All of my life I've struggled with emotions. I think this is something we ALL struggle with in different ways. Some of us tend to be 'too' emotional while others of us build walls around our hearts that can never be broken down. It's not that one tendency is better or worse than the other...we're just all created differently--exactly the way God intended.
Recently, I've felt the need to work on this area of my life. God created me the way that I am, but that doesn't mean I can't try to improve on the good and work on the bad characteristics that I possess, right? As I've struggled to be more balanced in my emotional life, God has brought it to my attention that I struggle with this same issue in my spiritual life.
Having grown up in a traditional Bible church, emotions were very seldom displayed in connection with worship. Doctrine and Bible study were important but...emotion...in church? Never. I've also seen the other end of the spectrum. You know...churches that teach that you have to FEEL or DO something in order to have real faith.
God did not intend for our lives to be unemotional and boring. A life led by the Holy Spirit should be nothing but adventurous. However, our spiritual lives shouldn't be a chaotic, roller-coaster mess either. As believers I think we tend to get caught on one path or the other based on our emotional make up. For those of us who aren't so comfortable expressing our emotions, we take the safe route and attend a church steeped in tradition. A place where no one will expect us to raise our hands as we worship. A place where we can repeat the same duty or fill the same position each week. A place where we can claim that our faith is based on our knowledge of God's Word...not empty emotions.
Then there are those of us who take the opposite path but for the same reason--comfort. We find a place of worship that caters to our emotional 'needs'. A place where an outward display of worship is common. A place where we can experience a spiritual high. A place where we 'feel' the Holy Spirit moving.
In Mark Chapter 7, Jesus is questioned by the Pharisees. They want to know why His disciples don't walk according to the traditions of the elders. Jesus starts His response by quoting Isaiah.
6"'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me.' 8 For laying aside the commandment of God, you hold to the tradition of men--the washing of pitchers and cups, and many other such things you do." 9 He said to them, "All too well you reject the commandment of God, that you may keep your tradition. 13 Making the Word of God of no effect through your tradition which you have handed down."
What kind of pitchers and cups are we washing today? We follow the same order of service each week...pausing in the middle of worship for announcements, thanks, offering, scripture reading. Yes, most of that is a part of worship, but if it HAS to be the same every week just so some 90-year-old man in the back pew doesn't have a heart attack, then we're 'walking according to the traditions of our elders' and we could be 'making the Word of God of no effect.' I pray that we aren't purposely holding to these silly, repetitious acts and losing the power of God's Word in the meantime. What good does it do to sing songs of praise to my Father on Sunday, put my offering in the plate, and listen to great doctrinal preaching if I never reach out to love someone in need on Monday?
On the other hand, in Ephesians Chapter four, Paul says,
14 "...that we should no longer be children, tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting."
As believers we need to have a solid foundation. We can't base our faith on the way we feel or the way our church worships. We are sealed with the Holy Spirit the moment that we trust Christ as our Savior. (1 Cor. 1:21-22) He doesn't leave or move away from us...but we can miss out on hearing His voice if we're not listening. Studying God's Word isn't exclusively for those who are 'called' to ministry. Each one of us has been given a ministry called LIFE, and we should study to understand God's Word and share it with others. Paul prayed that the Colossians would be "filled with the knowledge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual understanding," (Col. 1:9) and we should have that same prayer today! Just because I raise my hands or dance in worship or walk to the altar to pray on my knees each Sunday, that doesn't mean I have a solid foundation on Biblical truth. If I don't worship this way on Monday in my own house in the bedroom closet, then is it true worship or just an emotional show for those around me?
Let's stop using excuses of knowledge-based faith to prove that our faith shouldn't be emotional. And on the other hand, let's not base our faith on emotions that change day-by-day, minute-by-minute, second-by-second. We've got to strive to have a balance in our spiritual lives.
I don't have the answer to what that balance should be, but I'll be working toward that end until the day I stand before my Jesus and worship in a way that I can't even fathom.
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