Emotion Is Me

                It is said that women use all aspects of their brain unlike men who only use the one side of the brain. How true this statement is, I do not know. But one thing I do know is that women are emotional beings. We cry at Hallmark commercials, we laugh uncontrollably for no reason at all, we get mad quickly and we hurt deeply. My husband is the least emotional person I have ever met. While I, on the other hand, am an emotional roller coaster. But are our emotions bad? Is feeling deeply wrong, is crying wrong for Christians? This is a struggle I think we, as Christian women, face at some point in our walks. There are many books and topics written about women’s emotions, and thousand more will be written I believe because there is only one Man who has ever understood what it was like to have the emotions that we have, and His name was Jesus.

                When I first became a Christian, I asked the Lord why people told me my emotions were bad, why they wanted me to smile all the time instead of crying when I hurt, I didn’t understand why I could not “show” emotions as a Christian to others. I had heard from many women that I needed to get my emotions under control, and at times I felt like my emotions were wrong, that as soon as I became a Christian I was to become this emotionless being. But the Lord showed me through His scripture that He has created man and woman in His image. “Then God said, ‘Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness…’” (Genesis 2:26) God created man and women in His image. If we have emotions then God does too.

               

God created man to be the “just” side of God; the rational thinking, rational acting side of God. Women were created in the image of the compassionate God, the caring God, and yes, the emotional God. Throughout the Bible we see a God who loves, cares, and reaches out to comfort those in need. God has created women to emulate these same characteristics. We as women tend to go for the comfort instead of the correction when it comes to our children, and those we love. We are not known to be confrontational people, where men are. Men are more likely to discipline their children then women are. Men are more likely to think things through then women are. This doesn’t mean that we are bad people, or that our emotions are. It just means that we were created differently for a purpose and a reason. Men and women were created in the Image of God. Men got certain characteristics of God, and women got the other ones. So that when the two become one, they create an image of One God. (How cool is that!)

                The only one to ever walk the earth that was fully God and fully human was Jesus Christ; He had all the characteristics of God in one body. He felt deeply, just like we do. In John 11:35 “Jesus wept.” He felt the sorrow and the pain of those around Him and He wept. His weeping wasn’t bad, His weeping wasn’t wrong, it was true and it was pure. Isaiah 53:3 tells us that Jesus was “despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…” Jesus felt the same emotions we feel. We feel because God feels. There is nothing wrong with your emotions, my sisters. In fact, we have a God who feels with us. He knows your hurts and He hurts with you. He knows your pain and He cries with you.

                “Inasmuch then, as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself, likewise shared in the same...” (Hebrews 2:14) Jesus experienced every aspect of being a human being. We do not have a God who is blind to our weaknesses, or a God who does not understand what we face, we have a God who was willing to come and be like us, to live in the flesh so that we can go to Him for anything and about anything. What do we face that He has not faced? What do we suffer that He has not suffered? There is absolutely nothing that we go through that He Himself has not gone through.

                There is nothing wrong with our emotions sisters; we have emotions because God is an emotional God. There was a belief in the ancient Greek mythology that their gods were emotionless, uncaring and passionless toward their people. They believed that the gods were isolated and cut off from mere humans. How sad is that? That is not our God. He does care, He is passionate and He desires to be so intimately involved in our lives that He was willing to die for us to prove it. He loves you, emotions and all.

                However, we have to also know that our emotions were tainted by sin, just as everything else about us is tainted by sin. Our emotions can lead us down the wrong path, and our emotions, when not subjected to the power of God can destroy anyone that stands in our way. Jesus wept, He grieved, He felt the pains of sorrow in the depths of His soul, but He took all those emotions to the Father and gave them to Him first. He felt yes, but His emotions never overtook His faith in God the Father. When we are feeling overwhelmed with emotions, we must go before the Lord Jesus Christ, tell Him what we are feeling and let Him work through the jungle of pain, hurt and sorrow we are feeling. When I react to any situation, it is usually because my emotions led first, and then I tried to follow with faith. This always leads to disaster.

                We must learn to allow Jesus Christ to take our emotions and cleanse them in His grace and His mercy. “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.” (Hebrews 4:15) Jesus not only knows what you are feeling, but He understands why and how you are feeling the way you are. We do not have an emotionless God who never wants us to feel anything ever again. We have an emotional God who knows what it is like to hurt, to cry, to feel joy, to feel pain, to feel sorrow. David was an emotional guy, if you read his Psalms you will see a lot of emotions coming from them. God did not tell David to stop being emotional, He only asked that we bring the emotions to Him first so that He can cleanse them from any sin or temptation that may be hiding in the midst of them.

          

      I have gone before the Lord numerous times, (too many times to count, actually) and poured out my sorrow, my pain, my anger before Him. I have vented all my emotions out to Him and not once did He ever reprimand me for coming to Him with my emotions. Our emotions are not sins, sin tainted our emotions. God our Father wants us to know and to realize that we can come to Him in any emotional state and He will listen, He will respond, He will comfort, and He will answer.  If I come to my husband in an emotional state he stares at me with the deer in the headlights look, because he does not understand my emotions. But my God, I can come to Him in a fit of emotions and He just opens His arms, pulls me up on His lap and holds me tight until I get it all out.

                No matter what emotions we are facing, we need to run to Jesus first. He knows how to bring our emotions into check before they run rampant on the hearts and lives of others. Instead of reacting, my sisters, we need to run, we need to run to the arms of our Father and let it all go. I pray that you hear the Lord speaking to you today that emotions are okay, as long as they are surrendered to Him first. Our emotions can lead us down the wrong path, but when Jesus has them, they will only bring us closer to Him and closer to the women He wants us to be. May the Lord God bless His word, and may He receive all the glory. Forever and ever, In Jesus name. Amen and Amen.