Heart And Mind

Reason and emotion.

People often think of these two things as mutually exclusive opposites, that both cannot exist and work at the same time. Some people believe that reason is superior, while others lean toward emotion.

And this carries over into our faith as well. Some people have inspiring passion for the things of God, but they are a bit light on the truth of his Word. “For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge” (Romans 10:2).

On the other extreme, there are those that view their faith as something to be learned, something mechanical and exact; emphasizing theology and doctrine, leaving no room for the heart and emotion.

But God is not shy to bring together things the world views as opposites:

• strength in weakness
• truth in grace
• wisdom to fools
• humble power

And this is true with reason and emotion too. In Mark 12:30, Jesus calls us to: "love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength." Heart and soul (emotion); mind (reason). The greatest commandment is very clear in saying that we should use our minds as well. Besides, how can we love someone with all our hearts if we don't know them, if our minds don’t contain knowledge of them?

Burning passion for God is great; but if it's not based on the scriptures and truth about him, it's just mindless fluff that will quickly burn out and can often be misleading and dangerous. Strong theology is very important, but without some degree of emotion and affection, it is stiff, rigid and unattainable.

God gave us both, they cannot be separated and must both be pursued. The mind and the heart work together, with the mind shaping our hearts and how we feel about God.

I think that so much of our unhappiness and discontent is due to us listening to ourselves. We constantly tell ourselves all sorts of unhelpful things—depressing, disheartening, daunting things—that sprout from the devil’s lies and deception.

“Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:5).

But here we see that the psalmist counters his misery and his tumultuous emotions with hope firmly rooted in the truth of God’s Word. We need to do this more often. We need to ask ourselves: what dark roads are we letting our thoughts run down? what lies are we believing?

We need to speak truth to our emotions. We can't afford to just be passive and let ourselves be dragged down in misery. We need to “put on the whole armour of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil” (Ephesians 6:11)—the full armour that includes both the belt of truth and the shield of faith. We'll fall apart if not held together by the truth, but we also need the faith and heart that goes beyond understanding and reason when the arrows start flying. We fight back with scripture and the truth of Jesus and that strengthens our hearts and grows our love and faith in him.

God created us with minds as well as hearts in order to love Him and enjoy Him. Our minds process the truth of God and teach our hearts so that our hearts can burn with passion and love for Him. 

 John Piper said, “Right thinking about God exists for the sake of right feelings for God.” Reason and emotion are not two separate, extreme opposites. They go hand-in-hand with each other – working together to make us more like our God.