A note about emotions …

People today seem to be afraid of fully feeling their emotions.

One reason is because of mixed messages we hear about allowing ourselves to fully explore our emotions. That’s because some people “put the cart before the horse” and lead their lives from their emotions, resulting in a lot of feelings with little rational thinking. Others are taught to stuff their emotions and lead with the intellect.

The truth is we don’t have to be afraid of our emotions, and don’t fully experience being human, and the fullness of the human experience, without them.

Emotions should be felt fully …

BUT …

Filtered through faith in Christ and strained through rational thinking.

What would that look like?

Here’s a good example from “Regions Beyond”:

There is nothing wrong with strong emotions; even those that center squarely upon ourselves. Witness the story of missionary Adoniram Judson. He sweated out Burma’s heat for 18 years without a furlough, six years without a convert. Enduring torture and imprisonment, he admitted that he never saw a ship sail without wanting to jump on board and go home. When his wife’s health broke and he put her on a homebound vessel in the knowledge he would not see her for two full years, he confided to his diary: “If we could find some quiet resting place on earth where we could spend the rest of our days in peace. . .” But he steadied himself with this remarkable postscript: “Life is short. Millions of Burmese are perishing. I am almost the only person on earth who has attained their language to communicate salvation. . .”

I can relate! Can’t you?

There are times I think how great it would be to have a little ranch (with great WiFi!) hidden away somewhere …

But then I strain those feelings through my faith in Christ and further filter it through rational thinking. The result is much the life I live daily.

So if you allow yourself to fully feel your emotions, but strain them through faith in Christ, then filter them through rational thinking, what would you have?

Scotty