Super-Apostles Reject Emotional Vulnerability

We do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,[a]about the troubles we experienced in the province of Asia. We were under great pressure, far beyond our ability to endure, so that we despaired of life itself. - 2 Corinthians 1:8

Paul is not always in touch with his emotions (who is, after all?). Sometimes you can see his shame or his anger burning underneath some of his cutting comments. But here, there’s a refreshing transparency. He just lets it out that he’s been super depressed and perhaps even struggling with suicidal thoughts. There’s something winsome about his authenticity - it seems to make him more human, less one of the ‘super-apostles’ that he critiques later in the letter (see 2 Corinthians 11:5).

As we think about how essential our emotions are in our spiritual life, take some time to pick one of these questions and work it through with Jesus:

• What prevents you from being transparent about your more ‘negative’ emotions, like sadness, depression or anger?

• Do you have a sense of when emotional vulnerability is healthy and when it is over-sharing?

• Is there a relationship that has been stunted because one or both parties has been unwilling to ask for help like Paul did in the scripture passage today?

• Has there been a key moment when you or someone close to you really let the other in to their lives and it took your relationship to a whole new level?

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*As a church we’ll be reading a diverse group of authors who’ve written prayers similar to the Psalms. If you’d like to purchase the book, you can do so HERE.

**As a church we’ll be reading those prayers from that book and having an daily online discussion (participate however much you’d like) using our new church app, which is HERE