The Right Kind Of Strong By Mary KassianSýnishorn

The apostle James argued that every human passion is accompanied by a temptation to fulfill that desire in the wrong way. He explained, “Each person is tempted when he is lured and enticed by his own desire. Then desire when it has conceived gives birth to sin, and sin when it is fully grown brings forth death” (1:14–15).

James used two metaphors here. The first comes from fishing. The bait on the fisherman’s hook attracts and entices the fish. Once hooked, the fish is dragged away and pays with its life.

In the second metaphor James pictured desire as conceiving—getting pregnant—and giving birth to sin. James implied that temptation is not sinful in and of itself. Only when desire conceives—that is, when we let it produce offspring—does sin come to life. It is when we give in to sinful desires that we sin.

The point is an important one. Strong emotional yearnings are not sin.

These longings are simply part of what it means to be human. Everyone has them. Even the Lord experienced powerful yearnings and temptations. He sympathizes with our weaknesses because he was tempted just as we are, yet he didn’t sin (Hebrews 4:15). It’s also important to understand that our longings do not occur in the absence of other emotions. Desires are connected to the rest of our feelings. . . .

Sadly, I think some Christian communities view emotions as a problem to be managed rather than a gift to be celebrated. Some teach that intellect is better than emotion because it’s far more reliable. The subtle suggestion is that we should view our feelings with suspicion and do our best to stifle them. The message is, “Your emotions are always getting you into trouble. So deny them. Contain them. Wrestle them into submission!” . . .

Christ died to redeem every part of you, including your emotions. You will be unbalanced if you try to make your intellect and your will run your life and leave your emotions out of the picture. It’s equally damaging to let your emotions run the show and leave your mind and will out of the picture. Or to use your mind and emotions but fail to engage your will.

The gospel brings our souls back into perfect balance so that we may be perfectly complete and whole.