FEELINGS OF THE SPIRITUALLY TRANSFORMED PERSON - What feelings will dominate a life that has been inwardly transformed to be like Christ’s? They are feelings associated with love, joy, peace, and their underlying conditions. Also, faith (confidence) and hope are important in properly structuring the feeling dimension of the mind and self. Hope is anticipation of “unseen” good not yet here.
Sometimes the good is deliverance from present evil, so we “rejoice in hope” (Romans 12:12, PAR). Closely related to hope, faith is confidence grounded in reality—not a wild, desperate “leap.” Faith sees the reality of the unseen, and it includes a readiness to act as if the anticipated good were already in hand because of the reality of God (compare 2 Corinthians 4:17-18). Faith and hope in Christ lead us to stand in the grace (the action) of God, which leads to a life full of love. Love is will-to-good. We love others when we promote their good. We wish them well. Love’s contrary is malice, and its simple absence is indifference.
Love is not the same as desire, for I may desire something without even wishing it well. I might desire chocolate ice cream, but I do not wish it well. I wish to eat it. This is the difference between lust (mere desire) and love.
Desire and love are compatible when desire is ruled by love, but many people today do not know the difference between them. Hence, love constantly falls prey to lust. That is a major part of the deep sickness of contemporary life. Pride and fear no longer rule our lives when love is primary. Pride is defined by desire. It presumes that my desires should be fulfilled and that it is a crying shame if they are not. Lust and pride inevitably result in fear, for they bring us into a world of little dictators where people use and abuse others instead of helping and caring for them. The opposite of love is pride. Love eliminates pride because it nullifies our arrogant presumption that we should get our way. With love, pride and fear fade.
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