In loose definition, there are positive emotions and negative emotions. Positive emotions include love, joy, and peace. Negative emotions would be like anger, fear, or guilt. Positive emotions are wonderful! Oddly enough, you can also have positive emotions that are destructive. You can love sinful activities. And on the flip side, some negative emotions, i.e. fear or anger, can motivate you to resist drugs, injustice, or some risky behavior.
The positive and negative emotions are more about the events that invoke the feelings, than the feelings themselves. Take note – in most cases, people sin because of emotions. People can get distracted in their emotions and make terrible decisions. For instance, people do not commit adultery and destroy lives and families for rational reasons. They lust and get caught up and taken away in their emotions.
Our culture will tell us to let our hearts be our guide, but even in our movies, the heroes are the ones that control themselves emotionally in extreme circumstances for the needed task. It is the out-of-control emotional ones that do the crazy things that get them in trouble.
Jesus at the Last Supper, the day before He knew He was to be whipped, beaten, crucified, and take on the sin of all creation, washed the disciples’ feet. Jesus was about to walk to the Garden of Gethsemane under such duress that He would sweat blood. Yet, He was in complete control of Himself.
In John 13, Jesus told the disciples that they would desert Him. We know that the original writing did not have chapter and verse divisions. So, the very next sentence Jesus said to them (later divided as Chapter 14:1) was, “Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in Me.” Jesus told them this because He needed the disciples to be thinking clearly in this critical time approaching. Before His Resurrection and the coming of the Holy Spirit, Jesus needed His followers to stay focused and in control and to know that what look like a tragedy, His Crucifixion, would soon result in His greatest Victory.
The Book of Proverbs is all about learning to be wise, and thus, avoid chasing after the foolish things of the flesh. Proverbs 4:23 tells us, “Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life.” The Psalms are full of David fretting over difficult circumstances but concluding with confidence in God’s help. And throughout history, mature Believers were the ones who kept their eyes on God’s promises. Therefore, if Jesus commands, “Do not let your heart be troubled”, then He will make it possible to do so.
Emotions, like fire, are wonderful when controlled. But when out of control, they only destroy.
Blessings, Pastor E