Emotions make us human. The ones we choose to embrace tell a lot about who we are. We all have "good" emotions that we feel: happiness, joy, excitement, love, compassion, peace, thankfulness, etc. But we also have "bad" emotions that we feel: sadness, sorrow, hate, anger, unrest, bitterness, etc. These all play a huge part in how we conduct our Christian lives. There are correct ways to use these emotions and the Bible tells us how to use them.
How do we use our emotions to glorify God?
Our lives are to glorify God in every thought, word, and deed; but since we have fallen natures, this is impossible to do most, if not every single time. Therefore God gave us the Bible to help us align ourselves to His nature. It is very important to remember that emotions swing back and forth. They are unstable and not a good standard for a guide in life. Emotions should compliment a standard for living and not be the standard for living.
What does the Bible say?
Here are some emotions that the Bible focuses on and how it tells us the right and wrong intentions for their use.
Happiness, Joy, Rejoicing...
There are times for us when acting on being happy and joyous are good, but there are times when these emotions are sinful.
A few examples of rightly rejoicing are always rejoicing in the Lord (Philippians 4:4), rejoicing when a person trusts in Jesus for salvation (Luke 15:7), rejoicing with another person who is rejoicing (12:15), and rejoicing in justice (Proverbs 21:15). We would all agree that these are good uses for happiness and rejoicing, but the Bible also has clear guidance on when these emotions and acting upon them are sinful.
Being happy about or joyous about something that dishonors God, His character, and His plans are sinful. Ways that these emotions dishonor God are being happy in sin or about sin (Romans 1:32, 6:1-4), being happy with calling good evil and evil good (Isaiah 5:20), happily being in alliance with injustice (Psalm 94:20-21), and happily making yourself more important than God (Romans 1:20-23).
Hate and Anger
Yes, there are correct times when hate and anger are to be acted upon, but I can almost guarantee it's not the way you're thinking of. As Christians, we are to hate the things that God hates and love the things that God loves. The first example of hatred is going to be a little more in depth because most Christians can't grasp the limit of how far hate can go.
Hatred for sin is the number one hatred we should have (Proverbs 8:13). It is our ruthless enemy and our nature is riddled with it. We will battle against sin until the day we die. There are two big problems that Christians have with this.
The first problem Christians have is a love for their own sin and a hatred for other people's sins. They want to hang on to their own selfish sins and criticize others about how they don't obey God. Sounds obviously crazy, doesn't it? But it's true. We don't hate our sin with a loathsome, passionate hate. We don't get angry with the sin in our own lives like we should.
Secondly, many Christians blur the line between hating sin and hating sinners. We are to hate sin, but we are to also love the sinner. Yeah, I know this has been used as a cop-out for "friendship evangelism" and cowardly approaches to evangelism, but that's not where I'm going with this. Jesus told us to love our enemies, and I believe that means we are to love God's enemies too. We are not to be friends with the world in the sense of living as the world lives and approve of how they live, but we are to go into the world as Christ did and love those who are at odds with God giving them the Gospel of reconciliation to God. The problem is that most Christians can't distinguish that. They see someone who doesn't believe as they do and they mark them off as if they were a leper, hating them because of how they live or what they do. Do you not understand you were in that exact same standing with God as this person is before God so graciously reached down and saved you? Quit being a hypocrite and love as Christ loved! Correct hatred does not breed hatred for people. It breeds compassion, love, and a desire that they be saved.
Hatred for injustice, calling good evil, and evil good are a few more ways we are to use hate to glorify God.
Anger goes right along with hate since they are very close emotions. Anger usually has to do with sin against others or you. A few examples of being rightly angered is when someone slanders God, slanders justice, misuses the Bible, or does evil to others and you. The correct response to this isn't revenge. God will deal with that in His timing. Our response could be as simple as educating the offender, seeking justice (again, not revenge!), or turning the other cheek. We can be angry, but we are commanded to be angry without sinning and don't go to sleep on your anger (Ephesians 4:26).
I realize that is a lot to dwell on for one blog so I'll leave this entry as is until my next post. Think about these things and check to see if you are rightly using your emotions to glorify God.
Worship Him with every emotion.
Blessings,
Nick
