“Jesus wept” (John 11:35).
We serve a God of emotions. Every emotion humans experience our heavenly Father has revealed of Himself. Some of us are more emotional than others. A few of us are able to guard our emotions quite well and may give the impression we are cold–even heartless. That may not be the case. We learned from the very outset that letting our emotions control us can lead to sin.
“Cain was very angry, and his face was downcast” (Genesis 4:5c). The recent slaughter of innocents at Virginia Tech by an emotionally crazed student reminds us of the horror that can result from unbridled emotions.
We live within an angry culture. Affluence seems to feed our rage. All that is required is for someone to cut another off on the freeway and blood will be shed because of it. Surely it’s the ministry of God’s elect to control their passions and honor God in the process. “Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice” (Ephesians 4:31).
Emotions are evidenced in our worship to God. In the rebuilding of the temple the passion of Israel was culpable. “No one could distinguish the sound of the shouts of joy from the sound of weeping because the people made so much noise. And the sound was heard far away” (Ezra 3:13). I’m not one to believe that the quality of sincere worship can be judged by decibel level. Yet some of the sweetest sounds I have heard in the fellowship of Christ come at the rejoicing over someone who has just arisen from the waters of baptism.
Emotions, however, are oft’ unreliable guides. We can make rash decisions based on the heat of a moment and end up regretting it for a lifetime. The passion between two young lovers can cause repercussions not unlike the ripples in a pool of water caused by a pebble. “So I say, live by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature” (Galatians 5:17). The emotions of King David brought about one of the most tragic stories of deceit and murder in the Old Testament when he arranged the murder of a man in order to marry his wife with whom David was having an affair.
Emotions can play a vital part in our coming to the Lord. Only a stone-cold heart could not be touched by the outpouring of love we see at the Cross.
How could anyone, even Jesus, have that much love for a people so undeserving of it? And yet it is there in abundance. One cannot come to Jesus without first having a contrite and broken heart over his/her own sin.
Repentance is always called for of those who would come to Christ. No wonder David felt the tugging of his heart to repent. “The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit” (Psalm 34:18).
Jesus wept over Jerusalem. Jesus wept at the death of His friend Lazarus. Tears of remorse are needed in order for us to maintain our spiritual equilibrium.
The same emotions at a wedding or a funeral can drive us to weep copiously one moment and laugh the next. Yet we must not allow the emotions of circumstances to mislead us. “It is not good to have zeal without knowledge, nor to be hasty and miss the way” (Proverbs 19:2).
Think Before You Speak
She was left standing at the altar. The love of her life had not shown for the wedding. Family and friends were distraught. The prospective bride exclaimed her anger before the gathered well-wishers and her disgust for being so shamefully embarrassed. Without proper reflection she struck out with words of revenge filled with deep emotion. Little did she know that her fiancée had died in an automobile wreck on the way to the wedding. “A happy heart makes the face cheerful, but heartache crushes the spirit” (Proverbs 15:13).
We were created in the likeness of God. Nobody fully understands the depth of what that means. But one thing we have learned is that emotions can be gifts of infinite value or arrows that can mortally pierce the very hopeful heart that embraces life. “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life” (Proverbs 4:23). The heart is the repository of every emotion that can uplift or downcast.
Emotions are gifts from God, like postcards from the soul that flavor the myriad encounters of life. There is no need to avoid them, but there is great need to let them have their proper place.