Faith in Action - Emotions ...

Wednesday, August 12, 2009. “Faith in Action” touches important basic questions. How do we live faith? What do we do when we believe in Jesus, in God? Today we have added another keyword: “emotions”. How does faith influence how we feel?

Where do our feelings come from? Feelings are a phenomenon which is based on a complex system of our body and mind. When our body is hurt, this immediately changes our feelings. When we drink or eat particular substances, this can influence our feelings. Various drugs are used as medicine, to work on emotional imbalance. But our feelings are much more. They are influenced also by our experiences and by the way we approach something.

One of the key feelings of humans is “fear”. Fear is an important feeling. We fear things we cannot control or something which might be a danger for us. This helps us to recognize and avoid damage to our body or our person. In this sense feelings are extremely important for us, they help us to live and to survive. We usually feel fear when we approach the unknown. This also applies to God. There is a natural fear when we approach the God which we do not know!

It is interesting that the sentence “Do not be afraid!” is so prominently used in the New Testament. When God interacts with humans, we first react with fear. But he is trustworthy, and when we realize that we do not need to be afraid, the fear is replaced by another emotion, by “joy”. The disciples are filled with joy. Mary and Josef are filled with joy. Joy is another prominent feeling which is described again and again in the bible as an emotion which is linked to an encounter with God.

Faith changes our feelings. This effect takes place on different levels. We have already mentioned the insight that God is good. Experiences with God change our feelings. But it is not only special experiences. When we gain insight into God, for example by reading and understanding the biblical stories and arguments, this can and will create joy! It will change our thinking, it changes our mind, it changes our existence and with it also the emotions we experience.

Faith changes our feelings towards other people. When we realize how deeply God loves someone, we can take part in his love, we can follow Jesus. Then this also changes our thinking about this person, and our actions towards him or her. It will also change the person - either inderectly as a response to our actions, or directly by our prayers, by God's intervention, by the influence of the Holy Spirit. When the other person starts to open its mind and heart, our relation will change and feelings will be different on both sides.

Faith can be a great adventure. It is also the adventure of joy, the adventure of changes in our feelings, the adventure of a new world within us! ... more texts