“What is your primary emotion?”
Interesting question.
“What exactly do you mean?”, I asked.
“Well, in day to day life, what do you feel most often?”, my friend clarified.
Ok, that’s what I thought. Hmm, what would it be? There are 5 basic emotions: joy, sadness, fear, anger and disgust. All of which were poignantly illustrated in the movie Inside Out.
I’d have to go with joy. The more I thought about it I realized that I know my Father loves me. I know God delights in me. I know that He has promised never to leave me or forsake me. I know He has promised to provide for all my needs. I know that every good and perfect gift is provided by my Father of Lights. I know that I am the joy of the Lord.
He is a good father and I am loved by Him.
I don’t live in fear. I don’t live in sadness. I don’t live in anger or disgust. Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t experience those emotions, if I didn’t I wouldn’t be human. I experience them frequently – some much more than others. But those aren’t my ‘primary’ emotions.
I shared my thoughts with my friend.
“So what about you?”
My friend then shared she had begun to realize that her primary emotions were fear and sadness. Sure she experienced joy from time to time, but that wasn’t her day to day experience. And, her revelation was getting even deeper…
My friend realized that she believed joy has a price tag. If she did experience joy, she would have to pay for it later. Joy isn’t free, it will cost you.
Wow.
That does not sound good. Why would you ever want to be happy if you knew it was going to cost you, if you knew it was going to come back and bite you? That sounds like an amazingly twisted lie meant to steal all the joy the Lord has for my friend.
Our emotions are both voluntary and involuntary. We can experience emotions involuntarily: meaning that in the midst of whatever state you are in you can suddenly experience any of the 5 emotions by something occurring beyond your control. You receive some great news – joy; you receive some bad news – sadness; you narrowly escape a car accident – fear; someone does something unjust to you – anger; you drink sour milk – disgust; these emotions well up inside you on an involuntary basis.
In addition, we can choose each of these emotions – and indeed we should choose each of them. Scripture is filled with exhortations to choose these emotions: we are encouraged to rejoice in the Lord; the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; share in others people’s sadness; be angry and disgusted with sin; amongst many others.
However, is there a primary emotion we can choose to live in?
Yes, I believe there is. I believe we can primarily live in joy. This side of heaven we will experience all 5 basic emotions, but we can still primarily live in joy.
Jesus for the joy set before Him endured the cross. What was the joy set before Jesus? You and me! The joy that drove Jesus forward was knowing that through His death and resurrection mankind would be able to live in right relationship with our Heavenly Father as beloved sons and daughters of God.
You and I are the joy of the Lord. He delights in us. He rejoices over us with singing. We have been called to live in the joy of the Lord because we are His joy.
So, does joy have a price? Yes it does, and it has been paid by Jesus. Jesus gave His life to ransom us from the domain of darkness so we need no longer live in constant fear, sadness, anger or disgust. We can live in joy because of what He has done.
We can freely live in joy by believing the Truth of what Jesus has done for us. We can choose joy. Indeed, if we are to truly experience God’s heart for us, we must choose joy.
Joy has a price, but it’s been paid by Jesus. Choose joy.
John 15:9-11
“As the Father has loved me, so I have loved you. Now remain in my love. If you obey my commands, you will remain in my love, just as I have obeyed my Father’s commands and remain in his love. I have told you this that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete.”
Philippians 4:4
“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!”
Psalm 33:21
“In him our hearts rejoice for we trust in his holy name.”
1 Thessalonians 5:16
“Be joyful always.”