Faith and Feelings: Why Emotions Aren’t the Enemy of Spiritual Maturity
We often contrast head and heart, as if thought and feeling were in constant opposition. This false divide has led many believers to distrust their emotions and idolize logic. But biblically and biologically, both thought and feeling were designed to work together in harmony.
How We Learned to Distrust Our Emotions
Matthew Elliot captures this imbalance powerfully in Feel:
“We have become indoctrinated in the belief that emotions are unreliable, dangerous, and bad. Philosophy, psychology, our scientific culture, and the church have taught us that logic and reason must reign supreme, while feelings are trivialised and seen as something to be suppressed or ignored.”
Many Christians have internalized this message. Rationality is praised as a mark of spiritual maturity, while emotional expression is seen as weakness— or worse, untrustworthy. However, we have been duped. This view is not truly biblical; it’s inherited from centuries of Greek dualism that split “spirit” and “flesh” into competing forces.
The Biblical Heart: More Than Feelings
When Scripture speaks of the heart, it refers to the core of our being—where thought, feeling, and will intersect. To love God with “all your heart” (Deuteronomy 6:5) is not to set emotion against reason, but to align your whole inner life—mind, desire, and decision—with His.
Robert Alter reminds us that in biblical language, the heart is not merely the seat of emotion:
“The heart in biblical physiology [is] the seat of understanding rather than feeling.”
The simple assertion that our heart is “stupid” or “evil” lacks an understanding of the Jewish worldview. Can the heart be these things? Absolutely but just as much as the mind can lead us to justifying sin or disobedience.
When Emotions Become Scapegoats
Feelings are not inherently deceitful and it does us a disservice when we suppress or ignore them. It’s not our emotions that lead us astray, it’s our disconnection from them. Feelings, when grounded in truth and guided by the Spirit, are essential signals. They help us discern what is life-giving and what is not.
Scripture never tells us to suppress emotions; it calls us to steward them.
“Rejoice, O young man, in your youth… Walk in the ways of your heart and the sight of your eyes. But know that for all these things God will bring you into judgment.” — Ecclesiastes 11:9
“Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” — Proverbs 28:26
The lesson here isn’t to condemn emotion or intellect—but to cultivate humble awareness. Both the mind and the heart are capable of self-deception. Both need redemption.
Integrating Mind, Heart, and Spirit
True spiritual maturity doesn’t come from suppressing emotion or worshiping intellect
it comes from integration.
When we let God’s Spirit bring coherence between what we know and what we feel, faith becomes embodied.
We think with the heart and feel with understanding.
To feel deeply is not to be ruled by emotion—it is to be fully human in the image of a God who rejoices, grieves, delights, and loves. God even called David, who was a deep feeler, “a man after His own heart”; this should give us pause and consideration for how God views emotions.
Your emotions are not the enemy of faith. They are invitations:
to listen, to notice, & to align your inner life with divine truth.
When head and heart work together, wisdom flows.