Jerry Bridges on why our feelings are not a good guide, and what we should do about it:
Not only must we guard our minds, we must also guard our emotions. To do this, it is helpful to realize that while God most often appeals to our wills through our reason, sin and Satan usually appeal to us through our desires. This is the strategy he employed with Eve (Genesis 3:1-6). He attacked her reason by questioning God’s integrity, but his primary temptation was to her desire. We read that Eve saw the tree was good for food, it was a delight to the eyes, and desirable for making one wise (Genesis 3:6).
Knowing that Satan attacks primarily through our desires, we should watch over them diligently and bring the Word of God to bear on them constantly. This is not asceticism; it is spiritual prudence. Each of us should be aware of how sin attacks us through our desires and take preventive actions. This is what Paul instructed Timothy to do when he instructed him to “flee from the evil desires of youth” (2 Timothy 2:22).
But the guarding of our desires is more than fighting a rear-guard defensive action against temptations from the world, the flesh, and the Devil. We must take the offensive. Paul directs us to set our hearts on things above, that is, spiritual values (Colossians 3:1). The psalmist encourages us to delight ourselves in the law of God (Psalm 1:2), and it was said prophetically of Jesus, “I delight to do thy will, O my God” (Psalm 40:8, NASB). So we see that we are to set our minds on spiritual things and delight ourselves in the law and will of God.—Jerry Bridges, The Pursuit of Holiness (NavPress, 2003), 174–175.
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