Very rarely do I thank God for making me an emotional person. But, as I was reminded at the Australia Day Conference, it is a great blessing to be made in the image of God, and part of that includes our emotions. It is impossible to separate life from emotions like love, joy, anger, fear and sorrow. Indeed, the very act of living involves emotion, and it is impossible to divorce this from God – so how do we, as Christians, consider our emotions? As Philip Jensen explained, Christians can become easily confused between emotions and rationalism, but in fact feeling and thinking are not oppositional concepts at all. When we burn with intense anger, are overwhelmed by feelings of love and joy, or overcome by great sorrow, we are still thinking people, capable of reflecting on God and his Word. We are not to be mastered by our emotions, but neither are we to ignore them. When we consider them in line with God’s Word, our emotional struggles and joys can provide great opportunities for Christian growth.
Sometimes it is easy to be too general in our request to be “more like Jesus”. The Australia Day Conference challenged me not just to be more conscious of my emotions, but to also continue to struggle to be a person who loves, angers, fears, and is sorrowful for the same things as Christ. Jesus was not void of emotion but unlike us, he did not sin. When we bring our emotions to Christ and model them around his example, we can expect to be greatly changed and refined.
Michelle A
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