How you feel is not who you are. Your identity in Christ is who you are.
Failing to regulate your feelings makes you unstable, prone to worry, easily triggered, and highly flammable. None of those things reflects your identity in Christ, the Word of God, or the will of God.
2 Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind”.
That phrase sound mind means to have disciplined thought patterns that aren’t easily swayed by how you feel or what’s going on around you. Your mind controls your emotions; your emotions don’t control your mind.
You need to regulate your feelings because your personality has to be built on who Jesus says you are, not who your feelings or the enemy yells you are. The enemy tries to manipulate and amplify your negative emotions so that your confession matches his agenda, not Heaven’s agenda.
But what does the Bible say? “Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruit” (Proverbs 18:21).
Death here means all the negative things you speak because of all the negative things you feel and think.
See how that works?
“The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).
Jesus came that you may have life, and that means what you say is very important to maintain that life. If you feel awful and you confess it all the time, where’s the life in that? Where’s the abundant quality of life that Jesus died to give you?
The word regulate means “to control or direct by a rule, principle, method, etc.”1. Feeling means “the general state of consciousness considered independently of particular sensations, thoughts, etc.”2.
So, regulating your feelings is conforming them to the Word of God, which is living by the truth of what the Word says.
An identity built on the Word is an identity firmly rooted in Christ and able to withstand life’s storms (Colossians 2:6-7). Even when tragedies, trials, and temptations hit, you don’t crumble because you’re built on something stronger than they are.
Yes, your feelings might take a hit or even a beating, but who you are is robust enough to withstand the pressure. You’re only swept away by the onslaught when you don’t have anything firm to anchor you (Matthew 7:26-27).
The Word is your anchor. You regulate your feelings by reading it, meditating on it, listening to it, and praying it out loud over yourself, your life, and your environment.
What happens when you meditate on the Word and build your identity on it?
“But his delight is in the law of the LORD, and in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper” (Psalm 1:2-3).
You live a blessed life because your person is blessed. Your mind is blessed. Being fruitful implies being connected to a source that nourishes you, and that Source is Jesus (John 15:4-5).
How you feel conforms to who the Word says you are, so even when circumstances change, your perspective doesn’t. Learning how to regulate your feelings teaches you how to live with an eternal perspective, not a temporal one.
And when you have an eternal perspective, you’re grounded, focused, steadfast. Notice that Psalm 1:3 says “planted like a tree”, because that’s what it takes to mature into a stable believer who isn’t tossed about by their emotions or circumstances.
In the end, learning how to regulate your feelings isn’t a luxury; it’s mandatory.
You truly flourish when you learn to live with “the mind of Christ” that puts spiritual truths over physical facts (1 Corinthians 2:16b, 13-16).
You enjoy lasting peace when you learn to overcome anxiety and worry through prayer, supplication, and thanksgiving (Philippians 4:6-7).
And you rise above temptation when your focus on Jesus is so unwavering that nothing and no one can sway you (Hebrews 12:1-2; Colossians 3:1-3).
So today, I pray that you learn to regulate your feelings and cultivate an eternal perspective that strengthens and encourages you.
I pray that your time in the Word bears fruit in your life, your family, and your calling.
And I pray that you always remember who the Lord says you are, “a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;” (1 Peter 2:9).
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