Digging Deeper Into Emotions
Emotions are part of what makes us human. They are also a part of what makes us created in the image of God. They often have a deeper impact on our soul than we realize or care to admit.
The ability to feel a range of complex emotions is a gift the Lord gave us so that we can experience life in a deeper way and so that we can, most importantly, engage with him in a meaningful and deep way.
I stand by what I wrote six years ago: “God wants us to experience the whole spectrum of emotions.He never intended for us to hide them, ignore them, or numb them. He created us to feel so that we would run to Him and experience those feelings in His loving and powerful arms.He wants to be our Comforter, our Joy, our Hiding Place, our Strength, our Avenger, our Rock. “
Our culture likes to split emotions into two groups: good emotions and bad emotions. This is a false classification that leaves us believing that we shouldn’t feel certain emotions. It is true, as the Bible tells us, that allowing certain emotions to CONTROL us can lead to sin, but that doesn’t mean that particular emotion is always sinful. Emotions are complex which is why God commanded us to submit them under the control of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:16-24).
Believing the lie that certain emotions are all bad can lead us to an unhealthy suppression of our feelings. We push them down and pretend they do not exit. When we refuse to face the emotions we feel, they come out sideways: they can explode in an instant, leave us feeling physical pain or illness, and even lead to more serious conditions such as depression, anxiety, or other mental illnesses. This is why it is important for us to explore our emotions and the meaning behind them. God gave us emotions to be our compass, but not our GPS. They tell us where we are, but were never intended to lead us where to go.
I often use my own guide to assess the state of my soul. Another tool I love is The State of the Soul Wheel offered by Potters Inn, a soul care ministry located in North Carolina. Sometimes we cannot even put words to our emotions and the State of the Soul Wheel helps us to do that.
In the future, using the State of the Soul Wheel as a guide, I am going to be exploring these particular emotions in a deeper way on the blog. I will probably write such a post about once a month. I will explore what makes these emotions form, what the Bible says about them, how they can lead us to God, and how to submit them to the Holy Spirit.
Stay tuned for an exploration of emotions! You can grab your own copy of the State of the Soul Wheel here for $3. You can also access my tool for assessing the state of your soul for free when you sign up for my monthly newsletter.
If you found this post helpful, you might also enjoy:
Comments