Sentimentalism

Are you a sentimental person? I know I am.

'Sentimental', as defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary is:
1a. "marked or governed by feeling, sensibility, or emotional idealism" and
1b. "resulting from feeling rather than reason or thought"

I first thought about this when I was reading a friend's blog... and I was thinking about how the Cross of Calvary is often sentimenalised. About how its dramatized into a overwhelmingly rich and powerful self-sacrificial love story that overstimulates our senses and pulls at our heartstrings.

I'm not implying in any way that the Cross isn't about love and I'll be the first to shout out that the love of God has touched me deeply in ways that my limited vocabulary cannot express. The Cross IS about love. However, I will also be the first to shout out that its more than that.

Sadly, sentimentalism has numbed our zeal for true knowledge and reduced us to people who react only to the latest fad or experience.

Paul the apostle recognised this danger of over-sentimentalism and therefore prayed this prayer in Philippians 1:9-11...
"⁹And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, ¹⁰so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, ¹¹filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God."

Paul prayed that the Philippian's love may abound more and more with knowledge and all discernment. He didn't want the Philippian's love for one another to just be the sentimental, love-ballad, romeo-and-juliet kinda love. He wanted their love to be the original 1 Corinthians 13 kinda love (sad that 1 Cor 13 is often reduced to a sentimental passage to be read during weddings... sheesh..) As stated here, their love was to be bolstered and reinforced by knowledge and discernment. Don't just feel... think! This isn't to say that Paul was a cold, hearless human being. On the contrary, Philippians is the most heartfelt and personal letters that Paul ever wrote! (and personally, that's one of the reasons why its one of my favourite books in the bible... now you know why I'm a sentimental person :p) And why the need for this love? So that they might do what's excellant, to be pure and blameless till the day of Christ (v10).

Besides the Cross and Love, Fellowship has often been sentimentalised too. How? I won't elaborate but ultimately, true fellowship sources from partnership in the gospel. And being partners in the gospel is often more about work than enjoyment. Its about labouring on despite the tough circumstances, its about the self-sacrificial support that you need to provide for your brothers and sisters, its about suffering for the sake of Christ. Blood, sweat and tears... that's partnership in the gospel.

So is there any room for sentimentalism? Of course there is... Being sentimental is what gives that spark in a romance, its often the thing that puts that smile on our faces. But sentimentalism doesn't give rise to love... nor does it lead to joy.

Love comes from knowing our Heavenly Father. Not an intellecutual stimulatation, but an intimate knowledge of his character. Joy comes from seeing fruit that results from the fellowship of believers participating in the work of gospel, united in proclaiming the name of Christ... till He comes again.

sub specie aeternitatis