Evangelical Christianity has long held to an odd inconsistency in its teaching about the mind, will, and emotions. If our thoughts don’t line up with truth, we seek to conform them to the image of Christ. If our actions don’t line up with truth, we seek to conform them to the image of Christ. But if our emotions don’t line up with truth, we say, “Well, emotions don’t matter anyway.” We throw away one-third of our personality and seek a two-thirds kind of relationship with him.
But God isn’t good with two-thirds discipleship. He wants it all. Scripture tells us he is a very emotional being; he rejoices, has compassion, gets angry, is grieved, is jealous, experiences pleasure, and much more. And we have a golden opportunity in every one of these areas to align ourselves with him—to love what he loves, hate what he hates, rejoice where he rejoices, and so on. We really can conform to the image of his heart.
Try that. Instead of dismissing emotions as a hindrance to your discipleship, embrace them as the key to knowing his heart. If your feelings are out of alignment with God’s, then bring them into alignment. Synchronize them with his. Refuse to be among the millions who read the Word, do the Word, and then say, “But I still feel so distant from him.” Draw close at every level of your heart.
When you connect with God at a heart level, you discover a joy that is clearly beyond your own. Your heart begins to beat with his. And discipleship comes much, much more naturally than ever before.
