Peace in the Chaos: Part 2b - If I am Following Christ, Why Don't I have Peace? - The Emotions
Last week we started looking at three areas that might keep us from experiencing the peace of God, even though we walk with Him and read His word. Going through the motion of being a Christian does not always mean we will have His true peace. We must know the Prince of Peace on a personal level to really experience the peace that passes all understanding.
Last week we looked at the mind and examined two areas: alignment and focus. This week we are going to delve into the universe of our emotions and discuss how they can either help or hinder our ability to have God’s peace in troubled times. I have discussed emotions on the blog before, so some of this might be review, but it is good to keep these ideas in mind in these turbulent times.
God Given. We have looked at Genesis 1 before, but let’s dive in again.
“26 Then God said, “Let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness; and let them rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over the cattle and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.”
27 God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.
28 God blessed them; and God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply, and fill the earth, and subdue it; and rule over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the sky and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”
29 Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree which has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you;
30 and to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the sky and to every thing that moves on the earth which has life, I have given every green plant for food”; and it was so.
31 God saw all that He had made, and behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”
God created man in His image. It wasn’t an image like Nebuchadnezzar built in Daniel 3, an image made of gold and built to bow down to. The image of God is not the physical manifestation, but the mind and spirit. We are not made in God’s image as a baby bears the image of his or her parents, but as in we are spiritual beings with characteristics shared with God such as creativity, purpose, and emotion.
The above verses go on to confirm the idea of purpose, as we see God gave man the purpose of being fruitful and having rule over the earth. Purpose is definitely tied in to our emotions. If we have purpose we can keep going. If we have purpose we can tame our anger, manage our discouragement and keep striving for our hope. And no, the purpose of our lives is not to be happy, but to glorify God.
“16 but if anyone suffers as a Christian, he is not to be ashamed, but is to glorify God in this name.”
Recognizing that our emotions are from God, how is it that they can keep us from having His peace?
Immature emotions. Emotional maturity is something that happens as we learn how to, not only embrace and feel our emotions, but also learn to manage them. Unfortunately, in the church community as I was growing up in the 60’s and 70’s we didn’t talk about our emotions, at least not to the extent people do today. Now, we have all manner of psychological tests, books and information on emotion, with terms we never heard of when I was young like ADHD, Autism, Emotional Regulation, Emotional Intelligence and so on. However, long before we had this knowledge, God already had it figured out. He knew there was a process to maturing emotionally.
“14 As a result, we are no longer to be children, tossed here and there by waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, by craftiness in deceitful scheming;
15 but speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in all aspects into Him who is the head, even Christ,
16 from whom the whole body, being fitted and held together by what every joint supplies, according to the proper working of each individual part, causes the growth of the body for the building up of itself in love.”
I think it is important to note that having the information we do now can be very helpful, especially in trying to understand ourselves or our children, but that information is not a substitute for the truth of God’s word and the input of His Holy Spirit in our lives. For instance when a young child is acting out it is good to know what might be behind those emotions: hunger, fatigue, frustrations, want, etc. This can also be helpful for ourselves, but we still need to let the child know why it is not good to hit others, or to not destroy things that belong to others, etc. In the same way emotional maturity in my own self shows up as I learn to put off immediate gratification, or lean in to grief after a job loss or death of someone special.
Unresolved emotions. One of the ways emotions keep us from His peace is when they are unresolved. Anger, jealously, lust, selfishness when left to feed become problematic. Let’s look at a few scriptures.
“14 Pursue peace with all men, and the sanctification without which no one will see the Lord.
15 See to it that no one comes short of the grace of God; that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled;”
Notice how the author says, “that no root of bitterness springing up causes trouble, and by it many be defiled.” What happens when bitterness takes control? I know from my own experience it can lead to gossip, slander and other misuses of our tongues. That in turn, leads to others being defiled, because we have swayed their thinking, and their emotions with our words and feelings.
“13 Who among you is wise and understanding? Let him show by his good behavior his deeds in the gentleness of wisdom.
14 But if you have bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your heart, do not be arrogant and so lie against the truth.
15 This wisdom is not that which comes down from above, but is earthly, natural, demonic.
16 For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil thing.
17 But the wisdom from above is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, reasonable, full of mercy and good fruits, unwavering, without hypocrisy.
18 And the seed whose fruit is righteousness is sown in peace by those who make peace.”
This passage makes several points that I want to dwell on.
1 - Wisdom and understanding come in the form of good behavior, and gentleness. I am becoming more aware of the word gentle and its forms in Scripture and it is always used with regards to our relationship with others. I will look more at our actions next week, but today remember the emotion of gentleness.
2 - Jealousy and selfish ambition are earthly, natural and demonic. Yikes! That is strong language, but the author goes on to say why. For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist there is disorder, and every evil thing. What is the title of this series? Peace in the Chaos…hmmm, do you think there might be a connection between what we see going on in our country and the world and these emotions that are earthly, natural and demonic?
3 - Wisdom from God is the emotional pot of gold. Look at the list: pure, peaceful, gentle, reasonable, merciful, fruitful, steadfast and true. I include all of these in the emotion category. Though each one may not be an emotion per say, they are the seeds that generate how our emotions will be used.
4 - Righteousness blooms from seeds sewn in peace by those who make peace. When we move through life from one volatile emotion to another we do not create peace, in our own lives or in the lives of others.
Emotional overload. This has to do with making our emotions the focal point of our lives. I have had to learn to embrace the reality that I am an emotional person. I cry when I watch certain movies. I carry great sadness for those I love who are not following Christ. I dealt with anger for decades from the time I was very young and through much of my adult life. I was like a tea pot that simmered until I finally blew up. My girls and my spouse have not only seen, but occasionally felt my wrath. My life was consumed by how I felt, and believe me, I never felt at peace…until I finally matured and realized who I truly was in God’s eyes, and that my emotions were a gift from Him; a gift that now moves me to pray, to laugh, to cry, to feel deeply for what others are going through.
When we allow emotions to rule in our lives we cannot have God’s peace. We will not be able to find His peace because we will be so focused in on having our emotions soothed, our needs/wants met, and maintaining control over everything, that all we end up doing is making ourselves miserable. I know. I have been there.
“22 Now flee from youthful lusts and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace, with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart”
“1 Remind them to be subject to rulers, to authorities, to be obedient, to be ready for every good deed,
2 to malign no one, to be peaceable, gentle, showing every consideration for all men.
3 For we also once were foolish ourselves, disobedient, deceived, enslaved to various lusts and pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful, hating one another.
4 But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared,
5 He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit,
6 whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior,
7 so that being justified by His grace we would be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”
The above verses both mention the capacity for emotions such as lust, envy, and hate to lead to enslavement and foolishness on our parts. 2 Timothy says to “flee youthful lusts.” Run away from them as fast as you can. This gives a nod, not only to overload, but to emotional maturity. The Titus passage reminds us that we were enslaved to “lusts, pleasures, spending our life in malice and envy, hateful and hating one another.”
It is one thing to feel anger, lust, and even hatred in a burst of emotion, but those feelings have to be tempered by the Holy Spirit in our lives. He is the one who renews and regenerates us. Just as I need to take the things I hear and see back to His Word, I need to take the emotions I am feeling back to Him and ask for a course correction. The best way to do this is by keeping short accounts with God. Don’t go days and days without checking in. Don’t go weeks and weeks without looking into His Word. His Word is truth and it will never, ever lead us astray.
Next week we will look at how our actions lead us away from His peace. Be sure to keep and eye out for new content soon.