Would you say that most of your decisions are based on emotion or logic?

My guess is that most women will be honest and say emotion. And most men will deceive themselves and say logic.

I think the correct answer is that almost all of our decisions are based on our emotions. For men and women. In fact, I’d say that practically none of our decisions are logical. I suppose we could try and assign some kind of weight to our decision-making and say a particular decision was 60% emotion and 40% logic, but it wouldn’t matter. In the end, we do what we feel like doing.

Here are some examples of what I’m talking about:

You know you should exercise, but you tell yourself you’ll do it tomorrow. Why? You don’t feel like going.

A piece of fruit would be healthier, but you choose the chocolate silk pie instead.

The 37″ HDTV is on sale and has a great picture, but you by the 50″ because you want it.

You said you put your child in a certain school because they have a better program, but really it’s because you were afraid of the other school.

You know pornography is pulling you in deeper and is harming your marriage, but you look anyway because you like how it feels.

There’s nothing wrong with the ten pairs of jeans you already have, but you buy another pair because they’re cute.

Millions and millions of children are starving, but you increase your 401k contribution anyway. You tell yourself it’s the wise thing to do, but it’s really because you’re afraid God won’t meet your needs if you give more away.

Even when we do make the “right” decision, I tend to think there’s a high degree of emotion lurking beneath the surface. For example, someone may choose to not look at pornography because they’re afraid of getting caught again, not because it’s wrong to look at. Or people may volunteer at a soup kitchen to feel better about themselves, not to truly serve the poor.

I started thinking about this after I read a story in Jeremiah 42-44. It’s definitely worth reading.

What happens is some Army officials come to the prophet Jeremiah and ask him to inquire of God on their behalf. They want to know “where we should go and what we should do.”

There’s a problem though. A big problem. Apparently, they’d already made up their minds. They just figured God was going to give approval to what they wanted to do.

Have you ever noticed God isn’t very interested in giving approval to what we want to do?

God has a plan. And He’s the center of it. You and I are not.

Anyway, Jeremiah takes their request to God. Ten days later he comes back to them with God’s reply. What God tells them is really good news. That is if you haven’t already made up your mind. If you don’t already have your heart set on what you want to do.

After Jeremiah finishes telling them what God has said, they answer him by saying, “You are lying!” What else are you supposed to do when you’ve already decided to do what you want–you attack the messenger. Sometimes that means we question the motives of a friend or mentor. Sometimes we just twist the Bible to say what we want it to say.

One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is that once someone’s emotions are engaged, it’s very, very difficult to reason with them. I once had a man, who was cheating on his wife, tell me that God had brought he and the other woman together. He wanted to do what he wanted to do and was looking for a way to justify it.

A few concluding thoughts:

1. Guard your heart. Be very careful in what you allow your emotions to engage in. You may know the right or logical thing to do, but our emotions conspire with our heart and overwhelm our reason.

2. If you’re going to ask God what He wants you to do, be as sure as you can that you haven’t already decided to do what you want to do. God isn’t going to bless your plan. And deliberately disobeying Him is never a good course.

3. A good, loving, gracious, compassionate, all-knowing, all-powerful God always, always, always knows what is best for us. To ignore His will or commands, is evidence that we’re not making the best choice, but the emotional one.

4. I’m not saying emotions are bad or wrong. God is an emotional being and made us in His image. Good emotions (love, joy, kindness, etc.) can motivate us to do the right things, even things we’d rather not do, like clean the kitchen when we’re tired.

I’d love to hear what you think.