Emotions – we all have them. Some we enjoy, some we endure. The question is, what does God say about how we should handle them? ‘Count it all joy when you fall into various trials’ (James 1:2 NKJV). ‘Let all bitterness, wrath, anger…be put away from you, with all malice’ (Ephesians 4:31 NKJV). ‘Be…full of sympathy towards each other’ (1 Peter 3:8 TLB). God has appointed designated seasons for us to weep, laugh, mourn, love – and even hate (see Ecclesiastes 3:1-8). Does He demand that we instantly and completely control all our emotions? No. Instead He makes Himself available to transform our hearts and character, so we can manage our emotions in ways that exalt Him. Rather than providing a manual on emotional self-management, He comforts, encourages, convicts, and reorients us by patiently inviting us to do this: ‘Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you’ (1 Peter 5:7 TLB). Even painful feelings can provide opportunities to develop a deeper relationship with our heavenly Father. It also helps to remember that we’re created in the image of an emotional God, and His Word indicates that He sees our feelings as fundamentally good. Even anger, an emotion commonly deemed pejorative, can glorify Him when we handle it in unselfish ways. It’s not about what we feel, it’s how we handle those feelings. And God can give us the grace to turn any emotion into an attribute that glorifies Him.
