God wants you emotional. (TAW014)
The Apprenticeship Way with Marc Alan Schelske
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The Crucial Role of Emotions in Spiritual Maturity
This chapter examines how emotional maturity is vital for spiritual development, debunking the myth that emotional detachment signifies maturity. Through real-life examples, it highlights that emotional struggles often originate from immaturity, underscoring the importance of embracing emotions for meaningful relationships with God and others.
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Episode 014 – God Wants You Emotional
There is a crucial element of our lives that many of us are ignoring. The wreckage of our denial is visible all around us.
Our inner life, and particularly our emotional life, is a crucial part of our spiritual growth. Time we started paying attention!
Show Notes
Show notes will not be a transcript. At least not now. You’ll find a few key bullet points, any scriptures references, as well as any other books or resources referenced.
- Many people are content with a life (and spiritual journey) that is “mostly working,” unaware that their failure to pay attention to their inner life is causing major damage.
- When asked what matters most, Jesus told us that we love God with all we are and all we have. We love God through our relationships, with our mind, with our ability and with our heart, our inner life. That includes our emotions. (Matthew 22:34-40)
- Many churches and Christian teachers avoid talking about emotions or only talk about them in negative terms. This is a failure of discipleship.
- Our emotions are a part of how God created us.
- They are created in God’s image.
- They have an important role in our lives.
- Scripture shows God having emotional experiences. Just a few examples of hundreds available:
- Psalms 78:40. Grief.
- Deuteronomy 1:34. Anger.
- Exodus 34:14. Jealousy.
- 1st Kings 3:10. Pleasure.
- Zephaniah 3:17. Rejoicing and delight.
- Isaiah 54:7. Compassion.
- Scripture also shows Jesus living with the full range of human emotion. A few examples:
- John 11:35. Weeping in grief for Lazarus’ death.
- Luke 19:41. Weeping with compassion over Jerusalem.
- Luke 10:17-21. Celebration and joy at God working in the disciples’ lives and ministry.
- Mark 10:14. Indignant with the disciples.
- Matthew 26. Sorrow, distress, loneliness, perhaps even fear in the Garden of Gethsemane.
- Scripture tells us that Jesus is the “image of the invisible God,” (Col. 1:15) and that anyone who has seen Jesus “has seen the Father.” (John 14:9) That means what we see in Jesus’ emotions, tells us something important about God.
- If we believe that spiritual maturity means becoming “more like God,” then what we believe about God’s emotions matters enormously.
- Our emotions are not a flaw in the design, a weakness, or a sin. Emotions are a God-given gift, meant to move us and give us important information about what is happening in our inner world and outer circumstances.
- Will you join my Audiobook Launch Team?
- I am so excited to announce that the audiobook for The Wisdom of Your Heart is finally done. The plan is to launch at the end of March. If you live online–Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram–I would LOVE to have your help getting the word out. The commitment is short — just 6 weeks through March and the first two weeks of April. I’ll provide lots of content — memes, images, videos, text — that you can share. I can’t do this alone! If The Wisdom of Your Heart has been meaningful to you, and you’re comfy online, would you be willing to help? Email me at marc@marcalanschelske.com and you’re in.
My Links
- Subscribe to The Apprenticeship Way on iTunes and all other podcasting apps. When you do please leave a review. Those magically help other listeners find there way here.
- Want to bring me to speak to your community about this topic, practrical spiritual growth, or emotional discipleship?Check out my speaking page and let’s talk about possibilities.
- Find it here on my website–this page that you’re on right now!
- Find a video version on my Youtube Channel.
- Subscribe to my Email List.
- Check out the Apprenticeship Lab Member Community. It’s $8/month. You get to participate in a small, private, positive community of people committed to spiritual growth as well as getting access to a growing library of resources for spiritual growth including 30 short videos for daily inspiration to kick off your year, and access to several online courses. This is also just a great way to help support the work I do. I don’t have a Patreon or other means for donations, so signing up for a membership is a great way to support my work in an ongoing way.
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