Christians. But the Bible has a word for this: idolatry.
Idolatry is anything we elevate above God. It’s anything we appeal to as the standard by which all else should be evaluated other than God and His Word. When we make our emotions tantamount to truth, we are guilty of idolatry. “If it feels right, it must be” is not something to celebrate. Emotions DO NOT equal truth! Our emotions must be brought into submission. Submission to what? Scripture.
Just because you “feel” something is right doesn’t mean it is. Just because you “feel” something is wrong doesn’t mean it is. Scripture must direct our emotions. If Scripture isn’t directing our emotions, something else is and that something else has become an idol.
So the emotional outrage you feel over the recent news headlines: has it been prioritized correctly? I’m not going to do that for you, but I’ll give you a hint: of the three mentioned above, it isn’t even close.
