Do you recognize yourself in these examples?
‘The sun is shining today, and my heart feels so joyful!’
‘It is raining today, and my heart feels so gloomy; everything around me is gray.’
‘I feel so good today—I will smile at everyone!’
‘I am so tired of everything. I do not want to see anyone.’
And so on.
A mood is a prolonged state of mind shaped by our response to a particular event. Whether our mood remains steady or changes depends on external or internal factors that subconsciously influence our decision about how to behave.
We are surrounded everywhere by people ruled by their moods, whose behavior is impossible to predict. We never know what they will be like today. Yet certain conditions can be created that will cause them to behave in one way or another.
Have you ever had a coworker or family member come in with a bad attitude and either snap at every attempt to cheer them up or remain angrily silent? We usually try not to bother such people. Yet the same person may come in another time full of joy, joking about everything and nothing. It can be very difficult to interact with people like this or make plans with them. They depend on their feelings and emotions, building their attitude toward life and toward others upon them and spontaneously choosing how they will behave.
I, too, have often noticed how unkind thoughts oppress me and rob me of the joy of life. At other times, good thoughts stir my emotions, and I delight in reality. Being led by my emotions is not a very promising way to live.
But life with God teaches stability and consistency in what is good and positive. God helps me manage my mood and respond to different circumstances with joy and gratitude.
Speaking to our generation, Jesus says that we are miserable even when we possess certain riches and valuables. Life itself, amid temptations and the constant struggle for survival, sometimes discourages us. Forgetting God, we rush about in search of happiness but do not find it. Yet Jesus offers us a choice and a way out. He counsels us to obtain from Him certain good things that will change everything in our lives.
Love for my neighbor or for someone close to me guarantees that person the freedom to choose, even when that choice is not expressed as I would wish.
But if I dictate how someone must behave, there can be no question of freedom. For example, suppose I demand that my employees smile at our customers, answer politely and properly, and remain attentive and cheerful. Otherwise, they face permanent dismissal and the loss of their bonuses. I would have a wonderful team of ‘kind people,’ but they would have no freedom to choose.
Have you ever had everything going well, only for someone in a bad mood to arrive and spoil your mood and everyone else’s? Or perhaps the opposite has happened: everything is going badly for you, but then a friend appears, turns joy back on in your life, and you are happy.
We are made in such a way that our moods are influenced by external and internal factors, which may be physiological, psychological, or spiritual.
But there is a very good remedy called love, which teaches me how to manage both my own mood and the moods of those around me.
As I learn to love, I may make mistakes and behave differently under the same conditions. Yet the habit of loving and responding with love to the needs of others helps me manage my mood and leads me to see a cheerful spirit as the best possible choice.
It is written that ‘the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace...’ These very qualities create fertile ground for lifting our spirits, while the works of the flesh know how to spoil them.
People ruled by their moods are highly unpredictable, and it is very difficult to make plans with them. Woe to me if I am such a person, understand it, and yet do not fight against myself. To be a dark ‘storm cloud’ amid an abundance of light and grace is both a sin and a disgrace to the name of God, by which I am called. I may then come under the curse described from Deuteronomy 28:15 onward.
A bad or spoiled mood has another distinctive feature. I begin to see very clearly the sins, mistakes, and shortcomings of those around me—especially of those who have offended me. I can identify every failure so precisely that others find it very difficult to contradict me. I strike a person at his weakest point and hurt him most deeply in the very places where he previously revealed his weaknesses to me. I become merciless in my criticism and can kill with a look anyone who stands in my way or tries to argue with me. Whom am I representing at such a time? Certainly not Christ. But saddest of all, those who suffer most from my bad mood are the ones who love me, who are weaker or poorer than I am, who work under my authority or depend on me, who desire my happiness, or who serve me with love. I strike them because I feel bad.
Yet when I am in the presence of the powerful, the wealthy, and the influential people of this world, I become someone else.
In German, a Christian is called a Christ, a word closely connected with the name of Christ Himself. In effect, I am being called by Christ’s name. This usage has become part of the culture, and people do not even consider what a sacred and awe-inspiring name it is. It is an honor to be called by that name. Yet many who call themselves by it disgrace our Lord by living and acting like the world.
How can I become someone who brings a cheerful spirit to others? Psychology textbooks offer many explanations and principles. Knowing these principles, a person may even correct certain things in life while still living according to the flesh. But God offers His love and His grace to transform my thoughts and feelings and to give me the mind of a righteous person, so that I may live according to the Spirit.
When love comes, it cleanses the mind from evil and gladdens the heart with small victories over the works of the flesh. I gain strength for happiness, friendship, and love. This becomes so natural that in every difficult situation I seek solutions from God. I do not lose heart, but look to the future with joy, anticipating opportunities for growth and blessing. I myself become a blessing to others. Sometimes I simply rejoice quietly in the presence of my friends, and later they tell me how good they felt in my presence. Not everyone experiences this, but it does happen at times. And when there is also fellowship in the spirit of love, or some form of help or support, it becomes pure delight and a celebration for the soul. Unfortunately, not everyone desires or appreciates this until it is lost.
Why did I decide to write about this? Because at times we look like a country of ‘dark storm clouds’ that spend their entire lives creating and solving endless problems, when we should be ‘little lights,’ kindling light, love, friendship, and happiness all around us. Love is capable of doing this. As for the person who does not seek to change amid such an abundance of God’s power, perhaps he will not have the strength to do so in Eternity either. My choice and my movement toward Heaven determine a great deal and give God the authority to correct me and shape my character into the likeness of Jesus.
My good mood depends only on me. When I understand this and know how to manage it, I become its master and decide what kind of person I will be today and what kind I should not be. Everything is in my hands if I live in trust in God. My bad mood will control me if I am unwilling to fight and make an effort to change it.
Everything is in my hands when I am in God’s hands.
Bible verses for this chapter:
2 Corinthians 7:10; Matthew 11:28–30; 26:37; Proverbs 12:25; 14:13; 15:15; 17:22; 21:9; 25:20, 24; 26:21; Isaiah 35:10; John 16:20; Nehemiah 2:2; Esther 9:22; James 3:14–16; 4:7–10