A friend of mine Josh is a pretty smart cookie.  He wrote a little blog on how much Oil has actually been spilled in the gulf of Mexico.  You really need to read it for yourself. You can read about it by clicking on the pic below.

Now STOP!  If you are reading this and have not read the other writing please go back and click on the picture and read it first…

I just thought it was kind of eye opening to see how people in positions of power, whether that is government or business, will use the emotions of the public to get us to do things.

Why do people do this?  Because they know that people REACT to situations instead of THINKING about them first.  They are likely to get you to decide to take a course of action based on emotional responses rather than rational thinking.

Acting out of emotions has no lasting effect.  We will react to a situation and when it is done the emotion tends to die out.  Often times we are left with the thought of, “I shouldn’t have responded like that.” This happens all the time in our private lives. For example.

  • “Wow, they are hot!  I need to get together with that person.”  Emotion of lust passes and we are left with guilt, remorse, maybe a VD, or a crushed spouse.
  • “That’s it I have had it!”  We let anger build and it explodes on everyone.  It destroys friendships, relationships, and family members.  Worst case scenario puts us in jail.  By the way Anger is a secondary emotion that masks other things.  Don’t justify reacting out of anger because half the time your angry because of your expectations not being met.  That’s half your fault…
  • “I have got to have that now.”  Greed comes in and gets us in financial trouble.  The thought of not having it consumes us and we spend money we don’t have to get it.  By the way money difficulties is one of the top 3 reasons for divorce.
  • “Nobody cares and I probably deserve it anyway.” Depression is a crippler.  When we allow this to control our lives nothing never looks good to us.  The more we go down this road the more everything looks bleak.  Leads to a dependency on medication, destruction of relationships and possible suicide.
  • “Oh my gosh, what if it doesn’t work out the way I want it!?” Anxiety is the new depression.  More and more people are diagnosed with this everyday.  It causes all kinds of medical problems along with all of your relationships impaired. Forget about working, becuase it just adds to the whole mess.

One of scriptures simplest lessons is this.

19 My dear brothers, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, 20 for man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.  James 1 19-20 NIV

If you let your emotions control you it will always lead you down the wrong path.  Now, relating solely out of rational thought (think Spock from Star Trek) isn’t always good either, but that is a topic for another day.  God built the two to be used together.

Good Thinking + Right Emotions = God Honoring Actions