Do you remember the last time you were emotional? Was it an expression of joy, anger, fear, or sadness? There are so many emotions a person goes through in a day, and with these emotional swings, it is difficult to fathom how a person can navigate the turbulent waters of these feelings without getting lost.
Emotions can be compared to a finely crafted violin. When the instrument is perfectly tuned, the result is beautiful music. However, because the violin is so delicate and highly sensitive to its surroundings, it doesn’t take much for it to be affected dramatically by its environment. Any change in temperature, humidity, or altitude, changes which can be subtle and imperceptible, can make the violin sound off pitch. It doesn’t have to be out of tune very much to make everyone within earshot completely miserable.[1]
Controlling Our Emotions
This begs the question: how much are we in control of our emotions? Understanding our emotions and the things that trigger them can help us to be in control of our feelings, making us more emotionally healthy and sound. God is interested in our emotional health just as much as God is interested in the salvation of our souls. Ironically, we pay attention to our spiritual health, and fail to pay attention to the maturity of our emotional being.
Healthy Discipleship
For us to be holistically healthy disciples of Jesus Christ, we also need to develop our emotional health for good Christian living. Over time, our expectations of what it means to be “spiritual” have blurred to the point that we have grown blind to many glaring inconsistencies in our spiritual walk with the Lord. You can be a gifted speaker for God in public, yet be a detached spouse or angry parent at home. You can function well as a leader, yet be unteachable, insecure, and defensive.[2] The apostle Paul, in his letter to the Ephesians, admonished the church of Ephesus, saying:
“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your anger and do not make room for the devil.” (Ephesians 4:25–27)
Yes! There is room to be emotional as children of God because we are created with emotions to express our inner self: the pain, the hurt, the joy, and the happiness we feel within. Yet, we also have a responsibility to hold the excesses of our emotions in check, so we do not make room for evil to overtake us. It is my hope and prayer that we will grow in our self-awareness and effectively use our emotions in a fruitful way.
The Rev. Bernard Nti is a graduate of Pittsburgh Theological Seminary and the current pastor of Westmont Presbyterian Church in Johnstown, Pa. He originally comes from Ghana and is married to Edna Nti, a nurse, with whom he is blessed to have a handsome son. Rev. Nti considers himself a missionary sent by God to bring the unadulterated word of God to the West, just as much as God sent young men in the 18th and 19th centuries to send the good news to Africa.
[1] Omartian Stormie, The Power of a Praying Husband (Oregon: Harvest House Publishers, 2001), Pg. 51.
[2] Scazzero Peter, Emotionally Healthy Discipleship (Michigan: Zondervan, 2021), Pg. 6