To lead a significant life

EMOTION vs. EMOTIONALISM

To emote or not to emote, that is the question……………….and the reason for the confusion.
Many will decry the lack of emotion in a worship service and in the lives of Christians and others.
Others then will warn against emotionalism of any sort as they look down an any display of emotion.

Is there emotion without the display of emotionalism? I believe that there is.
There are emotions that have a scriptural role in the life of a Christian.
There is also a danger of the emotion becoming a form of emotionalism, or fleshly attitude and conduct.

How then can a person know the difference and have one without the other?
Let us consider the extremes.

Emotionalism….
Tends to become that better felt than told occurrence, where people tend to depend more upon what they feel in their hearts, rather than what they read in the word of God.
Such emotionalism tends to disobey the scriptural admonition of worship conducted in a decent and orderly manner (1 Corinthians 14:40)
It leads the participant to overlook the warning of Proverbs 28:26 “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool…”

Formalism…
In which there is a complete lack of emotion in worship and in service.
Perhaps the lack of emotion then is a reaction against emotionalism, which results in a “dead pan” attitude
Often causes those who lead songs and preach to do so with little reaction by those who should be engaged.
Such lack of “heartfelt” religion is contrary to the teachings of Jesus
Condemning a religion in which ones heart is far removed far from Him (Matthew 15:7-8)
Condemning a love for God that involves the whole heart (Matthew 22:37-40)

The tendency of formalism is to swing from one extreme to another, yet can be avoided by remembering…

Emotion has a proper place…
There is to be the emotion of love (1 Peter 4:8, 1 Corinthians 16:22)
There is to be the emotion of hope (Romans 12:12)
There is to be the emotion of joy (Philippians 4:4)
There is to be the emotion of sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:10)
There is to be the emotion of hate (Proverbs 8:13)
There is to be the emotion of fear (Matthew 10:28)
In the life of all Christians there is a place for emotion!

Emotion must be grounded in the word of God…
Scriptural faith comes by hearing the word of God
Scriptural faith requires the use of our intellectual faculties
Take notice how the Word of God is designed to stimulate emotion:
Reading of Gods love we should be moved to love (1 John 4:11)
Told of the promises awaiting us, we are motivated to hope (1 Peter 1:3-4,and 13)
Informed of Jesus reconciling work of the cross, we are moved to rejoice (Romans 5:10-11)
When rebuked by the Word, it will produce sorrow (2 Corinthians 7:8)
Filled with the knowledge of truth, we come to hate certain things (Proverbs 1:7, and ch8:13)
Reading of the warnings in scripture, we are moved to fear (Hebrews 10:25-27)
Scriptural emotions are directed by the Word of God, and are not a matter of flesh

Emotion must produce fruit…
Scriptural emotions must produce fruit
The emotions evoked by Scripture are there for a purpose
Unless the proper fruit is born, it is simply emotionalism
The fruits born of purposeful emotion are evidenced in the fact the following
The emotion of love bears the fruit of obedience (John 14:15 1 John 5:3)
The emotion of hope bears its fruit in act of patience (Romans 8:24-25)
The emotion of joys bears the fruit of sacrifice (2 Corinthians 8:25)
The emotion of sorrow bears the fruit of repentance (2 Corinthians 7:10)
The emotion of hate bears fruit in rejecting the spirit of error (Psalms 119:127-128)
The emotion of fear will bear the fruit of departing from evil (Proverbs 16:6)
According to the Scriptures then, emotion produces active, living, visible fruits in the life of Christians

Formalism can be avoided by a conscious choice to understand the difference between worship based upon rote, and worship under the guidance of spirit and truth.

When does emotion become emotionalism?
When people stress emotion for emotions sake alone,
Whenever people forget that emotions are a means to an end, to motivate one to produce proper fruit.
The goal should never be the emotion, but the fruit they are intended to produce.
If all we display is emotion, not bearing the proper fruit, then we are guilty of emotionalism.

If our emotions are based upon anything other than the Word of God, we are guilty of emotionalism.

Emotion becomes emotionalism, when the emotion becomes the basis for our faith…
Whenever we allow feelings alone to dictate what we believe
Such as when a person…
Refuses to obey what can be read in Scripture, only because he “feels” that it should be different.
Tries to change the meaning of a passage of Scripture to support what he “feels” is right.
If our faith is based upon emotions, we are guilty of emotionalism.

God has given each of us the wonderful gift of the capacity to feel and express our emotions,
And by doing so
It allows us to respond to the wonderful truths found in Gods Word
It motivates us to higher levels of service in response to Gods Will
However, like all good things, the capacity of emotion must be properly used
To avoid extremes, both of emotionalism and formalism…
To let our hearts be deeply moved by the Word of God
To allow our emotion to provoke us to bear the proper fruit God desires

“Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” Romans 15:13