Emotions

Exodus 23:9, “You shall not oppress a stranger, since you yourselves know the feelings of a stranger…”

Yesterday I was in a completely foul mood. No real explanation for it, just utterly irritated with everything. And so I wondered, why did God give us emotions in the first place? Are emotions part of the body, soul, spirit, or what?

I thought about animals, which unless domesticated seem emotionless. Not my dogs of course, they show sorrow when you leave, excitement when you return, but the livestock we have pretty much maintain an emotionless temperament all the time. I thought about Polar bears. Has anyone ever heard a Polar bear complain about having to swim miles because some emotion is bearing down on them? Has anyone ever heard or seen an elk complain about being in the snow or having to climb up and down mountains all day?

I thought about hormones. We all know what they can do to a woman’s emotions during “that time of the month.” But men, whether we want to admit it or not, experience similar hormone and chemical induced mood swings.

And so as I wallowed in my mood, I felt guilty for feeling foul, as if there was something I could do about it. Isn’t being a Christian supposed to make you in a good mood all the time? After all, Paul wrote in Galatians 5:22, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control…” And according to Wikipedia most of these are “positive emotions.” So why didn’t I FEEL the positive emotions? Why were my feelings anger, panic, fear, guilt, envy, and greed? Are these, as Wikipedia says, “negative emotions?” Or are they sign posts to some character flaw.

Certainly my eyes and awareness were not on God. Or were they? I was talking to Him, without listening but talking none the less. Frankly was "feeling" to bad to listen. 

Maybe the good and evil that the tree of knowledge created was that of positive and negative emotions? Will we have emotions in heaven? If so, I think I am screwed. Or are they just something to challenge us in the flesh? Are they present as flashing lights of character flaw, or a lack of trust and faith in God?

Whatever the case, emotions are not something that we ever escape… or do we?

Plenty escape emotions with drugs, both legal and illegal. Alcohol escapes one emotion often trading it for another. For me I know some money spent selfishly would produce enough endorphins to at least lift the cloud at least momentarily.

In short I don’t have any revelation or answers. If anything, I only have more questions and more emotions. Makes me say WTH. They seem like a big waste of time and unnecessary when they are on the “negative” side, but I sure to enjoy them on the positive side.

Maybe that’s my problem. Still looking at them from a dualism perspective. Good vs evil, instead of all necessarily part of God’s plan.

I feel better….