Emotional independence is something we should all be trying to move towards. This does not mean that we separate ourselves from others emotionally. It is rather, not needing other people in our life to be who we want them to be so that they can fill an emotional need in us. We need to allow others to have their own journey and not use them to fulfill our own emotional needs. Being emotionally independent means that we don’t depend on others to make us happy or define who we are.
God is the only one who is able to truly fulfill our emotional needs. There is a God-shaped empty space in all of us that we try to fill with all sorts of things. It will never be filled until we come to the point where we recognize that nothing else satisfies that emptiness.
Emotions are a great gift to us, they allow us to feel love, happiness, enjoyment. They also make it so that we can get out of unhealthy situations. Anger is a God given emotion. There is a holy anger against those things that are corrupting us, society, the world. There is a righteous anger against things that we need to take a stand against. But as the bible says in Ephesians 4:26-32, be angry but do not sin. We can be angry without being bitter, resentful or fearful. Even fear, the emotion I am challenging in most of my songs, is not wrong. The right kind of fear will stop us from doing things that might be harmful or deadly for us. It is living in constant fear, irrational fear or fear of things that we anticipate that may or may not happen that is so extremely harmful for our mental and physical health. Fear is supposed to help us avoid or get out of dangerous situations but we were never meant to live in constant anxiety.
Learning to know and trust Jesus is the answer to all that ails us, as trite as that may sound. So many people roll their eyes at this truth and see it as meaningless. But that is because they don’t know what it means. He is the one who gave up his life, poured out his heart, stepped down from his high position. He gave everything in order to be your saviour, in order to save, not just the world in general, but each and every one of us individually. He is a personal saviour. When you understand who He is and what He has done, then you will see that He really is the answer and no-one else can save you.
