“And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect. – Romans 12:1-2.
Worship is more than singing songs to the Lord. It is living a life filled with adoration that prompts us to honor and obey Him. Romans 12:1-2 reveals the how-to of living a life of worship. But how do emotions fit in with our worship? Emotions play a significant role in our lives. They motivate us, connect us, and add meaning to our experiences. But emotions can also rise and fall like a roller-coaster ride.
When we study Samson’s life, we quickly see how his emotions often got the best of him. Samson was a man of great potential but often made self-destructive decisions. In Samson’s story, we find a riddle. Samson has a competition with a bunch of other guys around a riddle. But he doesn’t leave it at a competition. He adds a bet. Here’s the riddle: “Out of the one who eats came something to eat; out of the strong came something sweet.” (Judges 14:14)
The answer to this riddle is a lion and honey. Samson killed a lion, returned later, and found a bunch of bees and honey in its corpse. The Philistine men can’t figure it out, so they threaten Samson’s Philistine wife, and she cries to Samson and gets the answer. He tells her, and she tells them. They solve the riddle, and Samson is furious. He says: “If you hadn’t plowed with my heifer, you wouldn’t have solved my riddle.” (Judges 14:18)
Samson takes the lives of 30 men to pay his bet. Samson returns several weeks later and finds that his wife has been given to someone else. So he takes 300 foxes, ties them together, lights their tails on fire, and sets them loose in the Philistine grain fields. Anger leads to a destructive cycle of violence in Samson’s life.
Allowing our emotions to control us is a bad idea. Denying our feelings is not a good idea either. Controlling and stewarding our emotions is the idea. The management of our emotions is critical to our spiritual life.
One way we can worship God with our emotions is by bringing every emotion to Him. He cares for us and welcomes our emotions. We bring our hearts, with all their contents, to Him. We pour out our hearts, pause, and cooperate with the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives. Our emotions are a gift that opens the door to an intimate relationship with Him.
As our relationship with Him deepens, our worship does, too.
Discussion Questions:
- Are emotions essential to worship? If so, why?
- What can we do this week to control our emotions?