It is interesting to think about what it means to be made in His image. What is it about our human state that is a picture of God? It’s an amazing thing to dig into. Our emotional nature, our feelings, are there because God values feelings and emotion. Jesus felt love, loneliness, anger, abandonment, pain, hope, joy, and sorrow. This tells me that emotion has value to God and gives life meaning. Logic is also of God, for His intellect and wisdom are evident throughout creation. Wisdom and discernment are most definitely qualities of God. Science, math, problem solving, executive functioning, and all cognitive abilities make us inventors and creative problem solvers.
What I find interesting is that we often try to use emotion and logic to find peace and contentment. We think of peace and contentment as an emotions. To me these are not emotions, but the state of the soul. Although God gave us emotion and logic, He didn’t intend for us to lean on logic and emotion to find peace. When in tribulation or periods of struggle we often turn to our emotion or logic to find a solution and only when the solution is found, implemented, and the struggle eliminated, do we feel peace or contentment. One can be sad and at peace or happy and at peace. Peace and contentment are often mistaken for happiness. In my opinion, joy is also less of an emotion and more of a state of the soul. There is a distinct difference in happiness and joy. The problem is when we think peace and joy can only occur when we solve the problem or eliminate the struggle with our logic or wait to feel good first. For we are told that this life is full of tribulation, so waiting for the hill top moments for peace and joy will leave us ruminating in a valley of negativity for most of our lives. Instead, through growth in relationship with God, we can uncover the peace and joy deep in our soul awakened in the midst of the struggle through closeness with God. It’s a gift, but it is only unwrapped when we let go of defining, in our mind, the line of circumstance where peace will occur.
When we use logic or emotion as the vehicle used to acquire peace and joy, it’s like the carrot dangling in front of the rabbit that he will never catch. Instead when we surrender, when we embrace the struggle, and surround ourselves with God’s Truth, that is when joy and peace illuminate your soul. It is then that they flood into our hearts and we notice them within us with amazement and wonder. Leaving us with a grateful heart in awe of a God who gives peace and joy so generously.
Peace and joy seem elusive. However, when we eliminate the fear and anxiety that has us frantically chasing them with logic and emotion, we realize they are within us buried by that fear and anxiety. Once we let go and trust in the promises of God, they burn so brightly within us that the struggle pales in comparison.
I envision a state of consistent joy and peace in heaven, no longer will they seem so elusive, but instead only magnified to a level we can’t even imagine in this broken world. Until then, I am forever grateful for a taste of the joy and peace we have now being made in His image.
