Earlier this week I talked about the importance of all emotions and how the movie Inside Out reveals this importance. But do you ever try to distance yourself from the world of emotions? This sometimes happens when emotions become overwhelming—people would rather not deal with them at all. For some men, they were raised to believe that men don’t cry and that showing emotion is a sign of weakness. This is even true for some women. But what happens when we try to keep ourselves from being emotional? Life isn’t as rich or fulfilling, and people don’t make the adjustments their emotions push for. Instead of letting their sadness lead to the Comforter, or their anger to the One who is just and fair, or their fear to the Prince of Peace, they just label all these emotions as bad. They try to suppress them with a never-ending quest for joy instead of the One who brings joy!
Are you sad about the condition of the world, sad over loss and pain? This leads you to the Comforter! The sadness you experience in life makes you see and appreciate joy. When Riley had Joy and Sadness taken away—leaving her with only Anger, Fear, and Disgust—she was able to better appreciate an emotionally balanced life when she finally got those two emotions back. She was able to associate memories with the proper emotions.
God designed our hearts to desire what He desires. We were made to find joy in what He finds joy in, be disgusted by what disgusts Him, be saddened by what grieves Him, be angered by what angers Him, and fear the things He identifies as threatening. In other words, our desires—and the emotions expressed by them—worship God as they imitate Him.
Wrestling with life and emotions is never easy. Every day is different and brings challenges. Are your emotions (or lack of emotions) ruling you? Does your life seem out of control at times? Then it’s time to put your emotions under the authority of God and find freedom. Thankfully, we don’t have to do this alone. Just as Joy was able to find her way back to Riley because of another character’s sacrifice, we’re able to find our way back to God through Christ’s sacrifice!