Note from Bob: You’re reading Part 4 of a blog mini-series on emotions. For Part 1, read Emotions: Fearfully and Wonderfully Made. For Part 2, read Emotions: Why Do We Feel What We Feel? For Part 3, read Emotions: Gone Bad and Mad.
Stuffing Our Feelings: Over-Controlled Emotional Suppression
For most people, especially us as Christians, “spearing of emotions”
seems like the worst possible scenario. Additionally, many Christians
seem to assume that the opposite extreme is actually a healthy emotional
response: “stuffing our feelings”—over-controlled suppression of our
feelings. That’s not the biblical approach to healthy, Christlike feelings.
The psalmists model how to handle our feelings maturely. The
psalmists faced their feelings face-to-face with God, candidly and
boldly shared their feelings with God, and they soothed their soul in
their Savior God.
Instead of being like the psalmists, many times as Christians we think we are supposed to be like Mr. Spock of Star Trek fame.
He tried to repress his emotions, deny them, if he could, eradicate
them. And we try to live without pathos, without passion and feeling,
thinking somehow that this is the Christlike way to manage our moods. Continue at Bob Kellemen
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