Today’s Readings: Psalm 22:1-31; Genesis 24:50-67; Matthew 27:45-54; Acts 13:13-25
One of the challenges pastors face in their pastoral counseling visits is getting folks to connect with their heart-felt emotions with their spirituality. You would think that this task would be relatively easy. It’s not. Why is it difficult for some folks to connect their emotions with their spiritual lives? It’s hard for some largely because they’ve been taught there are good feelings you can share with God and bad feelings that you should not share with God. Emotions like love, joy and peace, for instance, are considered good emotions that you could share with God; emotions like anger, jealousy, and betrayal, on the other hand, would be bad emotions that you should not share with God. Some folks are so worried about whether what they are feeling is acceptable that they end up holding back a great deal from God. Sadly, their relationship with God suffers as a result of their efforts to censor themselves. Today’s passage from Matthew reminds us that we should not take this approach in our relationship with God. It encourages us to open up and share everything with God. In today’s passage Jesus – who is in his final moments on the cross – opens up with what’s really and truly in his heart when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 24:46 – The Message). Maybe there are areas of your life where you’ve been holding back your true feelings from God: withheld feelings that you felt might be inappropriate – withheld feelings that have caused you to feel distanced from God. If that’s the case, use today’s Gospel reading to encourage you to “get real” with God. Pour out the very depths of your heart. You just might be surprised how your willingness to reach out openly will bring God closer to you than you ever imagined. Til next time…
One of the challenges pastors face in their pastoral counseling visits is getting folks to connect with their heart-felt emotions with their spirituality. You would think that this task would be relatively easy. It’s not. Why is it difficult for some folks to connect their emotions with their spiritual lives? It’s hard for some largely because they’ve been taught there are good feelings you can share with God and bad feelings that you should not share with God. Emotions like love, joy and peace, for instance, are considered good emotions that you could share with God; emotions like anger, jealousy, and betrayal, on the other hand, would be bad emotions that you should not share with God. Some folks are so worried about whether what they are feeling is acceptable that they end up holding back a great deal from God. Sadly, their relationship with God suffers as a result of their efforts to censor themselves. Today’s passage from Matthew reminds us that we should not take this approach in our relationship with God. It encourages us to open up and share everything with God. In today’s passage Jesus – who is in his final moments on the cross – opens up with what’s really and truly in his heart when he cried out, “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?” (Matthew 24:46 – The Message). Maybe there are areas of your life where you’ve been holding back your true feelings from God: withheld feelings that you felt might be inappropriate – withheld feelings that have caused you to feel distanced from God. If that’s the case, use today’s Gospel reading to encourage you to “get real” with God. Pour out the very depths of your heart. You just might be surprised how your willingness to reach out openly will bring God closer to you than you ever imagined. Til next time…
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