Did you know that it’s safe and even right to engage your emotions when you’re praying, worshiping, or just living out what Christ died for – so that you could have a relationship with God? I’ve heard so many people hint (and also say outright) that emotions are dangerous, emotions are misleading, and emotions are bad. Since we want to live holy and perfect before God – and, He, being the definition of holy, of course, wants us to come to Him perfect and without human fallacies – we shouldn’t include emotion in our service and submission to Him. (In reality, God knows us and knows what we’re thinking and feeling whether we show it to Him or not, and He is able not only to understand but also empathize with our weakness, because He, too, came as a human being (Hebrews 4:15). So it’s good and right to allow Christ into our emotions and submit them to Him just like any other area of our lives.)
I believe some of this no-emotions-allowed mindset comes from the Bible’s exhortation to us to stand firm and have a sound mind (Ephesians 6:14 and 2 Timothy 1:7, for example) . Another part comes from our history; during the reformations, a very large emphasis was placed on good doctrine. Knowing what you believe and why you believe it – and what the Bible has to say on that topic – is an excellent thing. Paul and Luke even commended believers who eagerly searched for what he preached in the scriptures of their day (Acts 7:11). But when the reformers threw out everything that didn’t involve the mind and was directly spoken about in scripture, they lost a part of God’s personality. This mindset has made its way down through the centuries, especially whenever “truth” in a church is a focus that eclipses most other disciplines of the faith.
And yet, if we search the scriptures, we can find that Jesus had quite a few emotions while on earth. He felt grief (John 11:35), great joy (Luke 10:21), was very troubled (John 11:33), anger (Mark 3:5), indignance (Mark 10:14), frustration (Mark 4:35), and much more. Especially in the crucifixion story, we see all kinds of emotions, including grief, longing, hope, depression, and despair. If we imagine that Jesus floated through His earthly life calm, controlled, His eyes lifted to heaven because He was so above such earthly, human things like emotions, we’ve missed the real, living, loving Jesus.
I believe that Christ is most glorified when in our lives when we use all of ourselves to love Him. That includes our minds (Matthew 22:37), but it also includes our bodies (Romans 12:1), our will James 4:7), and our emotions.
God isn’t ashamed of our emotions. Yes, they can lead us astray at times, which is why we want our emotions submitted to Him and His will for us. But if we’re hiding our emotions, it’s because we’re ashamed of them. There is no need for shame when it comes to God – Christ’s blood covered all that (Romans 8:1). Shame is birthed in the fear of punishment for something we’ve done, and we have been made new and holy in Christ (1 John 4:18).
Why don’t you try bringing your emotions to God today – not necessarily as your weakest point, but because He wants you; the whole you, every part of you, whether you like that part or not. Try worshipping with emotions. See what happens what you engage with Him in prayer and letting your emotions engage, too. I expect you’ll find the disciplines of the faith to be much more fun – and that you’ll be a lot more peaceful when you aren’t trying to hide a part of yourself from God.
