Fearlessly CourageousDesk of Dennis Piller5 22 2023
Click for Audio VersionHow to know what feelings and emotions to trust?
How often have your feelings gotten you in trouble? I think I’ve heard it said, and I have even said it myself, don’t trust your feelings, they change like the wind. The other half of that is that anything and everything that is not washed through God's word is unstable and untrustworthy. The truth is that God gave us our feelings for a purpose. they tell us things, they indicate a direction, or they prompt a response. I read a very interesting article by Jennifer Bradt that feelings are a "Gift from God". She said “God gave humans emotions to prompt us to do something. And since God says that all of the commandments hang upon loving God and loving others(Matt 22:37-39), I know that emotions help us live in healthy relationships and stay connected to God and others".
When I look in the mirror of my life, I can remember a number of times that I have just suppressed my emotions and feelings. Someone said that “emotions buried alive never die.” I know personally, I have buried some of those over the years. They came back to haunt me. Can you remember yours?The Bible says that God gives good gifts to his children and that we were made in the image of God and that God himself is an emotional being. EX 34-6. Jer 10:10, Matt 21:12
She makes a very salient point that all emotions are a gift, even the very unpleasant ones. And she makes a point to not call them bad, negative, wrong, or sinful, but she clearly understands that some are very unpleasant. Here are examples of unpleasant emotions. (Ecc 3:1-8, Ecc 7:14, "Remember that nothing is certain in this life. 14 In the day of prosperity be joyful, but in the day of adversity, consider: without question, God has made the one as well as the other". , Job 17:8 "Upright men shall be astonished and appalled at this, and the innocent shall stir himself up against the godless and polluted".I am certain that all of us would choose the warm and fuzzy feelings. Happy, satisfied, joyful, thankful, and understanding. But when we start looking at our feelings and emotions as a Gift from God that have a purpose, how does that change what you see or how you respond to them? When was the last time you stopped to think about what the purpose is for the unpleasant emotions? Like fear, anger, sadness, or loneliness? I know that I sometimes have the sense that I don’t want others to see those types of emotions within me. That they’re more than unpleasant, they’re unsightly, embarrassing, and certainly less than flattering.But when I change my perspective and filter it through God‘s word, I realize that we shouldn’t be burying these feelings alive. Why? Because these emotions are signals, that clearly tell us something, and lead us to a given response. Now that I think about it, God gives the gift of discernment to people. This sense, given by the Holy Spirit, of what is right and wrong, true and false…, this insite beneath the obvious surface of things. It makes me wonder if that isn’t tied directly to the feelings and emotions that God placed inside of us. This Geiger counter that indicates true north… not ours…but his!
I think that we sometimes establish this value system that anger is always wrong, and that sadness is not good. That loneliness should be avoided at all costs. It’s not so hard to understand that fear is an emotion that causes us to pause, to check our steps, to be acutely aware of something that’s happening, and thus prompts an appropriate response.
But what about anger? If my belief system is that anger is wrong or sinful then when I get those signals that there is an injustice or a threat to my sense of values is occurring, then I’m going to try to ignore that, suppress it, or minimize the situation in order to hold true to my misaligned value system. That clearly won’t correctly resolve the situation by burying it. Psychologists have proven that when we’ve buried our feelings and emotions, they leak out in unhealthy ways in other areas. But when we recognize them as a signal and we filter them through God‘s holy Word, then we have a clear picture of how we should respond.My wife and I attend a small group called Homebuilders. It is attended by other couples who are looking to grow in their relationship, their marriage, and their parenting skills, but so often I hear that they come because they’re lonely. They’re so busy with life, they don’t have any friends. But when you examine that emotion in the light that is a signal to open yourself up, to let others get to know you then you caught the signal that God gave you. When we try to suppress it, bury it, and ignore it rather than follow this leading that God gave us to come into communion and fellowship with the body of Christ the way God intended it to be… we just buried that emotion alive. but it won't die, it festers and creates a sense of further frustration, and bitterness and oftentimes affects our mental and physical health…not to mention our closest relationships.
I am always learning and catching myself as I stumble over truths I have believed for many years… but discover they are not truths at all. Usually, they fall into areas that were not fact-checked by God's word or I was misinterpreting a piece of God's truth.
The truth is, I’ve been faulty in my thinking and that means that I have been expressing emotions based upon wrong thinking that would say that I have interpreted the emotions and expressions of others with that same filter of thinking wrongly. If that isn't a good reason to be accountable to a mature Christian friend, I don't know what is.
Researcher and writer Brene Brown says that when we numb or avoid unpleasant emotions, we also numb and avoid the pleasant ones". I can see that what I choose to ignore or minimize within myself, I would surely do to others. God gave us our emotions and feelings as a gift, to prompt us to a proper and spirit-led response. When we wash what we feel through God's word and align with what he says, then it tells us what feelings/emotions we should be responding with and which ones are not of God and need to beput to the knife…the two-edged sword of righteousness.
What a wonderful name it is Hillsonghttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nQWFzMvCfLE&list=PLCd-wh1hNZpQRQZ73gnTCeUYflnkLMF_S&index=11
