Journey Toward Christ Centered Emotions

Chapter 1

Emotions – Where did they come from?

The answer to this question may be a foregone conclusion given the fact you are reading a Christian book. We know the right Christian answer to the question. The problem is, in having the knowledge that God gave us our emotions do we then allow our emotions to be used for His glory and honor or for our own destruction? Here lies the battle.

Keep in mind, that if God is the source of our emotions then they have been blessed by Him and are for our good. Therefore, Satan, has only one purpose with our emotions and that is to steal, kill and destroy them so they do not work for our good but for our detriment.(John 10:10)

The word “emotion itself comes from the middle french word, “emouvoir” meaning to “stir up”. It was only in the 19th Century where the word took on the present meaning; “a conscious mental reaction (as anger or fear) subjectively experienced as strong feeling usually directed toward a specific object and typically accompanied by physiological and behavioral changes in the body.”

In Genesis 1:27 we read, “God created man in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female He created them.” Therefore being created in God’s image means everything that makes us human also has the element of divine in it. When God created man and woman in His image then every emotion which was given and placed within humankind has its origin from God Himself. Every emotion you and I can think of such as; joy/excitement, sorrow, fear, anger and pleasure all have the element of the divine in them because God, who is Spirit, has all these emotions as well. Our emotions are not only an important aspect of our soul but is also vital in our relationship with God, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Our emotions allow us to live life in abundance which Christ Jesus came to give us.(John 10:10)

Now, for all of you who are thinking this guy is completely post-modern and is all about feelings, let me try to put your mind at ease. I am not speaking of being overly emotional or basing truth on emotion but I am saying that we who are made in God’s image will never enjoy the kind of communion God intends us to have with Him unless our emotions are a part of that relationship with Him. Our emotional and mental well being is vital to our relationship with Jesus.

The old Star Trek series from the late 1960s’ was one of my favorite TV shows growing up. My favorite characters of the series was the very passionate Captain Kirk and his two close friends, Doctor Leonard McCoy (Aka Bones), and first Officer Spock. Each show usually ended with Captain Kirk sharing some object lesson about what it meant to be human with Spock, who was a Vulcan and bases all of life on reason and logic, shaking his head with a belief that humans were barbarians. Of course Spock’s response would always get under the skin of Dr. McCoy who would respond by saying something like, “You are just a thick headed, green blooded Vulcan”. This banter would be a part of just about every episode.

I find in the church today we have many Spock’s and Dr. McCoy’s who just can’t seem to get along because they veer off to either one extreme or another. We have people who are so fearful of their emotions that their only comfort is in reasoning everything through. When they see people weep in church or stand and raise their arms in a praise gathering they define it as overly emotional. The other side of the coin are the Dr. McCoy’s who are wearing their emotions on their sleeve and when they are angry they tell everyone about it. If they are excited they can make a scene without being sensitive to the needs of others around them.

The Lord is calling His people to be whole emotionally and He does not want us functioning in the extreme’s where we are usually hiding behind masks which are meant to veil our immaturity. We will look more into these two extremes in later Chapters.

Let's look at the different emotions that have been given to us by God which have the divine in them.