There was a song back in the day. All they were a member of the song is the word feelings,

nothing more than feelings. Right? Feelings, nothing more than feelings. Even as a kid,

like, you know, feelings, nothing more than feelings. That's all this is. And I think that's

really fascinating. Why? Because I'm my name's Father Mike Schmitz and this is Essentially

Presents. Once again, the Christmas tree is still here because we're still filming for the Advent program coming up. I'm very excited about it. It's called Waiting Well and we are waiting for it. I think a lot of times we judge ourselves off our emotions. We think like when I have an emotion or attraction or a desire towards something bad, we think, oh my gosh, I've sinned. Or if we have a desire

or emotion or feeling towards something that's good or like noble, we think, oh, I'm a good person.

Neither of those are entirely true. Of course. We want to be so well integrated that our emotions

are always corresponding with external reality. That would be great. That'd be amazing. But we also know this. We also know that that's not really how emotions work. C.S. Lewis wrote about this. Man, how many times I quote C.S. Lewis? C.S. Lewis wrote about this. He said, you could be absolutely convinced that there's no ghost in the room. But if I have that sense of like, there's someone here. I'm filled with terror. I can know something is true and still have an emotion.

The great thing is,

emotions are neither bad nor good. The fact that I have a particular desire is neither virtuous or vicious. It just is. So here's let's go back to this. Because why? Because sin does not reside in the

emotions. So here I am. And I have a, what, an angry thought or angry emotion. Let's say angry emotion. Let's take here. Or I have a lustful emotion. Or I have a greedy emotion. Like I desire this thing. I desire what someone else has. Or desire what someone else is. I desire someone else physically, whatever those things are. Sometimes we can think like, oh my gosh, like look at me.

Look at me like a wretch or something, look at me a horrible person. Well, pause. Yes, of course. Our emotions could be an indicator that we need some help. Like, right, the fact that I can, I can examine that emotion and say, wow, I'm really angry towards this. Is that just or is it unjust? Is it righteous anger or is it sole precious anger?

Right?

That's a big difference. I can pay attention to that and I can say, okay, God, yeah, I think I need to act on this and do something with it. Or, God, you're asking me to call upon your grace, call upon your name and asking for you to do something with this. Because why? We know that. sin does not reside in the emotions.

It resides in the will.

It's paying attention to, okay, here's how I feel. Here's what I desire. Here's what my emotion is. Now the big question is, what am I going to do with it? Right, because sin does not reside in the emotions. Sin resides in the will. Hopefully this is an encouragement for so many people that I talk to

who say like, I have this feeling, I have this desire, have this motion, and now I'm guilty.

Now I'm sinful. That's not true. Why? Because sin does not lie in your emotions, does not

reside in your desires. Sin resides in our will and what we actually choose to do with that thing.

Why? Again, C.S. Lewis writes about this. He says, some people would say that the instinct towards violence is always wrong. And the instinct towards mother love, the mother's love for a child, is always right. And he would say neither of those are always right or always wrong. He says, there are times where the instinct towards aggression, this is towards being, you know, aggressive there,

to actually, no, that's the right thing to do. If someone's attacking your family, it very well

could be that the instinct towards aggression is good. Also, mother love is not always right.

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