“Instead, speaking the truth in love, we will in all things grow up into him who is the Head, that is, Christ.” (Eph 4:15, NIV)

For too long, my words were ruled by a need to “keep the peace” wherever I would go.  However, all I was doing much of the time was allowing those emotions to store up and become toxic.

Whilst Jesus said, “blessed are the peacemakers”, it was never the Lord’s intention for us to maintain peace at the expense of our emotional well-being, whilst neglecting to speak the truth in love.

Without even being aware of it, I would often internalise my emotions.  If, at any particular moment, sharing what was on my heart with someone meant that I might potentially receive an adverse reaction from them, I’d rather stay silent than “rock the boat”.  This way, I felt I was in control of other people’s responses to me.  However, in reality, I was allowing fear to control me, and robbing myself of authentic relationships.  (God is still busy with me!)

If we don’t healthily confront people, bitterness and resentment will slowly accumulate (as has been the case for me).  For other people, the symptoms of bottling up emotions can appear more externally, such as sudden bursts of anger or temper tantrums.  Left unchecked, our emotions become destructive and can even cause sickness in our bodies.

Emotions are not supposed to rule us or determine our behaviour; we need to let God do that.  But we must “listen” to our emotions and allow them to instruct us, whilst submitting our hearts to Jesus.