Emotions and What to Do With Them

Today’s Wisdom for the Week comes to us from our friends Tim Lane and Paul Tripp from their excellent book on practical ministry, “How People Change”. One thing I appreciate about Paul and Tim is the way they can put into words what often swirls around my head and my heart.

Did you ever wonder why the way you respond to challenging situations can sometimes seem so inconsistent with what you believe? Check this out.

“The emotions we feel as we first go through difficult experiences are not static. They morph into subtle but extremely influential conclusions about God, ourselves, others, and life. Yet these major changes in what we believe have not been well thought out. We have not put ourselves through a careful theological re-evaluation. Rather, our unresolved feelings become our interpretations of life. Emotions morph into conclusions, and we are end up not believing the things we say we believe.” (p. 110)

Tripp and Lane are getting at how everything we experience has theological implications. When emotions interpret my experience apart from truth, I will not respond in the way God intends. God’s truth does not deny feelings, it provides the proper channel for them to benefit me and honor God.

Here is something to practice this week. When you feel, stop and think. As you think, let truth make sense of your feelings.