by: Travis Stockton
I recently have finished the series on Disney + called Wanda Vision (slight spoiler alert). I do not normally endorse a lot of media and content from producers or publishers that I am not willing to thoroughly back the majority of their content and Disney is dubious, at best, with a great deal of their content. But this show is worth watching. Especially if you enjoy experiencing the full gamut of human emotions such as love and grief.
One specific quote stands out from the season finale that I apparently am not alone in obsessing over. Memes abound and the internet apparently buzzed with activity over this quote. And it’s easy to see why; while the quote seems simple, it points to something deeper.
If you have ever experienced grief, this quote hits home. And Scripture tells us why. God is love (1 John 4:7-21) and as His image-bearers, love is an essential part of our relationship with others. The loss of the object of that love results in grief. It’s a more biblical viewpoint of an emotion that is often viewed from a worldview that lacks hope. This then is the point of this blog post.
What if we reframed emotions in a more biblical light. What if we regularly referred to and defined emotions in a way that allowed God’s truth to permeate those emotions. So that our own minds would begin to accept the inherent biblical truths that surround those emotions. What if we stopped allowing the world to define the core concepts to our lives such as our emotions and instead allowed God to define them?
Let us attempt to do that now then. With emotions being multi-faceted, and this being a simple blog post, this will obviously fall short in some fashion. They will not be an exhaustive treatment of the emotions by any stretch. I hope though that it will be a beginning framework to build from.
Grief is love of another that lingers after they are gone.
Fear is a subconscious lack of trust in God’s sovereignty.
Anxiety is an acute sense of isolation from God and a lack of confidence in our ability to face our fear.
Anger is our response to not receiving from God what we want.
Happiness is a glimpse of the promises of heaven.
Joy is a constant awareness of the goodness of God.
Love is a commitment to passionately pursue God’s best for another.
What would happen if we were consistent in reframing our emotions so that the inherit hope of our faith permeated the way we talk to others about how we feel? Would we start to believe it more fully? Would those around us long to know God’s truth more? Would God be more glorified?