Let’s do a little exercise in imagination. Imagine, if you will, that your alarm clock doesn’t go off this morning. You wake up in a panic because you have an eight-o-clock test and you wake up and notice that it’s 7:40. You jump out of bed, rush into the shower, turn on the water, and it won’t get warm. You have no choice; you take a very rapid, cold shower, leap out, dry off frantically, brush your teeth, slap on your make-up (only the girls, please) and rush to the closet to grab some clothes. To your horror, you can’t find anything clean. You haven’t got time to be choosey so you grab something from the floor, throw it on, and head for the car. As you jump into your shoes you trip and stub your toe on the coffee table. You pull yourself up, grab your keys and you’re out the door.

You’re apartment is just off campus so you don’t have far to go. You are rushing a little and you don’t notice that you are going 70 in a 45 but the officer that pulls you over does. Now you’ve got a ticket, you are late for your test, and you smell funny (remember you are wearing dirty clothes).

You arrive at the class building, park the car, rush up the stairs and down the hall, burst into the classroom to share your hasty excuse only to find the room empty and dark. You stand there stunned, in disbelief. Did they finish already? Have I missed the whole test? Just then a class mate passes by. “Hey,” you ask, “did you guys finish the test?” “What test? Oh, you mean the english exam? No, man, that test is Wednesday. This is Tuesday.”

Question; what kind of day are you about to have? Most of us, if we are honest, are about to go off on someone. We are about to throw the biggest, loudest, fit we can muster. Let somebody cross us on this kind of day and they will regret ever being born. Why? Because we are about to act out our feelings. But isn’t that what we do most of the time? Don’t you and I act on how we feel? We live our lives out through emotion and circumstances. You know, as in “under the circumstances, I’m doing pretty good”.

I read an interesting verse in Ezekial this morning that made me think about this. God was angry with Israel and He was about to destroy them and then He says this; “I seriously considered unleashing my anger on them right there in the desert. But I thought better of it and acted out of who I was, not by what I felt, so that I might be honored and not blasphemed by the nations who had seen me bring them out.”

God was going to let them have it but He chose to act out of who He was and not how he felt. I’m glad He doesn’t act out His feelings on me every time He’s disappointed or angry with what I do. “It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.” God is merciful and gracious. He is slow to anger. He is compassionate and loving. And I am proud. I given Him plenty of reason to wipe me off the face of the earth but He has chosen to act out of who He is and not how I make Him feel.

How about we adopt that lifestyle for ourselves? How about we stop acting on how we feel and start being who we really are? Why don’t we stop letting circumstances and situations dictate our actions? Let’s act on who we are and the character that our God has instilled in us and not on how we feel about what is happening around or to or even in us. Don’t just feel, BE.

But wash your clothes, lay them out before you have to get up in the morning, and pay attention to the speed limit. Have a blessed day.