Emotions
When we turn to the Bible, we can see how the people within it felt, and how some of them allowed their emotions to lead them. We see it from the Old Testament to the New Testament, how people acted on what they felt. A good example would be the feeling of embarrassment in the Bible. In Matthew 14:1-12, John the Baptist was beheaded because he had called out the sinfulness of Herodias’ marriage to Herod Antipas. After all, it was unlawful. At the time, Herodias was married to Herod Philip until she divorced him while he was still alive to marry his half-brother, Herod Antipas, and to top it off, they were both her half-uncles. John saw the incest and adultery in their relationship, and he rebuked it publicly, Matthew 14:4- “It is not lawful for you to have her.” By doing this, John had embarrassed Herodias, and in her anger and embarrassment, she had him killed.
Emotions can lead us to sin, anger, and jealousy lead many people to make rash decisions in the bible- even in the very first chapter, when Cain murders his brother Abel because he was jealous and angry (Genesis 4:2-8). Because of this, we should not be led by our emotions but instead by Jesus Christ. But even though many people have let their emotions lead them to sin, not all emotions are sinful; in fact, we also see in the bible how emotions are a part of how we worship God. Ezra 3:1-13 shows us how they worshiped with joy and gladness.
It’s important to separate our sinful (yes, some emotions can be sinful) emotions like bitterness, wrath, anger, clamor, slander, and malice from our non-sinful ones. Ephesians 4:31 “Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with malice. Be kind to one another, as God in Christ forgave you.”