You live according to your core values. I’m not saying you should live by your core values or that you need to dream up a list of core values to live by. I’m telling you one of the most painful truths about life: You already live according to your core values. Already. Every day. Show […]
Myth #5: Ignore Your Emotions and They Will Just Go Away
And now onto the last myth in this series: Myth #5. Ignore your emotions and they will just go away. This is the myth that does the most damage. The body count is enormous—marriages ended, relationships broken, churches split and destroyed—all because people with influence were unwilling to stop and look at the uncomfortable emotions […]
Myth #4: Emotional Christians are Shallow.
Here’s Part 4. Try something for me. Wherever you are right now—at your computer, or iPad or iPhone—look away from the screen. If there’s a mirror there, all the better. Take stock of how you feel, and then when you’re ready say this sentence: “You seem really reasonable today.” Now, take stock of how you […]
Myth #3: Emotions Aren’t Spiritual
Now, onto Myth #3: Emotions Aren’t Spiritual. There is one particular story in the life of Jesus that was really uncomfortable for the little church I grew up in. It’s found in every one of the Gospels, so it wasn’t possible to ignore. Something about the story was powerful and important, but something else was a […]
Myth #2: Emotions Will Lead You Astray.
Here’s Part 2: “Whatever you do, don’t make an emotional decision!” How many times have you heard that advice? It sounds wise. After all, how many stories do we know of people who followed their emotions right off a cliff? We know of people who lost everything following anger or lust or greed. In a […]
Myth #1: God’s Not Emotional.
I remember seeing a Jesus movie as a kid, sometime in the middle seventies. The Jesus in that film was haunting. His long, blond hair hung limp down the sides of his gaunt face, framing piercing blue eyes that could see, I imagined, right into your heart. He spoke quietly. His words were delivered in […]
5 Things You Learned About Emotion in Church That Aren’t True.
Have you ever experienced a paradigm shift? This isn’t just learning new information. This is when you discover something that changes the way you see everything. It’s the difference between thinking that the earth might revolve around the sun, instead of the other way around. I’m in the middle of a paradigm shift right now. […]
No Emotional Growth? No Spiritual Growth.
There is no spiritual growth without emotional growth. Does that seem like an overstatement? Perhaps it’s taking things too far, but the more I think about this, the more it seems accurate. I have known people that on the outside seemed to have been pursuing spiritual growth for years, decades even. Yet they aren’t […]
Emotions Always Tell The Truth.
You’ve heard it somewhere. A decision has to be made. It’s complicated and there are different opinions and disagreement. At one point someone speaks up, “We just need to make a rational decision. We can’t let emotions cloud our judgement.” Our parents, our churches, our culture have all trained us deeply with the idea […]