Learning To Think About And Feel Your Faith - Deeply Loved: A Devotional to Feel Seen and Known By God

“For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses… Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” (Hebrews 4:15-16, NIV)

Let’s be honest — it’s easy to get stuck in our heads when it comes to our relationship with Jesus.

This was certainly true for me (Bill). Growing up, there was pressure from my family to be extra responsible. I responded by earning excellent grades and excelling in sports. My performance secured the approval of everybody around me.

Everything worked out just fine until I entered the last year of my studies to become a Christian counselor in college. My teacher asked me about my feelings and I realized I only knew what I was thinking and doing. I never knew my emotions were important or that anybody would care to see and understand them.

Similarly, it might feel easier to keep your faith in the realm of thinking and doing. But stuffing your emotions prevents your whole person from receiving and reflecting God’s love (Matthew 22:37).

You can move from knowing about Jesus in your head to authentically knowing him in your real-life experience.

It’s true that thinking is a significant part of apprenticeship to Jesus. The Bible teaches us to pay attention to our thinking — this is especially important when it comes to the truth of God’s Word (Philippians 4:8; 2 Timothy 3:16). It’s also true that a genuine, loving relationship with Jesus leads to an overflow of loving action to others (John 13:34-35).

Yet thinking and doing usually are not the parts of our faith that get overlooked. Emotions are more likely to be ignored or judged as if they’re a bothersome whining child.

In Deeply Loved we show that emotions are a gift from God and important to our relationship with him and others. God designed humans to both feel our thoughts and think about our feelings.

This kind of whole-soul living enables us to experience life more fully and bond with each other more deeply. It makes our relationships more personal and draws us closer together.

We can’t very well cultivate deep intimacy in our relationships with people unless we share our emotions with each other. The same is true in your relationship with God.

Jesus is no stranger to the importance of sharing his feelings with the God he knows as “Abba” or “Papa.”

He felt “sorrowful” and “troubled” and prayed honestly when he was overwhelmed. He expressed loneliness and grief during his most vulnerable moments (Matthew 26:36-39; Matthew 27:45-47). God’s empathy strengthened him to know he was deeply loved and pour out his life in love for others (Hebrews 5:8-9).

You can follow the same blueprint and trust God as a caring Papa. Your High Priest invites you to bring the real you to Papa God and draw from his mercy and grace for your sins and weaknesses (Hebrews 4:15-16).

Receiving empathy from God might be a new concept for you. Thankfully, Jesus shows us how to live with authentic faith in God and grow in grace (Luke 2:52).

Empathy Practice: It’s helpful to meditate on Scriptures where Jesus shares his distress with God and his friends in the Garden of Gethsemane (Matthew 26:36-39), draws on Abba’s empathy at the Cross (Matthew 27:45-47), or teaches us to pray simple prayers to our “Papa” (Matthew 6:5-9). You might try imagining yourself there with Jesus!