Mark, I can really relate to your empty nest syndrome right now. My son has been in the hospital for the last two weeks, and since I had to put my dog down only a week or so before that, my apartment is totally empty except for the swarm of pesky gnats that won't go away. lol. Seriously, it is depressing to come home to nothing.I guess for me, it is a foretaste of what it will be like in the next couple of years when he does move out on his own.

I am taking a course in mental health right now, and know that the longer something is left untreated, the more chance it has to set in and become permanent. I will be praying for you, that you are able to recognize the relationship between thought and emotion, and then take every thought captive to Christ, so that joy in your salvation will be your strength to get you through things like this. Be deliberate about finding things you enjoy, take pleasure in the small things, and as the Bible says, think on things that are right, lovely, good, etc.

On my profile, I posted a synopsis of a paper I wrote on happiness - it's the fourth article down. I encourage you to read it...you may find it useful.One thing I could add to that from more recent research is the effect volunteering has on happiness level. It's about giving back, sense of community and belonging.

In keeping with your thread, yes, God knows our emotions. We were created in his image, so we know that he has every emotion known to man. And to make his knowledge even more intimate, he became a man and experienced every emotion known to man during that time as well. Can you imagine Jesus perhaps fearing crucifixion so much that he begged and pleaded with the Father to let the cup pass? Or his grief over the news of his friend's death? Or his intense anger at the injustice of people buying and selling in the temple? Or the fun at the wedding or the joy of riding triumphantly into Jerusalem? Sometimes it is hard for us to imagine him knowing the full spectrum of emotions and situations of a baby, toddler, child, adolescent, and man.....

Emotions in and of themselves are neutral things that we experience positively or negatively, but what we do with them counts. The Bible says to be angry but not to sin in our anger or go to bed angry (in other words, resolve your anger as quickly as you can so that bitterness does not have a foothold). I would be so bold as to suggest that the same is true of depression, etc.

You will be in my prayers...

hmmmm.....

Hatred and unforgiveness towards others are feelings that are a no-no!

I've really never suffered from depression Mark but I believe it to be a VERY serious condition...from what I've read and learned about it there are MANY reasons to not just dismiss it as a 'feeling'.

I know we read that Jesus experienced anger...but in digging deep into the Gospels, I have 'heard' such indescribable grief in His words...even when He was calling the religious folk of the day,'white-washed tombs and dens of vipers!"

I journal alot...everyday to be exact...and I find it a marvelous way of venting and talking to God about various emotions-feelings-whinings and compalints! Many times simply getting them down on paper and then perusing them I can see how silly, or real, or 'bad' they are for me to be hanging onto.

When I have been REALLY angry...nay MAD at something/someone I have learnd to stop, run to our High Priest, ask Him for help and confessed to Him, "Lord, I cannot handle this, I WILL to be in Your will and give it to you. Thank you that you are there always to release me from this terrible anger".

I have to say, the 139th Psalm has always had a great and wonderful 'quieting' affect on my angst, my emotions.

Blessings........................................................................

Hi Mark, The short answer is NO.  Selfishness usually cannot be justified. There is a measuring standard scripturally which can be applied to emotions. Notice these verses:

Job 2:3, "And the LORD said unto Satan, Hast thou considered my servant Job, that [there is] none like him in the earth, a perfect and an upright man, one that feareth God, and escheweth evil? and still he holdeth fast his integrity, although thou movedst me against him, to destroy him without cause."

Prov. 3:30; 24:28; "Strive not with a man without cause, if he have done thee no harm."......."Be not a witness against thy neighbour without cause; and deceive [not] with thy lips."

Matt. 5:22, "But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a causeshall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." 

Yes, GOD, in the scriptures, did express all the emotional attributes as we understand them to convey to us just how evil/contrary to HIS Principle of LOVE such actions are. HIS expressions were "WITH CAUSE". 

Yes, Jesus is our High Priest, Advocate and intercessor to GOD the Father. HE was tempted in every point like as we and sinned not. In HIS humanity(using nothing of HIS Divine nature), HE gave the example of it being possible for each of us to "overcome"(7 times repeated in Rev.2+3) each and every temptation which we all face. HE made the way of Reconciliation for Disobeying and that by Confessing our "sin" and "REPENTING" of the same. (2Pet.3:9)

Yes,  "we are judged by our fruits", and (as has been posted),  sometimes our emotions express the evilness/wickedness of the heart and mind.

Paul in Rom.8:28 had this to say. "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to [his] purpose."  With that in mind, we can, like him, apply his words in (Phil. 4:11) "Not that I speak in respect of want: for I have learned, in whatsoever state I am, [therewith] to be content". That is a remarkable testimony in light of the record: 2 Cor.11:16-30

Jesus told us where to focus in Matt. 6:33, "But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you."  HE who made all things also gave the manual for living within the WILL of GOD.    1Cor.10:31,"Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God."

Jul 8, 2010 -- 12:54PM, Anesis wrote:

Sincerely, selfishness is not an emotion; it is a state of being. Cause is not an emotion; it is the precursor. In other words, it is cause that gives feelings their purpose, and that cause may or may not justify our feelings. Selfishness is not justification; injustice is justification.

BD, Isn't selfishness to loveself or one's own interest----the desire to have?? Isn't it also covetousness?

No, Selfishness isn't a justification for ones actions, But it is a "CAUSE" for GOD's actions in judgment of the person----who performed the "injustice"(against GOD or Neighbor).

Jul 9, 2010 -- 9:53AM, Anesis wrote:

I desire a godly husband. Is that sin? Is that coveting? No. It is simply responding to the God-given curse that a woman's desire is for her husband. If I desire another woman's husband, that is sin. The desire itself is not sin. What I attach it to is sin. Loving oneself is an expectation of God, imo. He never said to hate ourselves; rather, he tells us to love our neighbour as we love ourselves - after all, there is a verse that says we tend to care for ourselves by nurturing and feeding ourselves. Imo, it would be sin to not love ourselves as that would be hating the very temple of the spirit, part of the Body of Christ. I have never read anywhere in the Bible that desiring some things is not good....except when that something belongs to someone else.

BD,  YOUR:"I have never read anywhere in the Bible that desiring some things is not good....except when that something belongs to someone else."------look at these verses: James 4:1-3, "From whence [come] wars and fightings among you? [come they] not hence, [even] of your lusts that war in your members?Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.  Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may consume [it] upon your lusts. 

It was that understanding of "selfishness/self-love" that my previous comments were made.----along with "desire to have".  Would you be "fault finding of words" rather than looking at the "message"? Asking, not judging.