Is It All Just Emotion?

“But others were tortured, refusing to turn from God in order to be set free. They placed their hope in a better life after the resurrection. Some were jeered at, and their backs were cut open with whips. Others were chained in prisons. (Hebrews 12:35b-36 NLT)

A common lie that some believe is that Christianity is just emotion and it’s just for the weak. “A crutch for those who can’t handle the pressures of life.” There are few times I worship, individually or corporately, that I don’t express emotion. Sometimes I laugh out loud when I see how well the Lord is caring for me, providing for me, loving me. At times I cry, especially when I think of the tremendous sacrifice Jesus made to make my redemption a reality, and when I think of those I love who have yet to see the light of His love.

Emotion is a very real and impactful piece of my walk with Jesus, but it’s not the reason or foundation. If you think about it, how boring and lifeless would any relationship be without emotion? I love my wife and children with my mind, but I also love them with my heart. I love to laugh with them and celebrate their victories. But I also cry with them when their hearts are heavy or they’re in a dark place.

To view a life in Christ as simply based on emotion is to look at the parade of life through a keyhole. To believe that people who would rather die than violate their trust in Jesus is based on shallow emotionalism, is to fail to understand the rich and powerful dynamic of faith and belief. Yes, of course, love, which some think of as an emotion, is at the core of our confidence in Christ, but love isn’t simply how I feel about something or someone, it’s a decision I make based on intelligent and prolonged investigation.

For someone to make a cursory observation and conclude the only reason someone would desire to walk with God is to satisfy our emotional needs or because we are intellectually “crippled,” is to fail to understand the brokenness of mankind and our need of community. We need each other as human beings, but our far greater need is for forgiveness, healing, and wholeness that can only be found in a relationship with God through Christ.

And, yes, I readily admit, there are people who have found purpose, fulfillment, contentment, and in some measure, “wholeness” apart from Christ. But the wholeness of which I speak supersedes our need to muster the wherewithal to make it through this life. The wholeness that Jesus offers gives us the matchless gift of His presence with us, not only in the blip on the proverbial screen we call life on this planet, but for all eternity.

What Jesus died to give is literally unattainable in any other way than a genuine, life-transforming relationship with God, made possible by the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of God’s only Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He alone is “the Way, the Truth, and the Life,” and the only pathway to eternal joy and bliss, the likes of which this world cannot even conceive.

How can I have the audacity to believe such a far-fetched, “pie in the sky” tale? Because I know and love the Author of that “tale.” He confirms it’s Truth everyday in a thousand ways as we walk life’s pathways together. Am I weak, broken, and in need of a “crutch” to get me through life? Yes, I am and yes, I do! And I will as long as this old body has life.

The revealing truth is, we’re all in the same boat. This life will one day end and when it does everything will become crystal clear. What we “know” by faith now will become sight, even for those who don’t now believe. But with one HUGE difference. For those of us who know, love, and are currently serving the Savior, it will be a time of celebration, joy, and revelation. But for those who have failed to place their trust for eternal life in Jesus, it will be the beginning of an eternity of misery I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy.

I implore you, even if you think I’m absolutely bonkers – PLEASE PROVE ME WRONG! Do your own investigation, not simply by reading all the books and articles of the ones you know agree with you but read and investigate the books of men like C.S. Lewis, Lee Strobel, J. Warner Wallace, John Piper, Timothy Keller, Chuck Colson – the list is virtually endless of men and women who have been intrenched in non-Christian lifestyles who have come to a saving knowledge of Jesus.

You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. And yes, of course, I’ve read books by those who have varying opinions, but they’ve served only to heighten my confidence in the God who never lies.

Food for thought.

Blessings, Ed 😊