It is Day 33 of the 40 Days of return to the Lord. Today’s admonition is about sharing in the joy and grieve of others. Life’s events can either bring joy or sorrow. There is a time for sorrowing and a time for rejoicing. We all have the capacity to rejoice or grieve as emotional beings depending on the situation at hand. As believers in Christ, we need the right emotion to be able to rejoice and sorrow with others in ways that reflect Christ at different times. This does not happen naturally, but it is evidence of a transformed life in Christ.
Emotion is a part of you
You are a physical, spiritual, emotional, intellectual, and social being like God the creator. All these parts of your life are there to bring God glory as you work on them to become mature. There is a tendency for born again children of God to focus more on the spiritual aspect and continue to grow without growing the other parts of their being. Neglecting these other areas may result in destructive consequences that put emotionally immature folks behind the pulpits. This immaturity becomes so glaring as you associate with people over time, and will easily see the flaws. Many folks neglect their emotion, this makes it impossible for them to grow in their emotions towards God, people, and themselves. Emotions are the language of the soul. When God made the world He said that it was good, God as an emotional being named how He felt about His creation.
The truth is that emotions form and develop over time from family settings where you were raised and as you relate to people. Your family is not the same as mine. You have stuffed in emotions over the years. If you were not raised by people who shared life with others, then you may tend towards that character. People who are able to share their emotions are most likely to be free and happy with themselves and others.
The Normal Christian Life
The emotion is an integral part of your spirituality that also needs to be transformed into that of God. This transformation in your heart does not happen without yielding yourself to the discipline of meditation on scriptures. The truth is you are constantly communicating whether verbally or nonverbal, you are sending a message to the people around you. Living a balanced Christian life involves the ability to submit your feelings and emotions to the word of God, as you daily expose your heart to reading, studying, and the meditation of the Bible. Stop denying your feelings, God recognizes it, He expects you to tell Him how you feel sincerely from your heart. It is how you know what is on the inside of you. You have been called to live above your emotions, not denying it, but putting it side by side with God’s word for the necessary transformation of your soul. It is good to name your feelings, don’t curb your feelings on the inside, let them out in words. Operating based on feelings and emotions may result in overreaction or under-reaction with consequences to deal with.
Scriptures say in Matthew 26:38-39 about Jesus, He told them, “My soul is crushed with grief to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He went on a little farther and bowed with his face to the ground, praying, “My Father! If it is possible, let this cup of suffering be taken away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.”
Jesus gives us an example of how to submit the emotions to the will of God. First, Jesus told His friends about the state of His emotions and what he would have them do to help Him through it. He didn’t try to go through it all by Himself, then, He went further to tell the Father, how inconvenient the cup of suffering was for Him but He chose to do the will of God. The Father cares about your feelings and knows how to make you feel better.
The Changed Life
It is important for you to examine what your emotions were like before you came to the knowledge of God, and see what you have now to be sure that the old you have passed away in the area of your emotions towards the people around you. Take time out to see how you responded, reacted, unreact to situations in time past to situations of life. The process of checking yourself is so crucial to your being able to pay attention to the details of God’s truth to you per time and be able to receive and respond to them properly. Being able to pay attention to the situations around you, especially the people in your sphere of influence, to deliver God to them where they are.
Sharing others’ Joy
The ability to genuinely rejoice with others is borne from your emotions. You are able to share in their joy from the bank of compassion and love that you have received from the Father. Celebrating others and feasting together in their happy moments shows you care. Being punctual at events you planned to attend with joy, this will help you forget your own issues for a while as you give yourself to attend to them.
Sharing other’s Grief
Empathy comes from having compassion, being able to put yourself in the shoes of others, and see how you can make them feel better in their sorrow. You are able to respond properly to their grief as you let out your emotions towards their grief. Most miracles performed by Jesus were from having compassion for the people, which usually resulted in a change that is accompanied by joy. The people in return felt loved and willingly followed Jesus. The world will follow you to Jesus if you will show some compassion and mercy on them as they are.
