I’ve been writing about positive emotions, trying to
identify them and figure out what they mean to me. One suggestion given to me
was to look at the Fruits of the Spirit as possible positive emotions. Galatians
5:22 – 23 says, “But the fruit of the
Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such
things there is no law.” In the last few weeks, I’ve written about love, joy
and peace but I’m not sure the other things in this list are emotions. What do
you think?
They seem more like actions to me.
Maybe they are attitudes to have, but not really emotions to experience. I
easily get confused as to what is an emotion. Just this week I tried to
identify laziness as an emotion and was told it’s a judgment, an evaluation and
not an emotion. So can patience be an emotion? I know people say, “I feel
patient” but is it really a feeling or is it a decision to be patient. I think
it’s a decision. So, I’m not going to write about it as an emotion.
The other fruits of the spirit –
kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control – don’t seem
like emotions to me either. I guess I will need to do some more praying about
these things. If you have any thoughts on whether these are emotions or not,
feel free to write a comment.
And, have a wonderful 4th
of July.
1 comment:
I agree; they don't seem like emotions, but more like actions. For what it's worth.
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