Let no unwholesome word proceed out of your mouth, but only that which is good for building up, that it may give grace to the listeners. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, in whom you are sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness, wrath, anger, outbursts, and blasphemies, with all malice, be taken away from you. And be kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God in Christ also forgave you (Eph. 4:29-32).
God is a passionate person who wrote the Bible through passionate people to be read and obeyed by us passionately! Our emotional God made us in His image with emotions to have a loving relationship. Sadly, many have arrived at a passionless Christianity, and I believe there are four reasons why.
People are emotionally unhealthy. Some people are so emotionally unhealthy and untethered that their spirituality becomes little more than chasing experiences devoid of any real study or knowledge of God. It’s as if the Holy Spirit were a bartender and the church an open bar. Overreacting, others want to downplay the emotions because of unhealthy emotionalism.
People place mind over emotions. The modern era of rationalism so shaped some people that they read the Bible through the lens that the mind is more trustworthy than the emotions. Therefore, Star Trek‘s Spock is the ideal being we should aspire to become.
People make God non-relational. In an effort to preserve God’s unchanging nature, they made God non- relational. In a relationship there are emotions between persons in response to one another, and so it is in our relationship with God. Nonemotional Christianity is also non- relational and nonbiblical.
People don’t connect the Holy Spirit with emotional health. There has not been sufficient emphasis on the biblical connection between the ministry of the Holy Spirit and emotional health. For starters, God the Father, Son and Spirit have emotions. The Bible clearly teaches that the Holy Spirit is a person with emotions— contrary to much false teaching in other religions.
We can “grieve the Holy Spirit of God” (Eph. 4:30a) as others before us have “rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit” (Isa. 63:10a). When people have no regard for Jesus, the Bible says they have “outraged the Spirit of grace” (Heb. 10:29, ESV). When we have “loved righteousness and hated wickedness,” God anoints us with the Holy Spirit as the “oil of gladness” (Heb. 1:9, MEV).
There is no possibility of being emotionally healthy without a deep, intimate, personal relationship with the Holy Spirit. What is true of Jesus is true of you. There is no emotional health apart from the Holy Spirit. {eoa}
Mark Driscoll is a Jesus-following, mission-leading, church-serving, people-loving, Bible-preaching pastor and the author of many books, including Spirit-Filled Jesus, which you can order here. He currently pastors The Trinity Church in Scottsdale, Arizona, with his family. For all of pastor Mark Driscoll’s Bible teaching, please visit markdriscoll.org or download the app. You can download a free devotional e-book from pastor Mark here.
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