Skip to main content

Emotions and Expressions of Them

Emotions and Expressions of Them

God has given us, spontaneous expressions of internal emotions. Two of them are tears and laughter. These emotions and expressions can be evoked. A funny story can cause laughter.

“Once there was a dear widow woman who lived alone. One day she was working on a jig-saw puzzle of a rooster. She was getting nowhere. In frustration she called a widower who lived near by. She explained her difficulty and asked him if he would come over and help her. He came over; he looked at the picture on the box and at the pieces and said, 'We will never get a picture of this rooster. Let's sit down and have a cup of tea. After that we will put the cornflakes back in the box!'”

I could also tell a story which would cause sadness and tears. Real events can also cause laughter and tears. Laughter and tears are God's means of relieving pressure, like a valve on a pressure cooker. Shouting and cheering can be expressions of man-made joy like home runs, touchdowns, and soccer goals. Certain types of music (minor key) can cause sadness. Martial music can cause expressions of loyalty. Poetry can cause tears, laughter, and praise.

In my own memory I can recall having tears from the last two stanzas of Jesus the Name High Over All, the fourth stanza of For All the Saints, and John Whittier's The Pipes At Lucknow.

These emotions and expressions may be pleasant but they are not the same as, or substitutes for, the Fruit of the Spirit.

In the Lord Jesus Christ,

Jim Wilson

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Getting Old

This is a post for those who are getting old or considering themselves old, from 65-100. Right now, I am 91.* I will be 92 in October. I have my own house, but I cannot live in it alone because of my physical inability to move around. One of my sons lives with me. All of us will have to make some adjustments. That includes money, relatives, your own ability and willpower to stay independent, etc. My advice is if physically and financially you can live independently, you should certainly do that. If you do, you will still need to have visits from your family frequently. You need your family. Even if you don’t need them to take care of you, you need them for the fellowship. The more fellowship you have, the longer you’ll live. If you can stay independent do it, but only if friends and relatives can see you often. In my case, I can’t walk, and I can’t do much physically. So, whether I like it or not, someone else has to get me up, get me showered, and get me dressed. I am blessed to have

Why Is Obedience So Hard?

There are several reasons why obedience seems hard. I will comment on some of them and then speak positively on how obedience is easy. We think: 1) Obedience is an infringement on freedom. Since we are free in Christ, and obedience is somehow contrary to that freedom, we conclude that obedience is not good. Yet we know it is good. Thus, we become confused about obedience and are not single-minded. 2) Obedience is works. We who have been justified by grace through faith are opposed to works; therefore, we are opposed to obedience. 3) We have tried to obey and have failed—frequently. Therefore, the only solution is to disobey and later confess to receive forgiveness. It is easier to be forgiven by grace than to obey by effort. 4) We confuse obedience to men with obedience to God. Although these are sometimes one and the same (see Romans 13, 1 Peter 2-3, Ephesians 5-6, Colossians 3, and Titus 2), sometimes they are not the same (see Colossians 2:20-23, Mark 7, 1 Timothy 4:1-5, a

Three Types of People Christians Aren't Loving

There are three types of people in the world that Christians do not love with the Gospel . The first type are the people we witness to but do not love. The second type are the unbelievers that we do not witness to. The third are people we love but do not witness to. That sounds like doubletalk. Let’s change it. 1) We witness to people we love. 2) We love everybody and witness to them with love. As Christians, we have the fruit of the Spirit—love. We are commanded to love our neighbors and our enemies. The first thing is to have the love. The second is to choose to love our neighbors and enemies. Sometimes we can’t make the choice because we have lost the fruit of the Spirit, love. We lack the fruit of the Spirit of love because we are under the chastening of the Lord because of unconfessed sin. In order to get the love back, we must confess sin. Once we get the love back, we can choose to love our neighbors and enemies and preach the gospel to them.   Written December 22,