I recently came across the above Instagram post and had a gut response. I checked the comments to see what others were thinking. When I viewed this post, it had been up for 46 minutes and already had 13.7k likes and 277 comments, mostly exclaiming praise for the profoundness of this statement. The post from Dr. Nicole LePera aka @the.holistic.psychologist is ten slides long and goes through a series of adverse events, evils, and challenges one may face and how it all boils down to one root issue: the inability to regulate your emotional state. The last slide promotes a community you can join where you can learn to regulate your emotions (for a small fee, I’m sure). So why does this bother me? I want to share with you why it does in hopes that when you see similar messaging, it will give you a little red flag, and you can compare it to God’s Word for truth. 

First off, this post is coming from a particular worldview. What’s a worldview, you ask? You can check out this post for more detail, but it’s essentially how you make sense of the world. Everyone has one. Why do you believe there is good and evil? How do you make sense of events? That all reveals your worldview. This particular worldview sees evil or anything negative as a reaction to an inability to self-regulate your emotions. What is the underlying issue when road rage hits, and someone throws you the bird, or, most recently, when the unthinkable happens, and a school shooter walks into a school and opens fire? This post states that all bad choices can be explained by the loss of control of emotions. All evil or bad choices come down to an inability to regulate emotions, to calm down, to take a breath and move on.

Well, is this true? Yes and no. While many of us make poor choices when we’re angry or evil prevails when there’s resentment, the emotions are just part of the problem. They’re on the surface. We can work our whole lives to regulate our emotions and save ourselves, but we will never deal with the more significant, underlying issue. I believe only the Christian worldview has the answer to the problem. Your inability to thrive, the reason for evil, and your bad decisions is sin. 

Why is the world not ok? Why does it seem evil prevails? In Genesis 3, we see that after God created the world, man (Adam and Eve) rebelled against God and chose to do the one thing they were forbidden to do: eat the fruit of the knowledge of good and evil. That rule wasn’t given because God is a cosmic killjoy but rather because God wanted to protect them from sin and death. But man sinned and ever since that day, sin entered the world and tainted everything. Every person is a descendant of Adam and Eve and therefore has the lethal “disease,” of a sinful nature. We are not only born sinners, but every person has also chosen sin. 

Maybe you’re thinking- ok, that’s pretty depressing. What am I supposed to do about that? If we all have it, then there is no way to rid the world of it and “be free.” But that is where there is good news. 

The Instagram post tells you that to get to an even or “good” state, you must take a class, do the work, and learn to regulate your emotions. You must do all the work. It’s on you. Still getting flustered? Surrender more! Easily angered? You’re probably not meditating enough. Maybe you need to pay to take an in-person seminar or even a silent retreat. Maybe then you will finally find surrender.

But do you see how hopeless this is? If you are the problem, your emotions, your thoughts, etc. then you can’t also be the solution. There’s not something deeper inside of you or some special knowledge you must attain to get well. This worldview promises to have hope and peace, and yet, it leaves you in a perpetual state of trying harder and doing more work.

I want to share with you the true hope. That Jesus, God made flesh, came down to earth to live the perfect, sinless life and die in your place. There is nothing in you that can ever save you. No amount of trying harder is going to get you to a spotless, sinless state. The Bible tells us that the wages of sin is death. We will all face physical death. We are all sinners. But the gift of God is that He died in your place on the cross to pay for your sins. Through his death, and resurrection three days later, you can be forgiven. You can be wiped clean of your sin. Through faith and submission to Christ, you can be spared from the consequences of sin and find true healing. And then this thing happens to you, this new life that is only offered in Christ, begins to spark internally. God gives you His Holy Spirit to live inside you. His Spirit begins to reveal truth to you- to show you who God is and how you were created in His image. He slowly but surely begins to change your perspective to be in line with God. As you grow in your relationship and trust him, He promises to give you a peace that surpasses human understanding. 

Do you see the difference? It isn’t something that you have to achieve on your own; you have His Spirit, a helper who begins to change you from the inside out. 

I used to be angry and bitter. I felt hopeless and desparate. I didn’t love and care for myself or even others for that matter. And when God came into my life, it was a transformation. He began to change my perspective. He began to show me I was loved and valuable. This overwhelming love radically changed my life and made me want to love and share it with others.

Does this mean I never cut anyone off in traffic or struggle with anxiety? No, absolutely not. I still struggle with this, and I likely will until I die. My emotions are not always perfectly in check but because of the transformative work of God, I can live in a fallen world with a peace that surpasses understanding. A peace that was a free gift from my gracious, Heavenly Father. That peace is available to you as well. Is your heart longing for answers, truth, and peace too?