Deep Emotions

Here are a few lines from John Piper's book, Brother's, We are not Professionals:

"Emotions are like a river flowing out of one's heart. Form is like the riverbanks. Without them the river runs shallow and dissipates ont he plan. But banks make the river run deep. Why else have humans for centuries reached for poetry when we have deep affections to express? The creation of a form happens because someone feels a passion. How ironic, then, that we often fault form when the real evil is a dry spring." (p. 133)

"Many pastors are not known for expressing deep emotions. This seems to me especially true in relation to the profoundest theological realities. This is not good, because we ought to exerience the deepest emotions about the deepest things. And we ought to seak often, and publicly, about what means most to us, in a way that shows its value.

Brothers, we must let the river run deep. This is a plea for passion in the pulpit, passion in prayer, passion in conversation. It is not a plea for thin, whipped up emotionalism." (p. 134)