Whenever you think of Matthew 26, you probably think of the phrase “watch and pray”, or Judas’ betrayal of Jesus, or even Peter’s imminent denial of Christ. All of those are very important events or biblical principles, but there’s another thing that we can glean from Matthew 26 — a principle about emotions.

Emotions are a difficult topic sometimes, because they’re so subjective and often conflict with what we know to be true. Some emotions can be sinful, like unrighteous anger or sinful despair and worry. But not all emotions are sinful — and that’s one of the things we can take away from Matthew 26:36-38.

“Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to the disciples, ‘Sit here while I go and pray over there.’ And He took with Him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, ‘My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here and watch with Me.’” (emphasis mine)

Anyone who reads and believes their Bible knows that Jesus was fully God and fully man, and that He was a perfect, sinless Man. So that has to mean that anything and everything He did here on Earth was NOT a sin. Meaning:

Crying, being “deeply distressed”, and righteous anger over sin/hypocrisy are all beautiful, godly, even biblical expressions of emotions.

Obviously, we can’t enslave ourselves to our emotions or let them guide our every action and thought. But we shouldn’t feel guilty for having and feeling emotions — and we don’t need to hide them from God either.

“My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’” — Psalm 42:3

“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.” — Psalm 23:4

There’s crying and sorrow all over psalms like Psalm 42, and outright fear and danger in Psalm 23. The psalmist never hid any of these emotions from God, although he did correct himself when we began to despair or believe lies about God. Jesus did the same thing in the Garden of Gethsemane — He verbally and mentally acknowledged His emotions, and didn’t try to hide it from God in His prayers, but submitted to God’s perfect plan regardless of the outcome.

These same principles apply to our everyday lives, whether we’re experiencing fear, joy, or anger. Regardless of if the emotion we’re feeling is positive or negative, bottling it up is never a good idea. If you’re happy, let yourself enjoy the little things in life. If you’re sad, let yourself cry. If you’re angry, maybe go punch a pillow. But don’t stop there — remind yourself of the truth.

Happiness is an opportunity to thank and enjoy God; anger is an opportunity to trust in God’s justice, holiness and sovereignty; fear is an opportunity to believe that God is a good, caring Father who plans our futures for our good.

All our emotions are a gift from God, and they’re part of how we represent His image as humans. But the way we process and deal with them will change the way we think, and the way we act, either for better or for worse. And when we submit our emotions and thoughts to God, we won’t be swayed by our every whim and doubt that tries to blow us off our course.

“Those who trust in the LORD are like Mount Zion, which cannot be moved, but abides forever. As the mountains surround Jerusalem, so the LORD surround His people from this time forth and forever.” — Psalm 125:1-2