Emotions and Christians

It is important to put on a happy face sometimes so the hurt you feel when you’ve just had an argument with someone has just happened, or when you have had a bad day. It is not anyone else’s fault why you had a bad day so why take it out on them by putting on a dog face or a pout?

The question that comes to my mind is does this façade ultimately affect you as a person? What I mean is, if a person continues to fake their emotions around others, can it lead to my psychological issues. For instance, can they begin hiding other feelings within themselves? Can they ultimately not know what emotion to express or who they are?

I’ve come across many people in a congregation who behave like there is nothing wrong and when they have confided in me, I find they are going through marriage issues, financial hardships, have lost their jobs, are cheating on their spouses or have a drug or alcohol problem.

At first, I reacted with concern because of the psychological affects it may have had on them by hiding their true emotions but then as I delved into this a little bit more, I found they behaved the way they did wasn’t because they were putting on a façade or pretending they had no problems but because they truly had the peace of God within them.

Their faith in God has brought peace into their hearts and they honestly believed that if they prayed, and prayed, God will answer their prayers and because of their faith, they were at peace. No issue, no problem and no addiction controlled them to a point. Since most times, they have no control over their situation, they didn’t see a need to worry about it and would leave it in God’s hands.

Then I thought to myself, wow! I behaved the same way and didn’t know it. In the past, when trouble came our way, my husband and I reacted with fear and panic and argued. Now, because our focus is on God, yes we are affected if a situation hurts our family and yes we have discussions about our problems but I found we don’t argue and 9 times out of 10, we are at peace and are confident God will help us get through it.

Faith in God is an enormous tool! If only 9 out of 10 utilized it, we would have a much more peaceful world. Lack of emotion – no chance just strong faith in God.