Thursday, March 3, 2011

"Touched With the Feeling"

    Because God is all knowing, all powerful, and infinite, we may think that things don't emotionally affect Him in the way they affect us.
    This is true.  They affect Him more.  By, definition, a being of infinite personhood possesses infinite emotional capacity.  Thus, our Lord feels joy, sorrow, peace, dissatisfaction, affection, anger, exhilaration and heartbrokenness in a measure we cannot fathom.  The Bible declares or implies an emotionally involved, feeling God to us on every page of its sacred text, plainly stating in the book of Hebrews, "We have not a High Priest that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities" (Hebrews 4:15).
    The Lord Jesus Christ was a "man of sorrows" during His earthly life (Isaiah 53:3).  He is "anointed with the oil of gladness above His fellows" in His resurrected, exalted state (Hebrews 1:9).  God feels as both God and as man since the incarnation of our Savior, experiencing a panorama of emotion unknown to any other.  He feels as He feels, and He feels as we feel.  Our Lord is in fact the most emotional person who exists, a truth that will change our hearts and lives as we embrace it.  Replacing the perception of God as dispassionate to the truth of His infinitely impassioned nature will lead us think of Him differently, and to relate to Him in a manner far more in line with Biblical teaching.
    Thankfully, unlike ourselves, God's emotions never cause Him to act or relate in a manner contrary to His character, nature and way.  His feelings are in perfect temper and synch with who and what He is.  Thus, He will not be swayed by emotion to act toward us in sentimentality rather than sacred devotion to His holy nature and purposes.  He does act toward us with great feeling, however, and with affectionate commitment to our best interests.  This combination of caring and character in God leads to a relationship unlike any other in our lives, resulting in our own growth in both heartfelt and solemnly committed devotion to Him.
"Casting all your cares upon Him, for He careth for you."
(I Peter 5:7)

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