The Crossroads of Emotions and Trust

By: Missionary Team

What is real? What is reality? Before you groan and leave what you may think is someone using this platform to spout philosophy, I ask that you ponder this question from someone who’s no master of introspection or depth. In which do we have faith: emotions or trust? Are we secure in our lives through the way we feel and interpret interactions, or do we find security through our trust in others? All of humanity, including myself, is searching for what is truth, and it often comes down to this. The truth is dictated by the emotions we experience or the people and things we trust. My answer to this is certainly not the definitive way of saying it, but I hope it can give a sense of clarity to those struggling with finding what is true in this world.

So, should we follow our emotions? Well, let’s take a look at what they are! Our emotions, or the way we feel, are formed by our interactions with those around us, and they are constantly changing the more and more we interact and intermingle with others. By this fact, emotions are never consistent. And to make matters worse, they fluctuate depending on our whims and the whims of very fallible human beings. All people make mistakes constantly, and if we let our clearly erroneous judgment be our reality, there will be no real truth. Truth is never changing because it is never wrong and never in need of correction or editing. Ultimately, emotions and their habit for change and error cannot be held as the source of what is truth.

Now, this begs the question, does this mean that trust is the source of truth? Like the latter, trust deserves an equal dive of whether or not it can be treated as truth. depending on its context, the concept of trust can be as equally fallible as our emotions. Placing trust in other people can be seen as a foolish decision in many ways because we are blindly believing that another person(s) will offer mutual support. Trust can be easily broken without even giving a second thought, and even in cases when two or more people intentionally ensure that there is trust in their bond, the chance for the trust to be broken is still present. And the reason why trust can be broken is the same as our emotions, we change in how we feel and act. This can prompt us to question and even reconsider the people and things we have previously put our trust in.

In the end, what is the answer? What is the source of truth? If both emotions and trust are prone to error, then nothing can determine what truth is. As bleak as that may appear, there is a solution! There is an everlasting source of truth. And this source is God. He created the universe and everything in it, and in His relationship with us throughout history has proven that He ALWAYS fulfills His every Word and Promise. Look at how Abraham obtained the promised generations as numerous as the stars, even though his wife was barren, or even more, how God ultimately brought about our promised salvation through the Passion and Resurrection of His Beloved Son.

However, emotions and trust come into play to obtain the Truth of God, and only one of them can be the way to siphon this truth to us. God is truth, never changing, unlike our emotions. When we decide to “feel” about God and what He says to us, it becomes a distortion of the Truth He tells us, and it leads us to view His Words as whatever we want them to be. But when we trust in God, we never need to second guess or question the Words He has spoken to us. The reason for this is that we have faith that God will keep His promises as He has always done and will do. Between emotions and trust, neither of them will lead us to the truth unless we firmly trust in God. He will always show us the Truth.