1 Corinthians 14:14 “For if I pray in a tongue, my spirit prays, but my understanding is unfruitful.”
As we will see in this section there are three main components that make up the mind of man i.e. the understanding, the emotions and faith. The first and main component which we will discuss is our understanding. The reason we say that the understanding is the main component of the mind, is because whenever the bible speaks of the understanding of an individual it is in fact referring to the mind as a whole. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul differentiates between the spirit and the mind of the believer, by explaining that it is possible for the spirit of the believer to be doing something that does not involve the mind of the believer and visa versa. The word translated “understanding” in this passage can also be translated “intellect” or “mind”. When scripture refers to the understanding of an individual it is referring to the reasoning aspect of our thinking i.e. our ability to comprehend, and it is in fact God who gives us that ability (2 Timothy 2:7).
Ephesians 4:26 “Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath.”
The second component of our minds that we will discuss is our emotions. So what are our emotions? Our emotions are given to us by God to express our feelings. In the above quoted passage of scripture the apostle Paul speaks of one such emotion i.e. anger and he counsels believers to allow themselves to display that emotion when it is appropriate to do so. There are numerous emotions mentioned in scripture such as sorrow for example (2 Corinthians 7:10), but we will not discuss all of them here as in this section I wanted to just highlight the truth that emotions form part of the make up of the mind of man and what their purpose is. Emotions are reliant on the understanding component of our minds for they are reactive to our understanding. In other words we become angry when we have understanding of a particular situation that we perceive to be unjust for example. Normally emotions are of short duration, because they are very often reliant on the circumstances that people find themselves in, and so as their circumstances change so do the emotions they display. For example there is an emotion of cheerfulness or happiness which is expressed when circumstances are favourable to the saint (James 5:13). This particular emotion is not be confused with joy of the spirit however, which is one of the nine fruit of the spirit (Galatians 5:22). Because as one of the fruit of the spirit, joy is constant in the life of the believer and is not at all reliant on whether circumstances are favourable or not. Emotions in and of themselves are neither righteous nor sinful, but rather are given by God to allow us to express the right feelings at the appropriate moment. When a person allows their emotions to govern their behaviour however, i.e. one who is always angry for example, then that display of emotion becomes sinful and more often than not there is a spiritual (demonic) influence that drives that excessive display of emotion.
Michael E.B. Maher
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