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Joy – Perspective Not Emotion

“So also you have sorrow now, but I will see you again, and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you.”
John 16:22

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice.”
Philippians 4:4

“A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones.”
Proverbs 17:22

The Greek word translated as “joy” in the Bible is χαίρω, or chairó and the definition is: “rejoice in’ or “to be glad”. This is somewhat different from the previous topic of happiness in that it seems to reflect a choice that we make to be joyful. We must choose to be glad.

Joy is generated by gaining perspective on a situation and seeing it in the eternal timeline instead of the momentary timeline.

When we focus on the temporary discomfort, we have sorrow. When we turn our focus to the rewards of heaven, or even to the benefits of becoming a man more capable of enduring adversity, we have changed our perspective. Perspective is the tool through which we obtain joy.

The Apostles were joyful after they were beaten for preaching gospel, they counted themselves honored that they should suffer for Christ (Acts 5:41). Do you think being beaten with rods is fun and joyful? Definitely not. Viewing their punishment as a sign that they were doing something right, however, is why they were joyful. They were glad because they saw their temporary situation of pain in the eternal timeline of enjoyment.

This is a hard concept to understand, but it can be likened to physical exercise. During physical training, there is acute pain in the body. However, because we know that the pain is creating growth of the body, the pain is acceptable. A man can even get to the point where he enjoys that pain because he has associated it with improvement of the body. We must view discomfort in the same way, treating it as a growth vector rather than a stand-alone painful event. This mindset creates joy though struggle.

Some Christians believe that joy is an emotion.

That is fine, but there are some serious questions for anyone who suggests that God requires emotion from us. There are no verses saying that we must be emotionally joyful in order to enter into heaven. On the other hand, there are verses that speak about the necessity of joy. Joy is one of the fruits of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23).

God is not a God who requires us to feel a certain way in order to obey Him and do what is right. In fact, the opposite is usually true. God wants us to choose to obey Him even when we are not feeling good emotions and when life is not going well. God expects obedience, not emotions. There are plenty of people who have their “heart in the right place”, but a rightly placed heart without obedience will not get you into heaven.

Joy is created through detachment and perspective which are the products of wisdom.

Joy can be devoid of emotion, even though sometimes joy will sometimes produce positive emotions. Gaining these emotions should not be our primary goal since they are merely a positive benefit that comes as a result of doing what is right. It is our job to do what is right and be joyful in our purpose as men, pursuing an emotional “high” is for the weak. Focus your mind on creating joy by changing your perspective.

Mantra

I am joyful, because my choices have rewards.

Application

Detach from your life and look at it on the scale of eternity. What you are going through now is worth the reward of heaven, even though it may not feel like it at any given time.

Do not trust your emotions. Feelings have no bearing on reality, so do not make any decisions based on your emotions. Be glad that you are in your situation in life. You likely know about God and Christ, that puts you ahead of the vast majority of the world. You live in the modern world, so if you do not know Christ, the probability of discovering Christianity is high due to the advantages of technology.

Life is bringing good situations to us, so we must be glad for them. Being glad does not mean feeling good. Being glad is related to being thankful and wise in our thinking. Be glad for your salvation. Give thanks for your God. concentrate your thoughts on what matters. Gain perspective and as a results you will gain joy. Be a Man.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

Read On: “Challenge“

Happiness – The Unnecessary Emotion

Happiness.

Happiness is one of the most overrated emotions in religion as a whole. Everyone in life is pursuing the elusive combination of brain chemicals, yet no one ever seems to find them.

“He was despised and rejected by men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.”
Isaiah 53:3

“For in much wisdom is much vexation, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
Ecclesiastes 1:18

“He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away.”
Revelation 21:4

People assume that what God wants for them is this good feeling that happiness provides. The truth is that how we feel is irrelevant and should not even be considered as part of the picture because emotions only muddy the waters of logical thinking.

The lust for happiness has become increasingly popular over the years, as human beings have become less and less happy over time.

Entanglement with the world (2 Timothy 2:4), self-absorption (2 Timothy 3:1-5) and the breakdown of community institutions have contributed to this famine of happiness. People are no longer participating in the activities that provide purpose to the individual. People are more solitary than ever before, yet they do not want to be. Some men think isolation brings happiness, but it only forces them to reflect on themselves and their life which causes sorrow. To escape this sorrow they medicate through television and social media, reinforcing the idea in their minds that isolation is what is making them feel better. Virtual existence grows into a disease that decays the mind. Those who live in a virtual world endlessly pursue happiness and find it not.

Happiness is extremely popular with liberals both moderate and radical.

Liberals tend to place far too much emphasis on emotions in general, but they especially pursue happiness, and it pervades their worship service shifting the focus away from God and onto their own feelings. They pursue happiness and manipulate worship to their will in order to achieve it. This is not only wrong, but the pursuit of happiness in worship is in vain. If we are chasing happiness, we are running in the wrong direction. A prostitute can bring happiness for a few minutes. So can heroin or a line of cocaine. This is because, again, happiness is just a chemical reaction in the brain, so don’t worship it.

Was Christ happy while He was on earth? I am not convinced that He was, as the scriptures note He was a “Man of Sorrow and Acquainted with grief” (Isaiah 53:3). However, Christ was filled with purpose despite a lack of earthly “happiness”. He endured temptation over thirty years and worked with human beings on a constant basis, which is a feat in itself. There does not seem to be any reason to believe that Jesus was overwhelmed with emotions all the time. Jesus was on the earth for one reason: to save the world of men.

We as men must be filled with a meaningful purpose that overrides any given emotion at any given time. It should not matter how we feel, we should be able to do what is right and be able to keep to our purpose. Purpose is infinitely more important than happiness. Finding and maintaining meaningful and beneficial purposes for our lives should be what we do every single day.

Mantra

Emotions do not matter.

Application

Get rid of the idea that happiness is required in your life.

It is a luxury that will not always be present in your life. When you pull a double shift on Saturday, fight with the wife, are mad at the kids, get two hours of sleep then show up on Sunday for a slow, dry lesson and all the songs you don’t like, are you happy? No. Can you worship in spirit and truth regardless (John 4:24)? Absolutely.

KEY: We do not have to be happy to go to heaven, but when we get to heaven we will absolutely be happy.

You must fill your mind with purpose. Focus on God, family, doing meaningful work to the best of your ability. These actions bring purpose and as a byproduct they occasionally bring happiness. But trying to achieve happiness alone should never be your goal, it is a self-centered action and almost never profits. You must focus your mind on taking actions. Action will always be more important and more profitable than emotions. Gather strength for yourself. Do great work. Avoid the trappings of emotion. Be a Man.

Freedom and Restriction

“For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another.”
Galatians 5:13

“Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.”
1 Peter 2:16

“And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free”. – “So if the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.”
John 8:32 & 36

“Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free.”
Psalm 118:5

Does faith limit our freedom? Most religious people will say “no”, because to say “yes” is to suggest that God is robbing them of something we need or deserve. This is where most religious people are wrong.

When a coach or nutritionist gives us a specific diet plan, is he taking away our freedom of eating choices? Yes he is.

We are no longer allowed to eat the things we enjoy, but we do this for the greater good of our health. We give up the foods that diminish our health and fitness but taste great in exchange for foods that do not taste as great, but provide longevity, health and the improvement of body and mind. Now e no longer have dietary freedom, we have given it up for the long-term rewards. We give up immediate gratification for delayed gratification.

When God gives us a plan of action directly from his mind which included rules and restrictions, did He limit our freedom of choice? Yes He did.

But this is the Key Point: We get to choose whether or not we give up our freedom.We as Christians choose to give up freedom, instead of having it taken from us by some third party individual such as a dictator.

This distinction is vital to our faith, and the confusion caused by the lack of properly defined terms damages faith and relationships. God does not take your freedom, you give it up of your own free will. You freely choose to give up pleasure now for a reward later. It is an investment. Just as an investment costs something and is painful in the present moment, it provides so a greater return in the future.

Relinquishing freedom is difficult because it is yet another one of those actions that causes immediate pain and delayed pleasure. These are the types of actions that are the least likely to be repeated. Actions that bring immediate gratification and delayed punishment are the actions most often taken. People enjoy the immediate pleasure of drinking sweet tea or eating cake, and they don’t “suffer” at all until a few weeks later when their clothes no longer fit. They will continue down this road of poor dieting nonetheless because the punishment for their actions is so greatly delayed. It is a long time before they have to suffer the consequences of their actions.

Eating healthy food is the exact opposite. Immediately it gives us punishment (or at least that is what we think) and it does not pay off for weeks or even months. If you are trying to lose weight and you change up your diet, you are not going to see results of your hard work for several weeks, this is the delayed reward and the reason why most people never get into physical shape.

Many Christians think that they need to defend the faith against people who speak against the semi-difficult lifestyle.

The Christian lifestyle does not need to be defended anymore than a nutrition and training plan needs to be defended.

Both require you to take certain beneficial actions and avoid other negative actions for the betterment of your life.

There is nothing wrong or immoral about the fact that we must give up our freedom in some areas of life. We have to give up having sex with multiple partners and simultaneously convince yourself that heaven will be better than sex (a feat that is extremely difficult even nearly impossible to do). Most Christians prove that they do not believe this based on their actions.

We have to give up drinking alcohol and taking drugs in order to be aware, sober and vigilant, even though those “pleasures” are extremely desirable, and any Christian who tells you otherwise should reconsider his pattern of thinking. We give up a thousand small things in life in exchange for the great heavenly reward. This is not easy, and it is not enjoyable.

Again, Christians think they need to defend the faith against those who say that Christianity is unenjoyable.

The Christian lifestyle does not need to be enjoyable just as an intense training and nutrition plan does not need to be enjoyable. Both include a decent dose of pain as a down payment for the infinitely greater benefits that are to come. Both limit freedom, but provide an even greater freedom in the future. There are certainly enjoyable parts of life, but the Christian life is not about earthly enjoyment.

Key Point: All of life is just one masive delayed gratification experience.

Mantra

Suffer today to enjoy tomorrow.

Application

Identify the two schools of thought concerning freedom and eliminate the one that you now know is false. Faith absolutely does limit our freedom. We give up our freedom through our own choice, it is not taken away from us by God. God wants us to decide to follow Him and do what He says, He never asks for us to enjoy it. Exchange your freedom for the delayed benefits of heaven. Exchange sex with many women for heaven. For many men, that is simply too much to ask, as nothing in the world is better to them than having sex with many women.

You must accept the reality of a limited and restricted life. Accept it and know that you are working towards a massive reward. That reward will definitely outweigh any of the so-called sufferings and difficulties we experience on the earth. So give up what you crave on earth. Reject your desires. Strengthen your mind and your resolve. Delay Gratification. Crush the enemy. Be a Man.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men

Enemies

“Though I walk in the midst of trouble, you preserve my life; you stretch out your hand against the wrath of my enemies, and your right hand delivers me.”
Psalm 138:7

“For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They encircle me with words of hate, and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, but I give myself to prayer. So they reward me evil for good, and hatred for my love.”
Psalm 109:2-5

“When a man’s ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.”
Proverbs 16:7

Not everyone is going to like you. This is an unavoidable fact of life. Some people will go so far as to hate you, and they are your enemies. They may not say outright that they are your enemies, most people never do. They allow their hate for you to lie dormant, waiting until they can spring up and destroy you in one maneuver. Or they think they can slowly destroy you over time, through minute attacks. These people must be avoided.

Many people outside the church will hate you because your righteousness is a spotlight on their immorality. Religion makes worldly people look bad and feel guilty or dirty about their own irreligious lifestyle. This causes them to badmouth you or attack your character. They will label your church as a cult and you as an extremist. This is to be expected. Also, do not make the mistake of thinking you are so great if worldly people hate and speak badly about you because our Christian forefathers had it much worse than we do.

Even worse than acquiring hatred from the outside world is the fact that many people in the church will hate us, even our own brethren.

We wear the name Christian, but that does not protect us from human nature. Not everyone is going to get along. People have egos. People have opinions and traditions that, if you speak against them, will cause that person to hate you. Human beings are still human beings even though they walk in a church building every Sunday in their best dress.

You must be an astute observer of human nature and the way in which humans behave. You must learn to read people and have an idea of what they may be thinking or planning. This requires vigilance. This requires awareness about the people around you. You must raise your resting level of consciousness and be aware of humans. There are multiple small wars going on at all times, many minuscule power struggles between people. These are the foundations of relationships and make up all of interpersonal communication. You must become proficient at communication and at reading these power struggles if you are to succeed in mitigating the amount of enemies you deal with.

Even if you can avoid human enemies, you will never be able to avoid spiritual enemies. Satan is the enemy. His angels are the enemy. Plan to crush them.

Mantra

Enemies are unavoidable, but loving action is a choice in my mind.

Application

We must love our enemies. Remember: Love has nothing to do with how you feel, and everything to do with how you act. You may dislike another person greatly, but you can still act lovingly towards that person. However, we must hate the devil and everything he stands for and tries to do. Satan worms his way into everything and he must be opposed at every front, he must be strategically defeated.

Be vigilant and aware of the human beings around you, be sensitive to their aura and the way they seem. As humans we have the ability to tell when other humans are “off”. Your instinct will be right more often than not. It is possible to tell most enemies simply from aura, other enemies who are skilled in acting and manipulation may be harder to detect. If you detect that someone may be vexed with you, you have a couple options.

1 – Approach the brother. Some personality types respond best to direct confrontation. You must go to them directly, clear the air and try to make it right. This must be done regardless of whether your own personality is comfortable with confrontation or not. Simply approach him and ask if you have offended them in any way. Press them until they tell you what is on their mind.

2 – Try to make it right through successive small actions. Other personality types are very uncomfortable with confrontation and will deny everything if you approach them about their feelings toward you.

(Remember: Others will operate on emotion, we ourselves must avoid this at all costs).

Take a few small, nice actions towards this person and see if this clears the air. If this fails, go to a close friend of your “enemy” and ask them if the individual has mentioned having problems with you. This person will know if their friend is truly your enemy, or if their displeasure is targeted at someone or something else. Non-confrontational individuals are very likely to confide in a close friend, but tell nothing to everyone else they know. You must be strategic in how you handle this individual.

3 – There are some enemies who are simply trying to damage the church. They sow division and engage in small interpersonal wars. To defeat these enemies, you need the masses on your side. You cannot defeat an enemy like this unless the church agrees that he is an enemy. You need evidence that he is sowing discord among the brethren or engaging in warfare. Take the evidence to the elders of the church. If the elders will not listen, slowly acquire support from the rest of the church until you can approach the elders again with the support of the people. A divisive enemy must be removed from the church or he will destroy it.

Enemies in the spiritual realm must be found and annihilated.

You cannot see these enemies, but you can feel their effects on your life (Ephesians 6:10-12). You must be aware of these effects if you are to detect the presence of evil. This philosophy borders on mysticism and speculates about the whereabouts and activities of the good and evil spiritual realms. If you believe in the presence of angels and demons, this is where they would be active. If not, then you almost certainly believe that the devil is responsible for all the evil in your life. You must be aware of him and keep him out of your home and mind. You are at war with the devil and his army, so gird your loins, fortify the fortress of your mind and be a man.

Eliminate every access point the devil has in your home. Barricade points where he can worm his way in. this means setting up filtering software on all computers, televisions and phones. Do not even allow the microscopic spores of evil to settle in your mind. By removing the enemy’s access points, you have taken the spiritual high ground and are well on your way to keeping the enemy at bay.

Even after fortifying your home, you must be “on patrol”, constantly monitoring the fort for other ways the devil is attacking you. Applied knowledge is power, so always have intelligence on everything that goes on in your home.

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

Courage

“Be strong and of good courage. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you or forsake you.”
Deuteronomy 31:6

“For God gave us a spirit not of fear but of power and love and self-control.”
2 Timothy 1:7

Courage is deficient in the religious world today. Men are too scared to share the gospel, too scared to teach it to their kids and then they wonder why the church is shrinking in the United States. The church shrinks because no man possesses the testicles necessary to evangelize.

Courage comes from taking the actions most men are terrified of taking. Men do not have to stop being afraid, they just have to take action regardless of their fear. The problems arise when men use fear as an excuse to not do what they know they should.

You do not get a reward for being scared. No one pats the back of the fearful man, or looks at him with admiration and inspiration. No man is excused from acting righteously just because he is scared to do so. It is wrong to let fear keep men from being virtuous, but it is not wrong to be filled with fear. Fear is a tool.

All negative emotions should be transmuted into positive actions.

Men do not face many situations today that are as fear inspiring as what the Israelites encountered when they prepared to conquer Canaan. They were told to have no fear as they were heading to battle (Joshua 10:25). They had to fight hand-to-hand and eye-to-eye with their adversaries. Death by hand-held weapon would be most painful.

Men are commanded to stand face to face with what they fear, and attack it. They must charge at the source of their terror and cast it down at their feet, destroy it and replace it with strength and bravery. This is the goal. Even if the fear cannot be eliminated, men can become braver and stronger.

Courage is an action.

Men have no courage while they are sitting on the couch. Men have no bravery from thinking about what they should do. The courage only comes when you take action. Like anything else in your faith, you must take action for it to be effective. Faith is not possible without action, neither is salvation. If a man wants courage, he has to assault his fears and face them by his own free will. While courage is an action, fear is just an emotion.

Mantra

Courage is growing in my mind. Fear has no place here in my thoughts.

Application

Put yourself in the middle of what you fear. You must face your fear voluntarily, it cannot be forced upon you. You must choose of your own free will to have courage and experience what you fear, this is how courage is built. Do not expect overnight results in anything you try to do. Sure, some people can radically change themselves overnight whilst embodying pure motivation, but that is usually not the common man. Get to work today. Slowly build your courage over successive days of efficient action. This is the only way to build anything: one brick before the next until you have a house. Grow your courage. Expand your possibilities. Improve and sharpen your mind. Eviscerate your fear. Strengthen your will. Be a man.

“The way to make people resilient is by voluntarily exposing them to things they are afraid of and that make them uncomfortable”. ~ Jordan Peterson.

Identify Fear (Fear of talking to others)
Identify the smallest action you can take in facing that fear (Looking at pictures or reading actricles about talking to others.
Plan the action (Write down a few things to say to someone else)
Take Action (Talk to the other person. Go over your lines and work from there).

Conduct Yourselves Like Men.

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