Feeling Like Feeling

Promise me something, will you? Whatever you may feel, feel it as honestly as you are able. If you are grieving, grieve with everything that you are equipped to grieve with. Comfort comes from He-Who-Makes-Whole, and with it may you come to a deeper, truer rest. If you are happy, relish it to the last drop as if it were a fine wine. When anger comes, make the most of the fuel that burns the hottest- but be prepared to do it without sinning. If you are uncertain, BE uncertain... and wait as patiently as you can for the peace that God brings. Please, please, PLEASE do not settle for anything less than experiencing your emotions with the "honestest" honesty, the most authentic authenticity, the exceedingly graceful grace that we find in Christ. The world will try to convince you that your emotions are inherently sinful, but be warned! This is a disgusting misinterpretation of what the scripture may at first appear to be saying. There is nowhere in scripture that says that we ought not to trust our emotions. Our flesh, our sinful nature, our pride... these are all things to be shoved away with a disciplined abhorrence, but NOT the emotions that seem to be inextricably tied to them. What about lust, malice, bitterness, envy... what about all these "feelings" that the Bible says to put off? Well, frankly, they aren't purely emotions. All of those things are what happens when our emotions are utterly out of context and not serving the purpose they were intended to serve, but instead feeding our sin. Take lust as the most popular example among these dissatisfied moral concepts; has anyone ever heard of lust within a marriage relationship? No, because in that context we call it "love". Has anyone ever heard of a person who knows that they truly have everything they need or want envying someone else their possessions? Of course not, because they have everything they need or want- if they are wise enough to realize it. How is it, then, that there are Christians everywhere lusting, envying, and wallowing in bitterness and malicious anger... ? We have everything we need and want in a loving, merciful God, and occasionally we are even wise enough to realize it. I beg you, don't throw the emotional baby out with the sinful bathwater! Should you choose to do so, you choose to lose a vital part of the incredible humanity that God intended for you from the beginning. He isn't just redeeming your mind, your body and your spirit, He is redeeming your emotions along with everything else. So, don't bottle them up, push them aside, deny them, or try to morph them into something more socially acceptable. Feel what you feel, nothing but what you feel, and exactly what you feel... and then ask WHY? In the grand scheme of things, why are you feeling what you are feeling? What is God trying to show you through what you are feeling? Is there something that God may want you to do or not do as a result of these emotions? If you fail to balance the gift of emotions against the other creative faculties and revelations that God provides for us, you may effectively be spiritually crippling yourself.