Some days wish I were a Vulcan. You know…Spock, the guy from Star Trek. Spock, being a Vulcan, went through life not feeling, he showed no emotion. I think we are prone to days of emotional distress in our earthly existence for one reason or another. I liken it to a computer virus that invades our life and slows us down a bit. But I also realize that the moments of anxiety, or worry, or feeling overwhelmed will be short-lived and we will get on with life. We will get through this “funk” we find ourselves. It’s just that I don’t necessarily enjoy bad emotions…who does?

But, life would be pretty bland if emotions were erased. Emotions were created by God to better glorify and enjoy Him. If we took bad emotions away like hate, prejudice, and worry that would be just fine with me. I don’t like it when these raise their ugly head in my life; I don’t like the struggle I have with feelings like these. It shows an ugly side to human nature I wish we all could conquer and be done with it. Good emotions like love, kindness, and joy are absolutely necessary to the enjoyment of God and life. Can you even imagine a relationship with no emotion whatsoever? Pretty dull, huh? Emotions are the spice in life that brings out the flavor of relationships.

We need to align with God in His thinking about bad emotions and get them out of our life (confession and repentance). We also need to realize that bad emotions damage good relationships, and we must ask forgiveness when necessary of those who have been affected by our negative emotional outbursts (reconciliation).

I believe that emotions were created to honor God through better enjoying God and positively affecting those around us. All of God’s emotions are good and beneficial, even the ones, like anger, that we might not think of in this way. Even God’s anger plays a role of teaching us that God is not to be treated like the gods of this world (He will not even tolerate it!). Let’s always keep in mind that we can bring joy into a person’s life through our emotions.

A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones. (Proverbs 17:22)

Grace & Peace,