BE Joyful
"Be joyful at your Feast...." (Deut. 16:14).
"Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity... therefore you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you" (Deut. 28:47, 48).
"Be joyful in hope..." (Rom. 12:12).
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Phil. 4:4).
It's really quite startling. "I command you to be joyful." "I punish you because you were not joyful." We often glide over these statements and others like them: "Do not be fear," etc. After all, these are emotions. Can God command emotions? Can he tell us how to feel? Can he command us not only in regards to what we do with our emotions, but also about which emotions we feel and why? (1)
Nothing less than our obedience to the two Great Commandments is at stake. Nothing less than a fuller expression of God's glory is at stake.
The reining secular idea of emotions seems to be that they are physical responses that are out of our control. Moreover, we are encouraged to give them free reign. Repressed emotions are negative; express yourself, and all of yourself. Even if it's emotional diarrhea or affective destruction against another. It seems that, rather than adopting a biblical theology of emotions, we accommodate but "Christianize" this idea (2).
Matthew Elliot argues that from a stance that adapts the secular non-cognitive idea of emotions and to accommodate the strange biblical idea that we do need to control our emotions (3), Christians tend to create a "theological definition" of emotions. Love is no longer an emotion, but an action; thus, we get off the hook if we don't truly engage our whole heart in loving the other. Hope becomes confidence, rather than an emotion. Joy, too, becomes something more akin to faith, an unwavering something no matter what we actually feel. So, we find a loophole if we are dull and dour; we still have the joy of Christ in our hearts.
There is truth to this. Joy is not dependent on circumstances. Joy, according to Elliot, is the result of our evaluation of our circumstances. This is the cognitive theory of emotions, which is more closely aligned to the biblical theology of emotions. In short, what we actually feel shows what we value and believe. A child expresses joy when she opens up a requested present; she values it. We feel joy when our families are together and safe; we treasure those moments. The lottery winner shouts with joy because he believes money is valuable and good. Joy is not based on the circumstances, but on our values and treasures and beliefs. It would be strange if someone granted us a long-held wish and we did not feel anything.
"Christian joy" is not a different joy from the world; a faith that does not waver no matter what we feel. No, it is a feeling that bubbles up in praise. Nor is it dependent on circumstances. "The joy we desire is full of life and vitality. Joy is not confidence, it is emotion, it is a bounce in our step and a smile. As we grow to understand the worldview of the gospel we will increase our joy. The reason that the Christian joy is not above circumstances is not because it is present 'however we feel' but because it is based on unchangeable facts" (4). God has given us so many reasons to be joyful. We have an eternal hope, and we base our joy on that. When Paul writes about his joy in the midst of his suffering on this earth, it is because he values the eternal promise of God more than his pain right now. He treasures God more than physical comfort, more than life itself. He believes God is greater than anything that could touch him on this earth. Thus, his joy is supreme.
It is true for us, today. God's promises are greater than cancer. God's comfort is greater than my physical pain. Christ's salvation is superior to the slander others throw against us. God's grace in Christ is greater than the problem at work. So, we can rejoice. Not just a stoic, "I have joy somewhere in my heart," but a bubbling, springing, singing joy that bursts forth in praise and "makes the teaching about God our Savior attractive" (Titus 2:10).
Does it seem impossible? It is--it is supernatural. It requires the renewal of our mind by the Spirit. It requires the discipline of changing our beliefs, values, and treasures. Emotions show what we value--if I am angry because the woman in front of me in the grocery store line is taking a long time, it shows how much I value my time (over and above her.... ouch). If I am not joyful when I think about God's grace, it shows the relative little value I place on it. If we listen to our emotions, we learn what we value and treasure. Then we can do the hard work of changing, by the Spirit's help, what we value, treasure, and glory in. The more our values line up with God's values, the more we will obey his command to rejoice always (Phil. 4:4). (Note the connection Paul make in v. 6-9 between the emotions of rejoicing and peace and our thought life--think on what is pure, right, noble, etc. We are instructed to turn to God in prayer and gain an eternal perspective. When we change our thinking, our values change, and our emotions can change to joy and peace.)
But it is about more than how I feel. It is about how much I treasure Christ, how much I value his sacrifice, how much I believe he is greater than anything in this world and anything that comes against me. Also, God being a person, our emotions allow us to relate to God more intimately and honestly (a lover knows that joyful-light-spark-in-the-eyes that comes into his eyes when he sees her). Furthermore, we are called to love God with our whole being--surely this includes our emotions as well (5). Finally, our chief purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. We enjoy what we love and value. When we see the treasure that Christ is in an of himself--not his gifts of grace, freedom, lightening of suffering, etc.--we rejoice and praise. We have joy. And Christ is exalted as the All-Precious-Pearl and the Treasure; others see the joy we have in him. And he receives the glory.
"Praise and joy show the true nature of what we have found in God. In other words, having found an object of supreme worth it is natural that we would get excited about finding it and proclaiming its attributes" (6).
NOTES
(1) Sam Williams, "Toward a Theology of Emotion," 71.
(2) Williams, "Toward a Theology of Emotion," and Matthew Elliot, Faithful Feelings: Rethinking Emotion in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2006).
(3) There may be other influences as well, such as Platonic ideals that still creep in, a Christianized stoicism, and a desire to protect God--in whose image we are made--from having "inappropriate emotions" such as anger.
(4) Elliot, Faithful Feelings, 166.
(5) Williams writes, "...God gives emotions for a specific purpose. They are necessary for us properly to know and relate to and glorify God; they are designed to facilitate the fulfillment of the Great Commandments: loving God with all we are and do, and loving our neighbor as readily as we love ourselves" (S. Williams, "Toward a Theology of Emotion," 66).
(6) Elliot, Faithful Feelings, 91.
"Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity... therefore you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you" (Deut. 28:47, 48).
"Be joyful in hope..." (Rom. 12:12).
"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!" (Phil. 4:4).
It's really quite startling. "I command you to be joyful." "I punish you because you were not joyful." We often glide over these statements and others like them: "Do not be fear," etc. After all, these are emotions. Can God command emotions? Can he tell us how to feel? Can he command us not only in regards to what we do with our emotions, but also about which emotions we feel and why? (1)
Nothing less than our obedience to the two Great Commandments is at stake. Nothing less than a fuller expression of God's glory is at stake.
The reining secular idea of emotions seems to be that they are physical responses that are out of our control. Moreover, we are encouraged to give them free reign. Repressed emotions are negative; express yourself, and all of yourself. Even if it's emotional diarrhea or affective destruction against another. It seems that, rather than adopting a biblical theology of emotions, we accommodate but "Christianize" this idea (2).
Matthew Elliot argues that from a stance that adapts the secular non-cognitive idea of emotions and to accommodate the strange biblical idea that we do need to control our emotions (3), Christians tend to create a "theological definition" of emotions. Love is no longer an emotion, but an action; thus, we get off the hook if we don't truly engage our whole heart in loving the other. Hope becomes confidence, rather than an emotion. Joy, too, becomes something more akin to faith, an unwavering something no matter what we actually feel. So, we find a loophole if we are dull and dour; we still have the joy of Christ in our hearts.
There is truth to this. Joy is not dependent on circumstances. Joy, according to Elliot, is the result of our evaluation of our circumstances. This is the cognitive theory of emotions, which is more closely aligned to the biblical theology of emotions. In short, what we actually feel shows what we value and believe. A child expresses joy when she opens up a requested present; she values it. We feel joy when our families are together and safe; we treasure those moments. The lottery winner shouts with joy because he believes money is valuable and good. Joy is not based on the circumstances, but on our values and treasures and beliefs. It would be strange if someone granted us a long-held wish and we did not feel anything.
"Christian joy" is not a different joy from the world; a faith that does not waver no matter what we feel. No, it is a feeling that bubbles up in praise. Nor is it dependent on circumstances. "The joy we desire is full of life and vitality. Joy is not confidence, it is emotion, it is a bounce in our step and a smile. As we grow to understand the worldview of the gospel we will increase our joy. The reason that the Christian joy is not above circumstances is not because it is present 'however we feel' but because it is based on unchangeable facts" (4). God has given us so many reasons to be joyful. We have an eternal hope, and we base our joy on that. When Paul writes about his joy in the midst of his suffering on this earth, it is because he values the eternal promise of God more than his pain right now. He treasures God more than physical comfort, more than life itself. He believes God is greater than anything that could touch him on this earth. Thus, his joy is supreme.
It is true for us, today. God's promises are greater than cancer. God's comfort is greater than my physical pain. Christ's salvation is superior to the slander others throw against us. God's grace in Christ is greater than the problem at work. So, we can rejoice. Not just a stoic, "I have joy somewhere in my heart," but a bubbling, springing, singing joy that bursts forth in praise and "makes the teaching about God our Savior attractive" (Titus 2:10).
Does it seem impossible? It is--it is supernatural. It requires the renewal of our mind by the Spirit. It requires the discipline of changing our beliefs, values, and treasures. Emotions show what we value--if I am angry because the woman in front of me in the grocery store line is taking a long time, it shows how much I value my time (over and above her.... ouch). If I am not joyful when I think about God's grace, it shows the relative little value I place on it. If we listen to our emotions, we learn what we value and treasure. Then we can do the hard work of changing, by the Spirit's help, what we value, treasure, and glory in. The more our values line up with God's values, the more we will obey his command to rejoice always (Phil. 4:4). (Note the connection Paul make in v. 6-9 between the emotions of rejoicing and peace and our thought life--think on what is pure, right, noble, etc. We are instructed to turn to God in prayer and gain an eternal perspective. When we change our thinking, our values change, and our emotions can change to joy and peace.)
But it is about more than how I feel. It is about how much I treasure Christ, how much I value his sacrifice, how much I believe he is greater than anything in this world and anything that comes against me. Also, God being a person, our emotions allow us to relate to God more intimately and honestly (a lover knows that joyful-light-spark-in-the-eyes that comes into his eyes when he sees her). Furthermore, we are called to love God with our whole being--surely this includes our emotions as well (5). Finally, our chief purpose is to glorify God and enjoy him forever. We enjoy what we love and value. When we see the treasure that Christ is in an of himself--not his gifts of grace, freedom, lightening of suffering, etc.--we rejoice and praise. We have joy. And Christ is exalted as the All-Precious-Pearl and the Treasure; others see the joy we have in him. And he receives the glory.
"Praise and joy show the true nature of what we have found in God. In other words, having found an object of supreme worth it is natural that we would get excited about finding it and proclaiming its attributes" (6).
NOTES
(1) Sam Williams, "Toward a Theology of Emotion," 71.
(2) Williams, "Toward a Theology of Emotion," and Matthew Elliot, Faithful Feelings: Rethinking Emotion in the New Testament (Grand Rapids, MI: Kregel, 2006).
(3) There may be other influences as well, such as Platonic ideals that still creep in, a Christianized stoicism, and a desire to protect God--in whose image we are made--from having "inappropriate emotions" such as anger.
(4) Elliot, Faithful Feelings, 166.
(5) Williams writes, "...God gives emotions for a specific purpose. They are necessary for us properly to know and relate to and glorify God; they are designed to facilitate the fulfillment of the Great Commandments: loving God with all we are and do, and loving our neighbor as readily as we love ourselves" (S. Williams, "Toward a Theology of Emotion," 66).
(6) Elliot, Faithful Feelings, 91.
Comments
Post a Comment