Relatable with Allie Beth Stuckey - Ep 198 | All the Feels

Episode Date: December 16, 2019

In a culture that says every one of our feelings should be validated and followed, especially for women, the Bible says differently. I explain how we should assess our feelings according to His Word. Today's Sponsors: Simplisafe is an award winning home protection service that protects every door, window, and room with 24/7 monitoring. You get FREE shipping and a 60-day risk free trial when you go to: https://SimpliSafe.com/ALLIE

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort.

We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Hey, guys, welcome to relatable. Happy Monday. Merry almost Christmas. I hope that you guys are excited. If your kids are in school, I hope you guys are excited about your kids being out of school, probably Friday. I would guess is the last day. I think that's where it falls. I stopped thinking. you know, winter breaks, Christmas breaks, and things like that when I graduated from college. So I don't know how all of that works, but I do have nieces and nephews in school. And I know that their parents are really excited for a little bit of a break. And I know that you guys are too.

Some of you sent me your Christmas traditions and you're so excited to be able to spend this time with your family. And I'm excited for you too. We are also excited over here. First Christmas with baby girl. And it's just fun. even though she has no idea what's going on. It just adds another level of excitement. I know a lot of you out there are also first-time moms,

and you are feeling the same kinds of feelings of excitement that I am. So, Merry Christmas, for those of you who don't like the holidays because you are going through something, whether it's experiencing loss or the holidays are just hard for you for several different reasons. Know that I'm thinking about you, and I am praying for you as well. it's really difficult and it's really easy, I would say, I guess, to feel alone when everyone seems to be celebrating and it's difficult for you to have those feelings of celebration. Good news is for you and for all of us, we are talking about feelings today. We are talking about how to assess our feelings,

address our feelings from a biblical perspective. We're going to look at what the world tells us about how we feel and what the Bible tells us about how we feel and how we can deal with ourselves, I guess, or conduct ourselves as naturally emotional people in a way that is godly, in a way that is Christ-like. So no matter what you are going through this holiday season, whether you are having bad feelings or good feelings, excited feelings, nervous feelings, overwhelmed, ecstatic, whatever it is, we can all look at our emotions and the nature of emotions in light of scripture because that is what we are called to do as Christians. Look at everything through the light of scripture. So that's what we are going to be talking about today.

Hey, this is Steve Day. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about where we are or where we're headed,

you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us. Okay, let's get into today's episode, which I'm really excited about. I had a lot of fun making it. And as always, I know I say this every week. But every time I do any kind of theological episode or any episode on the Bible, I am always, I'm always revealed. God always reveals to me the sin that I have in my own heart. That is the sin that we are addressing. So always know that, that I am learning along with you. And I truly am reading my Bible. As I am preparing these things, I'm not just saying, you know, this sounds good to say to someone,

but I don't really need to apply it to myself. No, I'm always thinking, wow, this is what I found out in God's word about this particular subject just as I was studying this. Although, you know, I go into these things, kind of having an idea obviously of what scripture says, but I'm always revealed more, I'm always, I always understand more than I did before I started preparing for these episodes afterwards. And so I'm excited to share with you what I learned and studying our emotion and our feelings. We women are especially emotional creatures. That is a beautiful part of who we are. That is a wonderful part of women being made in God's image is that we are especially emotional. We don't compartmentalize quite as well as men do. Or I would say, I don't even know if compartmentalization

is necessarily always a gift, but we don't do it quite as much as men do. We have things. We're more like spaghetti. Men are more like waffles. They're. They're more like waffles. They can kind of compartmentalize different parts of their lives when you're in high school and you broke up with that guy or he broke up with you and you were sitting around being like oh my gosh i'm so sad all the time i can't eat i can't think i can't sleep i can't do anything without thinking about this guy and then you saw on facebook because that was really like the only social media we had when i was high school you saw on facebook that your ex-boyfriend who just dumped you is like already at some ranch like writing on four-wheelers or something and you're like how can he be happy well that is that is

one gift that the guys have if you want to call it a gift, which it is in a lot of ways. They are able to kind of compartmentalize their life, turn something off, and direct their focus and another thing. Women can do that to an extent, certainly, especially moms who are so good at multitasking, but we're not, we're not quite, we don't do that quite as much as men do. And that's actually a good thing in so many ways. But we're going to talk about the goods and the of being hyper, I would say hyper-emotional creatures, not just naturally, but especially in this day and age that glorifies our emotions as things that we absolutely must follow. We could have a month-long series on emotions where we interview experts in psychology, where we talk to Christian

counselors and authors who've been studying human emotions for decades. We could go through the plethora of biblical resources on the topic. There's so much to say, and we probably will. cover it in multiple episodes, you know, throughout however long, relatable last, and we can interview experts on this. But today, we are not going to be able to cover all of that. I want to focus particularly on a trend that I have seen in social media. We've actually talked a little bit about it before because I got a question about it on Instagram. It's one that I think Christian women, this trend can easily fall into. And that is the glorification of sadness, the glorification of all of our emotions, the centrality of all of our emotions, the glorification of emotional turbulence.

We hear this in songs a lot, the ups and downs of relationships, relationships that truly are toxic, relationships that are truly unhealthy. We hear that glorified in songs a lot. I was seeing a post the other day, this self-love Instagram account that I follow just to see what that kind of, what that realm is talking about. And it was a shirt that they were selling. that just said, I'm sad. And I've talked about this before, but the realm of self-love that is so obsessed with self-acceptance, self-love, all of that, they are so often miserable. Like, they are so often talking about how sad they are, how lonely they are. And they talk about how it's not just okay to feel those things, but it's actually good to feel those things so much so that they would

sell a T-shirt that says, I'm sad on it. And I'm going to talk about how we can kind of balance accepting or assessing our feelings and the biblical mandate that we have to be joyful. And of course, to subject all of our emotions, no matter what they are to the Word of God, to God's wisdom. So under this category of the glorification, the worldly glorification of emotional turbulence, is also, and I know this is going to sound controversial a little bit, and you might kind of flinch when I say this, but know that I'm going to talk about it, and I'm certainly coming from a place of truth and compassion and not a place of judgment.

But this also, the glorification of emotions and emotional turbulence and sadness and even depression and anxiety, there's a glorification of that, it seems like, in our society also leads to an over emphasis on therapy, on introspection to the point of addiction to self-evaluation that typically often comes in the form of obsession with personality. test as well, even the Ineagram. We have talked about the enneagram on this podcast on an episode titled personality test. You can check that out if you'd like. A couple months ago, I said something on my Instagram that got some pushback. There was a quote that I reposted from a self-love page that said, quote, your feelings are valid. And I've seen this phrase probably a dozen times, at least since then. And it's always on pages dedicated to self-love, to self-care, to self-esteem, to

self-empowerment, et cetera. Here is a post posted this week from a page called self-care is a priority with about 140,000 followers that said, that said this, you are not overreacting, you are not too sensitive. If it hurts you, then it hurts you, whatever you are feeling is valid, pain is pain. Then the caption said, your feelings are valid no matter how small or how irrelevant other people think it is. So on its face, this is a message of comfort, of course, and I have no doubt that the author of this post has very good and empathetic intentions. This is a message that we may feel like

we need to hear. When we are overwhelmed or when we're struggling with feelings of shame or stress or sadness, maybe someone has told us that we are being too sensitive or that we are overreacting. Maybe someone told us to it and we know this is the absolute words. Maybe someone told us to calm down when we were frustrated or upset about something. But here's why this, your feelings are valid message is a lie. And this is what we are going to dive into today. Sometimes your feelings are valid. But very often, they are not. Very often, we are overreacting. Very often we are being too sensitive. Very often, our feelings are irrelevant. In all of that sounds really harsh today. It sounds even blasphemous today because the psychology of

self-esteem, which has been around for a long time, a lot longer than Instagram, has convinced us that our feelings are the truest part about us, that how we feel is our identity, how we feel is our truth. This idea has been implanted into our heads that our feelings come from this unadulterated inner part of us. And they are revealing deep truths about ourselves, the people around us and the universe that we have to pay attention to all of these feelings and we have to follow them because they are revealing not just the truest part of us, but the truest part of everything around us. This is really a new age idea. And if you haven't noticed, the new age is extremely popular right now in the United States of America, particularly

on Instagram, particularly in the wellness world, particularly in the fitness world, but really in all realms of young female health. self-help culture, particularly on social media. New age is big. So that's behind the study of a lot of personality tests, not every single person who takes a personality test or who promotes a personality test buys into the new age. But a lot of the thinking, if you go back and listen to that Enneagram personality test episode, you will see that the foundation, the background of a lot of these tests have to do with Eastern mysticism and the new age. So that's behind a lot of these personality test, even yoga or crystals or Zen, all of this. They have roots in Eastern mysticism

in the new age, and that has become extremely popular these days in American culture. And you will find a common theme in all of these, that the journey to the real inner self is the most important and pure journey that you will ever take. They are presented as tools, this yoga or crystals or Zen or certain forms of meditation or personality test, these things are often in this realm presented as tools to help you discover who you really are. To get in touch with the hidden identity that has gotten buried inside of you, buried by societal expectations, other people's negative opinions, self-doubt, whatever it is. If you listen to someone like Glenn and Doyle or someone like Rachel Hollis, these are not people that we would automatically put in the Eastern

mystic camp, certainly not. Or there are a lot of other self-help gurus that are gurus that are like them, that we would not say, okay, these are new agey, Eastern mystic kind of people. Of course not. And yet, you will find underneath a lot of their messaging this theme that who you really are, who you really are in the deep core of your being is being repressed by external forces, criticism, standards, norms, et cetera, and that if you can just let these things go, through self-love. If you can just shed these things off, you will find your real, unabashed, authentic, amazing self underneath it all. And when you do, you will realize your potential. You'll be successful. You'll be satisfied. You'll be happy. I'll give you an example from

Glenn & Doyle, who just released her latest book called Untamed, which is about women being, quote, full of themselves. This quote is actually something she said during her speaking tour, saw it in a video. This is a love letter that. she wrote to her audience. She says, there's a voice inside all of you that will guide you, and you must learn to trust it. Don't ask the voice about what's right or wrong. Don't ask what you should or shouldn't do. Don't ask what is good or bad. These are man-made and culturally constructed concepts. We have to ask it, what is true and beautiful? And it will always have an answer for you. You will become the pioneer of your own life. That is Glennon Doyle's

love letter to you. This is Eastern mysticism meets Western individualism. So this is finding yourself meeting, achieving your goals. This describes a lot of what is on the self-help shelves in stores right now. The idea that who you are deep down is not just good, but in a sense, perfect. It is your more pure self. Therefore, the feelings that flow from it are worth affirming. They're worth listening to and in most cases they are worth following. And before we get into biblically why, this is not true, I want to talk about what is true about the perspective of our feelings being valid. So here are three things, three things that are true about our feelings that the secular world, this kind of new agey world, the self-help world would probably agree with that I will,

to one degree, agree with as well. Number one, your feelings are. are real. Yes, your feelings are real. That is why it is hurtful and most of the time unhelpful when someone dismisses your feelings as irrelevant or as too sensitive or as an overreaction and just tells you to calm down. That is why it is so endlessly frustrating when someone patronizes you by saying you shouldn't feel the way that you feel rather than listening to you. It is painful. So one, your feelings are real. Number two, your capacity to feel is natural. It is God given. We have emotions because we are made in the image of God, not in spite of being made in the image of God. God himself displays emotion. Psalm 711 says,

God is a righteous judge and a God who feels indignation every day, a God who feels indignation every day. Genesis 6.6. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on earth and it grieved him to his heart. That is a heart-breaking verse. I'll read that again. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on earth and it grieved him to his heart. Psalm 11-5, the Lord tests the righteous, but his soul hates the wicked and the one who loves violence. Jeremiah 32-41, I will rejoice in them doing good and I will plant them in this land in faithfulness and with all my heart and all my soul. Because your feelings. Number three. So number two was your capacity to feel is God given. God has emotions. Number three, because your feelings are real and because your capacity to feel them is God given,

your feelings are important. And they should be assessed. So the things that are true about our feelings that this self-help, self-focused, self-love, your feelings are valid crowd, would agree with is one, your feelings are real, two, your capacity to feel is natural or God given. Number three, because your feelings are real and your capacity to feel them is God given, your feelings are important and should be assessed. So let us move on to what is not true that this world, that this realm that says your feelings are valid would say. What is not true about their perspective on feelings, about the worldly secular perspective on feelings that you might even see permeating Christian circles and the church. Number one, what is not true is that your feelings are always valid.

Your feelings may in fact be real. They are real because they exist, but they are not always valid. So what does that mean? Your feelings are real, like I said, in that they exist. They are actually there. And most of the time, by the way, you did not expressly ask them to be there and you might even wish you didn't feel a certain way. And yet here you are unable to shake this feeling of doubt or anger or sadness that's just filling your mind. So yes, your feelings are real. But valid, according to the dictionary, means having a sound basis in logic or fact, reasonable or cogent. So that means, of course, that not all of our feelings are valid. They are. They are. not always based in logic or in fact. In fact, very often, they are not based in logic or fact or

reality or reason at all. They are not at all reasonable sometimes. How many times? I mean, just think about your own life. You can probably think in the last 24 hours. I certainly can. How many times we have been angry about something that didn't actually solicit our anger? How many times, wives, have we blown up at our husbands, either internally? That's very often where it happened or externally blowing up at our husbands for something that they did not mean to do or really wasn't that big of a deal because we were really angry at something else. But they just, it was the straw that broke the camels back. And so we blow up at them either in our minds or outwardly, we get inordinately mad about

something that really didn't solicit our anger. I got inordinately mad the other week when my husband switched his phone to Bluetooth, in the middle of our conversation, which, yes, is mildly annoying, I will say, but is my utter indignation toward him valid when I shut down and say, no, I'm not going to continue this conversation anymore? Is that really valid just because he switched to Bluetooth because he got in his car? No, it is an overreaction. It is petty. Now, you might say, you might say, but your feelings may not really be about the Bluetooth.

Maybe it's really about the fact that you don't feel listened to or cared of. about and maybe that feeling is valid and maybe that could definitely be true, but it could also be that I am a sinful and prideful person who doesn't like to be interrupted or inconvenience. That's also a very viable option. And it's that option that so many of us are not willing to acknowledge or accept that perhaps what we feel isn't valid because there isn't a more profound or virtuous reason behind what we feel, and we might just feel this way because we're self-centered. And we absolutely should consider this option. Why? Because Jeremiah 179 tells us that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately sick. Who can understand it? It is a lie of the current

self-help age that who you are deep down is good and pure and therefore whatever flows. out of it, whatever feelings come from it, are good and pure and worth following. The Bible says that the heart is deceitful. It is desperately sick. Other versions say that it is wicked. Who we are at the core of our being without the saving grace of Jesus Christ is a depraved sinner. We are totally and utterly and absolutely depraved. Without Christ, every single thing that we do and say, even if it looks and sounds, righteous and is helpful in some way is contaminated by our depravity. We are wretches inside each of our natural selves is a corrupted, a callous, a self-obsessed creature who wants nothing more than to worship itself.

This is how Ephesians 2 describes all of us apart from Christ. And you were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked following the course of this world following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work and the sons of disobedience, among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind and were by nature, children of wrath like the rest of mankind. When we, before we came to faith in Christ, carried out the desires of our bodies and the desires of our minds, these were not good and people. pure desires. These were dark desires. These were selfish desires. These were desires worthy of wrath.

Ephesians 422 says, we are to put off our old self, which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires. The self apart from Christ is corrupt through deceitful desires. This is why we cannot, should not, follow our hearts. It will lead us astray. This is why we should not accept all of our feelings is valid. But what about those of us, you might be asking, who are in Christ, who do have faith in Christ, who have put on the new self? We are new creations. We have been given by grace through faith a heart of flesh rather than our old heart of

stone. Can we trust our feelings? Can we rightly say that our feelings are valid? Well, no, because all of us know very well that we still sin. We are being sanctified. We have guilt over our sin because of the Holy Spirit. We are constantly crucifying our flesh, making no provision for it. But all of this, this working out our salvation with fear and trembling is evidence that sin still exists in our lives, even though it has no hold over us. We are no longer enslaved to it. And yet we are still tempted by it. and we do still fall into it every day. Therefore, our hearts can still deceive us.

But in Christ, we now have the strength to battle that deception with God's word and the power of the Holy Spirit. We have the wisdom to discern what feelings are valid and which feelings are not. And so to assess which feelings are valid and which feelings are not, we ask ourselves, number one, why do we feel this way? And number two, is this desire glorified? God. So assessing our feelings does take a level of introspection, but ultimately, we weigh our feelings against God's word and feelings that do not glorify God according to His word should not be validated.

They should not be given into. They should not be given an excuse for or a justification for. Back to Ephesians. Ephesians 431, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. We know from this passage, several passages, even the sermon on the mouth, that God cares about feelings. God cares about the heart. God cares about the desires that flow out of the heart. This is talking about the feelings associated with in Ephesians 431, feelings associated with, most typically, with our interpersonal relationships. This is asking us to put away resentment, jealousy, covetousness, the divisive feelings that cause petty arguments, with our spouses and friends, the discontentment and insecurity that makes us wish bad things for

other people. This passage is saying, put that away from you. You are now in Christ and those emotions, those feelings have no place in your life. This doesn't mean, of course, that we can't be angry over injustice. Jesus certainly was when he flipped the tables. God certainly is angry over injustice. In fact, Psalm 4 4 says this, be angry and do not sin, a ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent. Ephesians 426 says this, be angry and do not sin. Do not let the sun go down on your anger and give no opportunity to the devil. I have definitely gone against this. I have definitely gone to bed angry and yet the Bible says doing so gives an opportunity to the devil and we can probably imagine what that is to snowball our feelings into resentment, which is sin and may encourage us to

act on our anger, which is sin. So in a culture that tells us that all of our feelings are valid and therefore should be followed. The Bible is saying, no, they will lead you astray. Don't follow your feelings. Follow Jesus. Subject your feelings to Christ. 2 Corinthians 105 says, we are to take every thought captive to obey Christ. Take every thought captive. We don't just, we're not neutral with our thoughts. We're not apathetic with our thoughts. We take them captive and we give them to Christ. We make them obey. Christ. That takes effort. That takes work. Before we validate our feelings, we should lay them down at Christ's feet and ask him to tell us what is true. Our feelings do not reveal what is true about

ourselves or the world around us. God does. And he may at times use emotion to help us discern and decide things, but these emotions must always, always be subjected to what his word says. So that was all under point number one in that your feelings are not always valid. Number two, while your capacity to feel is God given, your feelings are not God given. Not all of your individual feelings are God given. The dreams you have for your life are not always God given. Your goals are not always God given. That feeling of what you're supposed to do in life may not be God given. They may be, they may be, they may be, but maybe not, which is why they are weighed with prayer and against the truth of scripture. This means that we cannot use our feelings as justifications for all that we do.

I have used, and I have seen other people use feelings to excuse sin more times than I can count. How many times have I heard people or did I hear people in college and heard myself say in certain parts of college, I don't feel convicted about this so it must be okay? or God wouldn't give me this feeling if this weren't right. You have heard girls say this about dating a guy that they know that they're not supposed to date or that clearly they're not supposed to date because they're not a Christian or they don't treat them well. You've heard people say this about having sex before marriage or getting drunk or all

of the things in life that feel good in the moment. Because people don't feel badly about it, we assume, people assume that it must not be that big of a deal to God. They say if this is wrong, God would give me the feeling that it's wrong. And God is like, well, it's written right here. Like, I'm not making you guess what holiness looks like. Like, I've given you that wisdom through my word. And we're like, no, no, no, no, no. It must just be our feelings. Our feelings must be the ultimate authority. We have probably all been there about something at some point. I know I have it. It's dangerous. It is simple. It is prideful. It is damaging. It is wrong. This is also where we get the danger of special revelation of saying that God told me this or God told me that. If it doesn't align with scripture, God did not say it. God did not say it to you or anyone else. If it does not align with his word, then he didn't say it. God does not contradict himself. When we don't subject our feelings to God's word, we end up following our

ourselves, not Jesus. So that means we are worshipping the God of self, not the God of Scripture. The God of self leads to bondage, to sin, and ultimately to spiritual death. The God of Scripture leads to bondage to righteousness and spiritual life. Again, some feelings may indeed be God-given, and they should be assessed using scripture and prayer and the wisdom of godly people who have gone before us. And if we are seeking earnestly to make wise disdeme, knowing the decision that we are about to make is not a sinful one. All we can do is put one foot in front of the other in obedience to Christ. Obsessing over our feelings to make decisions will leave us frustrated and confused. So number three, the third thing that is not true about this feelings

or valid sentiment is that all of your feelings need to be extensively addressed and assessed. That is not true. This is where our culture's obsession with therapy comes in. Now, let me say, I am someone who has greatly benefited from Christian counseling. It was a Christian counselor after college who told me that my unhealthy eating patterns would kill me. Premarital counseling was hugely beneficial for my husband and me. So my husband also, he benefited from counseling on his own after college. So this is not saying there's not a place for counseling. there very well may be. Praise God. Praise God for wise and Christ like counselors, but,

but we can seek a godly counsel without going to a counselor. Sometimes. It depends. It depends on your particular situation. I can't go through every single variable that would lead you, perhaps, to a professional counselor. But our default doesn't always have to be a professional counselor. we can get wise counsel without a professional counselor. And actually, this is the place, should be the place in most areas of the local church. The local church should be stepping up, though, of course, we know it doesn't always. We should be able to seek out older women in our churches from which we can gain wisdom, rather than our default always being professional psychotherapy,

even though sometimes that definitely may be necessary. Titus 2, 3 through 4 says this. Older women likewise are to be reverent in behavior, not slanders or slaves to much wine. They are to teach what is good. And so train the young women to love their husbands and children. Older women in the church are to be training young women and teaching us in what is good. And we younger women should be seeking that out, not just for the purpose of sharing our problems, but for the purpose of modeling our lives after godly women and working alongside them for the gospel, as Rachel Jankevick explained on Friday's episode. And most of us, me included, don't always seek that out. And there have been seasons of my life where I have very

diligently in seasons of my life where I have in it. And of course, this can include your family members. This can include older sisters and mothers. This doesn't have to be a stranger or someone that you don't know in the church. But these people are without getting paid and without having the title are counselors and can serve as sources of godly wisdom and help for us. And let us not forget that Jesus himself in Isaiah 96 is called. It says his name shall be called wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting father, prince of peace. Jesus is our counselor. And he is totally and completely competent to comfort us, to lead us in what is true and to give us peace. Remember, there are people around the world, Christians around the world who do not have access to professional counseling like

we do in America. And that's fine. We have a gift of, we have a gift of common grace, just like we have a lot of things in America that people in other parts of the world don't have. But there are people whose only option is to rely on Jesus as their counselor. And he is totally and completely competent to supply us with everything we need. That doesn't mean that we shouldn't be thankful for or that we shouldn't use professional counseling. Maybe when the depth of our trauma or confusion or mental illness or disordered thinking or behavior is beyond, maybe what we can get from someone that we know in an unprofessional or not a professional capacity. And I also believe, and I know there are a lot of people in the church who might disagree with me on this, but I also

believe that medicine for serious depression and anxiety or gifts of common grace that some people really need. I did an episode titled Depression and Suicide that you can go back and listen to. I've gotten a lot of emails from you guys who have struggled with depression and suicidal thoughts who have validated that that episode was indeed true. So I don't want you to think I'm speaking from a place of a lack of empathy. I have talked to a lot of people who have been in these situations. And like I said, I too have been to counseling. So I'm not just speaking from my own experience, but also the experiences of others. I hope this doesn't sound like I'm bashing all therapy or not being compassionate. But the point is feelings are not always valid. Therefore,

they are not always God given or really because they are not always got given. Therefore, we do not always need to spend a thousand dollars or a thousand hours assessing them. We need God's wisdom. We need his guidance. We need his discernment. We need his word. need to subject ourselves to him in his direction no matter what we feel. And sometimes we need to just forget about ourselves. Like sometimes we need to just stop taking stock of every single thing we feel. Like sometimes we need to just say, you know what? I know that that thought's not glorifying. So here, Jesus, take it captive and let me obey you. Sometimes we don't need to spend hours and hours assessing what we feel and how we are and how we tick. Sometimes we just need to forget about those things.

things and we need to go out into the world and help someone else. We need to think about someone else for a change. We need to encourage someone else rather than constantly a feeding, motivating mantras to ourselves. We need to think about the needs and the wants of other people before and instead of we constantly think about ourselves. Sometimes self-obsession and constant introspection actually makes matters worse. Most lies, like the lies. that your feelings are valid. Sounds really good. It sounds compassionate, sounds empathetic. It might, even because of that, sound biblical. But the most effective lies of our culture always sound good. They always have at least a bit of truth in them,

to where they sound not just enticing, but righteous. These are the most effective lies are of Satan and they're the exact kind of lies with which he tempted Eve in the Garden of Eden because Satan might be clever but he is not creative. He said to the woman, this is Genesis 3, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden? Which of course we know from the previous passage that that's not what God said. So Satan said, did God actually say you shall not eat of any tree in the garden and the woman said to the serpent, we may eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden. But God said, you shall not eat of the fruit of the tree that is in the midst of the garden, neither shall you touch it lest you die. So she remembered. She remembered what God actually said,

and she corrected Satan, but Satan had already implanted in her mind just a bit of truth and twisted it. But the serpent said to the woman, you will not surely die. For God knows that when you eat of it your eyes will be opened and you will be like God knowing good and evil so when the woman saw that the tree that the tree was good for food and that it was a delight to the eyes and that the tree was to be desired to make one wise she took of its fruit and ate and she also gave some to her husband who was with her and he ate then the eyes of both were opened and they knew that they were naked and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths and we could spend hours. That's like, I love the book of Genesis. We spent hours and hours talking about that one

passage. The book of Genesis, my favorite book of the Bible, because it is this amazing and heart-wrenching story of mankind rejecting the God who created and loved them. And you see so utterly and so tangibly our need for redemption in Christ. Our feelings even have to be redeemed because we are believing the same lies that we believed in the Garden of Eden. especially, especially the lies that are given particularly to women. And one of these lies is that your feelings, all of them are valid, that they are all God given, and that they all need to not just be assessed, but also be followed. The Bible says that is a lie.

There is a better way. Because while your emotions, the yoke of your emotions and the burden of your emotions is difficult and heavy, Jesus says, my yoke is easy and my burden. is light. Follow me while your feelings are confusion or your feelings are confusing. Your feelings are chaotic. I am a God of peace. I am a God of clarity. I am a God of order. My truth is the same yesterday today and forever. Follow me instead of the hearts that flow out of your desperately sick and deceitful heart and praise God that we get the relief of not following ourselves. We don't know what we're doing. We don't know what we're doing. But God does. Thankfully,

that's why we don't have the obligation. We don't have the burden of following our feelings, which so often lead us to strike. So this is good news. Praise God for showing us a better way. How many times in the Bible does God describe us as sheep, as not knowing which way we're going without the shepherd? And we have a good shepherd. We have a good shepherd who leads us in the right direction, in the truthful direction,

in the peaceful direction, in the ordered direction. and we can absolutely trust him and rely on him and follow him completely and blindly. Amen. I am so thankful for that. Okay. That's all I have today. We will be back here on Wednesday, right? Yeah, we'll be back here on Wednesday. I kind of forgot which day Christmas was. Christmas is next week. We'll be back here and I will see you then. Hey, this is Steve Dase. If you're listening to Allie, you already understand that the biggest issues facing our country aren't just political. They're moral, spiritual, and rooted in what we believe is true about God, humanity, and

reality itself. On the Steve Day show, we take the news of the day and tested against first principles, faith, truth, and objective reality. We don't just chase narratives and we don't offer false comfort. We ask the hard questions and follow the answers wherever they leave, even when it's unpopular. This is a show for people who want honesty over hype and clarity over chaos. If you're looking for commentary grounded in conviction and unwilling to lie to you about

where we are or where we're headed, you can watch this D-Day show right here on Blaze TV or listen wherever you get podcasts. I hope you'll join us.