If your waiting for your feelings before you act you will never act - Proverbs 25

Proverbs 25:21

If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;

And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;

We are often ask, commanded, in God's Word to do things we don't "feel" like doing.   If we waited until we had a "feeling" to forgive someone, love someone, or do good to a person who hurts us, we would never forgive, love or act.    That is the importance of this proverb.   Solomon (and Paul, again, in Romans 12) tells us to act before we feel.  I am not to act because I feel.  I am to act because God told me and it is the right thing to do.   We will handle the next verse later, but the result of our action, over feelings, is that the person receiving the act of kindness will be highly affected.   Again, that proverb is for another time.   Let's focus here on how this "action" over "feeling" affects us.   The result of action over feeling is that it introduces and ushers in feelings later.   As we act and do what we know is right the feelings that we have done good and done right changes.   Our feelings react to the actions we take more than do the actions flow from feelings.   A sustainable life style is to act and allow the feelings to flow from that action.   One person said it as follows, "You are more like to act yourself into feeling than to feel yourself into acting."  If I wait until I feel like exercising I will never exercise.  But, if I go out and exercise the feelings to continue and to keep going sneak up and begin to flow.  Don't wait until you feel like being kind to your enemy.   Obey and be kind.   In so doing you will affect how your enemy feels, but you will also affect your own feelings.