I have often been accused, over the past few years, of being “unfeeling” and “cold.” These accusations are always of an emotional nature. What I mean by that is that those accusation weren’t based on fact, but rather how something I said made someone feel.
I want to be clear. I’m not excusing myself for being mean or whatever. I have often spoken to others in a demeaning way, using sarcasm and a rough tone of voice to verbally abuse others. That is a sin that I deal with on a regular basis. But that’s not what this is about. This is about our obsession, as a society, with how we feel. We are a weak and sensuous society. The “men” of our society are weak and sensuous. What I mean by sensuous is obsessed with our feelings. How do you feel about that…how does that make you feel…you hurt my feelings…I feel…You get the point. Again, I want to be clear. Feeling a certain way is not necessarily wrong. It’s what we do with said feelings, I believe, that matter. So many people walk around with “their hearts on their sleeves,” overly concerned about feelings. Let’s consider something together. As Christians, truth for us is a Person. Jesus Christ, the second Person of the Holy Trinity, is the way, the truth, and the life. So, truth is not merely a set of propositions. There are things we should believe that are true as Christians. But, we should also understand that truth is also a Person. So, what has Jesus said about how we feel? Virtually nothing. About the closest thing I can find in all the Gospels to our Lord addressing feelings is when He repeatedly says, “Fear not.” Other than that, Jesus said nothing about how you or I feel. Ok, so you may ask, what does the Bible, as a whole, say about how we feel? Generally speaking, we would say that “the heart” is the seat of our emotions. This is, of course, medically untrue but okay. So, our hearts are the seat of our emotional experiences. So then, what does the Bible have to say about our hearts? Genesis 6:5 tells us that the “imagination of the thoughts” of man’s heart was only wicked. Now, one could argue that was then and this is now. We are much more “enlightened” now. I think a quick perusal of newspaper headlines and online articles will tell you that’s not true. Proverbs 10:20 tells us that the heart of the wicked is of little worth and Proverbs 28:26 says that “whoever trusteth in his own heart is a fool.” The Prophet Jeremiah also reminds us, in chapter 17, verse 9 that, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” The august preacher tells us in Ecclesiastes 9:3 that the heart of the sons of men is full of evil and madness. Well, that’s not very encouraging and sounds nothing like what the world and ,frankly, many Christians say. Follow your heart, they say. Hmm, not sound advice, according to Holy Scripture. But that’s the “Old Testament” you may say. Fair enough. What does the New Testament have to say about our emotions and our hearts? Jesus tells us, in Matthew 15:19, “For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:” and again in Mark 7:21-23, “For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lasciviousness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness: all these evil things come from within, and defile the man.” That’s weird. It would seem, from reading these, that Jesus seems to think that the so-called seat of our emotions is wicked. Hmm… The Apostle Paul picks up on this as well. Romans 1:28-31 tells us what happens in our hearts and lives when we abandon God. Ephesians 4:17-18 tells us that our hearts are hardened and that we are ignorant because of it. So, if our hearts are hardened and we are ignorant, what does that say about our emotions and what does this mean for us as Christians? This means that we are to rule over our emotions, not allow our emotions to rule over us. The Fathers talk about this repeatedly. Over and over, they and the holy monastics tell us that we are to put to death our passions. Our passions are these emotions that are not based in truth. Our emotions lie to us; they are fickle and tempestuous. You know this. I know this. We are fooling ourselves is we think otherwise. And yet, the world thrives on these passions. Media appeals to all our base feelings and instincts; anger, resentfulness, lust, avarice, covetousness, and the list could go on. Don’t believe me? Start paying attention with a critical eye and pray for discernment. You will find this to be true. But why, we may ask? The Blessed Apostle John tells us that the “whole world lieth in wickedness.” (1 John 5:19) The NKJV translates this as “the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one.” That’s why. Because the whole world (including our hearts and emotions) lies under the sway of the wicked one. So, what can we do? How do we not be so weak and sensuous? I’m glad you asked. There is so much in Holy Scripture about how we deal with this that I can’t type it all out. Instead, I will just list all the texts and you can look them up yourself. It starts, though, with our heart. Psalm 50 (51 in the Protestant version) is all about this. Verse 10 says, “Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” This is where it starts. We must have a renewed heart that does not live by our wicked proclivities and feelings. Here are some texts that we may pray through and meditate on as it relates to our hearts. May God give us the grace to conquer our passions. Ezekiel 36:25-27 and 11:19 Isaiah 64:6 Joel 2:12-13 Proverbs 4:23, 10:8, 27:19 Countless verses in the Psalter Matthew 5:8 James 4:8 Hebrews 10:22 and 4:12 2 Timothy 2:22 Galatians 5:17 2 Corinthians 7:1 Philippians 4:7 Luke 6:45 1 John 3:3 Colossians 3:10 Romans 6:17
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