In the Bible, right at the very beginning, God tells us that He created the universe. He spoke, and everything from the sky over our heads to the tiniest fish in the sea just appeared. He made light, stars, trees, flowers, animals - everything! And then to finish it all off, He made a man and woman, and He made them in His own image, to be like Him. Humans crave community and connection with other people, and the Triune God himself is a community: three persons, one God. Humans love to create because of how God made us, and He is the Ultimate Creator! Humans (at their best) are compassionate, empathetic, and merciful because we reflect these characteristics from our Creator. And God created us to feel a wide array of emotions because He also shows emotions (Genesis 6.6, Exodus 34.6, Deuteronomy 1.34).
Of course, sin entered the world and messed it all up. We do not live the way God intended for us to live; and when we feel things, we can react with our emotions in such a way that it can cause us to sin. Instead of just feeling anger, we lash out at a loved one. Instead of just feeling sadness, we doubt God’s sovereignty. Instead of just being excited, we forget to give thanks to the One from whom all blessings flow.
These struggles are what we are attempting to grapple with in Children’s Ministry on Wednesday nights. If you’ve spent more than five minutes in a conversation with a kid lately, you know they have some big feelings! They get mad at their siblings, frustrated about losing a game, and excited about presents they’ve received. Experiencing these big feelings is a great thing! It’s exactly how God created humans to experience life on Earth. We wouldn’t want our children to walk through life as emotionless drones, devoid of all feeling. But we also don’t want them to make it to adulthood without a proper understanding of what to do with their big feelings. Emotions can be so powerful and can have such influence on the decisions we make. We want to see our children letting their emotions bring them closer to God and using them to glorify Him instead of making sinful choices.
Last semester the children dug into one emotion during each Midweek class. They talked about what that emotion looks and feels like in their bodies, what causes them to feel that way, and what things they sometimes choose to do with that emotion. Then they looked at what the Bible has to say about those feelings. They read verses that speak about feeling sad or angry and read examples of when Jesus himself felt that way. They talked about how God wants us to handle big feelings (spoiler alert – the first answer is always prayer). They looked at examples of heroes of the faith and how they used their own deep despair or truly terrifying circumstances to bring glory to God.
This semester during Midweek they will continue in that work, looking to Scripture for guidance and examples of what happens when we allow temporary feelings to triumph over faith. Students will read stories from Scripture and talk about how that person must have felt at the time, what they chose to do about it, and how that worked out for them in the end. I have created posters, worksheets, and some devotional-style notecards to go along with all of this. If you would like to see them or have copies for your own home, stop by my office or send me an
!
Wouldn’t it be great to see a generation of children with a healthy understanding and appreciation of the way God made their minds and bodies - to see them pray first and make careful decisions instead of emotional reactions? Now more than ever, our children are being bombarded with a lot of views about who they are, how they should choose to live, and some not-so-great examples of responding to what they feel at any given moment. Thank you for joining me in praying for and working with our children as they navigate the complicated, God-created world of emotions.
