Emotions or God’s Word?
(The danger of placing emotional awareness over the Word of God)
Have you noticed a subtle shift in parenting these
days? Have you noticed that for the most part, children can quite quickly name
the emotions they are feeling?
“I feel sad.” “I feel overwhelmed.” “I feel
anxious.”
Children are taught to name their emotions. To verbalize
how they feel. And I’m not saying that this is a bad thing. In moderation, and
in its proper context, it is very good and helpful.
My concern is that we are training our children
to trust their emotions more faithfully than they trust God’s Word.
Do you think that quite possibly we are training a
generation of children that know their feelings more than they know God’s Word?
As a parent, maybe you didn’t mean for this to happen,
but it’s happening.
Most children can name their emotions and state how
they feel, but can they say, “God is my strength”? “The Lord is my shepherd”?
“God’s Word is truth”?
So many parents spend more time teaching their
children to process their feelings than they do teaching them to follow Jesus.
It’s not because they don’t love their children. It’s
not because they don’t know any better. It’s because the culture and world we
live in has convinced them that emotional affirmation is of paramount importance
and that naming their feelings will help them deal with life.
It’s a sad place we’ve come to in this world. We’ve begun
to replace God’s truth with the world’s lies.
Don’t get me wrong, I know and believe firmly that emotions
are God-given, but our feelings were never meant to be our guide. Emotions
are indicators, they are not our instructors. Yes, emotions are given by
God, but emotionalism is not.
God gave us feelings and God himself feels! When he
walked on earth in human form, he felt happiness, he felt sadness, he felt
anger. But unlike us, he was and is perfect and never let his emotions cloud
his judgement or rise above God’s truth.
God’s Word is to be our guide and God’s Word is
the only truth. Only scripture has the authority to lead. NOT our emotions.
If we treat feelings like facts and the Word of God
like a suggestion, then we risk the danger of raising children who are
emotionally aware but spiritually fragile. Children that have soft hearts, but
no anchor.
If our children grow up learning to trust in their emotions
more than they trust the Word of God, we are in fact teaching them that
self-confidence is more powerful than trust and faith in God and his Word.
We are setting them up for failure. We are setting
them up for a weak spiritual walk, weak faith and instability.
It’s not only our children who are susceptible to
this. We are too!
If we let ourselves be ruled by our emotions, if we
treat Scripture like a suggestion, if we allow our feelings to have first place,
our children will too.
We are leading by our example.
Before being quick to blame society and culture, take
time to think about who and what is discipling you? Are you letting your
emotions rule you? What kind of an example are you setting for the little eyes
and ears that are watching and listening?
If we take the time to teach our children God’s Word,
if we live out consistently what God teaches us, if we instil in their hearts
and minds the Word of God and if we show them what it looks like to trust truth
over emotions, we will give them something the world can’t offer. We will give
them a firm foundation to build upon. We will give them a foundation that doesn’t
shift even though their feelings do.
This is why we, as parents, aunts, uncles,
grandparents, have to be intentional, rooted in God’s Word, abiding in Christ,
discerning, growing, trusting and leading by example.
If we allow our own feelings to sit on the throne
of our hearts, our children will learn to worship the same thing. And
yes, I did use worship and feelings in the same sentence. God is not the only
thing (or person) we can worship. Some people have a great admiration and love
for many things that are not worthy of placing on such a high pedestal. And
feelings is often one of them.
This generation needs parents and mentors who are
anchored in God’s truth, rooted in the Word and not tossed around by feelings.
If we want to shepherd our children’s hearts, we have
to model obedience, faithfulness and trust in God. We have to teach confidence
in God. We have to be willing to lay down the world’s philosophies, no matter
how popular, and make the shift towards the Word of God.
We have to teach them to acknowledge their emotions,
and we need to acknowledge our own, without surrendering to them. We have to be
always pointing them to Christ.
This is what shapes their hearts and draws them to
him. This is what steadies a family and strengthens relationships.
By all means, let them feel their feelings. This is
healthy. But teach them to acknowledge them and then compare them with God’s
truth.
Teach your children the promises of God. Teach them
how to combat lies with truth. Teach them verses that they can quote when their
feelings begin to overwhelm them. Teach them to trust the Word of God and make
it a part of their daily life. Make the Bible come alive to them through storytelling,
singing, scripture memory, dramatization of notable characters found in the pages
of God’s Word.
Teach them that emotions are healthy and God-given but
that they are not to be relied on. Teach them to express them but also to
respond to them with God’s Word and his promises.
Teach them verses about Joy. About fear. About
sadness. About anger. About worry. About anxiety.
The Word of God is a book of treasures and
obedience to it will help you to grow strong, emotionally stable, confident and
God-honouring children.
Deuteronomy 6:7 KJV - And thou shalt teach them
diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine
house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when
thou risest up.
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