The Anatomy of Anxiety
Part 36: Emotions 101
Note: For previous posts in this blog series, visit: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35.
Big Idea: Does worry, doubt, or fear get the best of you sometimes? Do you wonder where anxiety comes from and how to defeat it in your life and the lives of those you love? Then we need a biblical anatomy of anxiety. We need God’s prescription for victory over anxiety.
Note: Today’s blog post is excerpted from my book Soul Physicians. You can visit here to learn more about Soul Physicians and to read a free sample chapter.
Emotion by God
Before we can explore how to renew our emotions as we defeat anxiety, we must gain a biblical perspective on our emotions. What does the Bible say about emotions and how does that contrast with the world’s way?
It’s so typical that it has become trite, “How do you feel about that?” We even mock it, “I feel your pain.”
We’re awash in an emotionally shallow society. Do we throw the baby out with the bath water? Or do we realize the world’s counterfeit and choose God’s real deal, the genuine article?
The real deal is biblical emotionality. Like our Creator, we experience life deeply and all of our feelings are in-relationship-to-God feelings.
Our emotions reveal our deepest questions about God. They vocalize the inner working of our souls. Listen to and ponder your emotions in order to discern what your heart is doing with God and others. Emotions are a voice that can tell us how we are dealing with a fallen, hurtful world. Emotions force open the stuck window of our soul, compelling us to face how we are facing life.
Emotions are God-given. They are not satanic. Adam had them before the Fall. God has them. Christ has them. In and of themselves, they are not sinful. They are beneficial, and yes, even beautiful.
The Psalmist understood this. In the classic passage describing God’s utmost care in creating us, Psalm 139, emotionality is the one aspect of our inner personality specifically referenced. “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). “Inmost being” is kidneys. In Psalm 73:21 and Proverbs 23:16 the kidneys are the place of sorrow and rejoicing, respectively.
In the Ancient Near East, the kidneys were seen as prompting or urging people to action by aroused emotions. The Semitic languages used terms for kidneys, reins, stomach, bowels, and womb to describe the feeling states. As we literally experience and feel an emotion in our physical being, so we feel an emotion in our psychological being. That’s why we say things like, “I have butterflies in my stomach.” God created your inmost being, your kidneys, your emotions.
Emotional Experiencing: Emotional Reaction
What are emotions? Emotions are our God-given capacity to experience our world and to subjectively respond to those experiences.
This capacity includes the ability to internally react and experience a full-range of both positive (pleasant) and negative (painful) inner feelings.
The very root of the word emotion is motere, the Latin verb “to move,” plus the prefix “e” meaning “to move away.” This suggests that a tendency to act is implicit in every emotion. All emotions are, in essence, impulses to react, the instant plans for handling life that God has instilled in us. God designed our emotions to put us in motion. They represent a quick response that motivates action—emotions signal the mind to go into high gear.
Emotions play a crucial editorial role that force us to do a double-check, to look outward and inward. They are our “psychological sentinel” that connect us to our inner and outer world.
Once connected, then we react to our external and internal world. What we desire, think, and choose (our inner world) determines our emotional reaction to our external situation (our outer world). What we believe (rational direction) about what satisfies our longing for relationship (relational motivation) provides the direction we choose to pursue (volitional interaction) and determines our experiential response (emotional reaction) to our world.
Understanding Your Emotions
Consider a basic formula for understanding emotions: E.S. + I.P. = E.R.
Our External Situation plus our Internal Perception leads to our Emotional Response. Picture it like this.
Understanding Our Emotional Responses
External Situation + Internal Perception = Emotional Response
• Negative Action + Biblical Belief = Legitimate Painful Emotion (Sorrow, Sadness, etc.)
• Negative Action + Unbiblical Belief = Illegitimate Painful Emotion (Hatred, Despair, etc.)
• Positive Action + Biblical Belief = Legitimate Positive Emotion (Joy, Peace, etc.)
• Positive Action + Unbiblical Belief = Illegitimate Positive Emotion (Pride, Self- Sufficiency, etc.)
Your boss says to you, “You blew it.” Your emotions react to this external event and to your internal images and ideas. What if you believe, “I must have my boss’s approval”? Then you will respond with illegitimate negative emotions such as anger, depression, hopelessness, or hatred.
If, on the other hand, you believe that “I would like my boss’s approval, but I know that I am accepted by God,” then you will respond with legitimate painful emotions such as sorrow, disappointment, or remorse (if you were truly in the wrong).
The key to our emotional reaction is our belief or perception about the meaning behind the event. Thus, events determine whether our emotions are pleasant or painful, while longings, beliefs, and goals determine whether our emotional reaction is holy or sinful.
Keeping It Real
Ponder a recent emotionally intense situation. Use the ES + IP + ER “formula” to trace the tracks of your emotional response.
The Rest of the Story
Why did God even create us with emotions if they seem to cause such a mess! How does God intend for us to manage our moods? In our upcoming blog posts we’ll address these relevant questions.
Join the Conversation
Why do you think many Christians, churches, and biblical counselors throw the emotional baby out with the bathwater and make emotions “the black sheep” of the image bearing family?
