昨天我們結束時提到一位女士，她說自己不懂得哀慟，但實際上她的問題是她不想哀慟。每當我們不願意面對負面的情緒，那表示我們沒有控制情緒，而是讓情緒控制我們。

基督徒往往會被教導要在面對悲傷時假裝出快樂的樣子。不過，今天的經文告訴我們，有一位大祭司完全能夠體恤我們的軟弱。主給我們的安慰是不帶批判和充滿憐憫的，而向主隱藏我們的軟弱，就等於不讓自己得到祂的安慰，是多麼沒理由啊！這是一個十分重要的提醒，因為我認為十個基督徒中，有八個對如何處理傷害和哀傷都有完全錯誤的觀念。

一般基督徒對負面情緒的反應只有兩個：否認或者是表達。否認就是拒絕面對和感受情緒，昨天我們處理了這個問題。現在讓我們來思考一下「表達」是甚麼意思。表達情緒是將情緒盡情發洩出來。這是今天的輔導員和治療師所慣用的手法。他們說你感到不快樂、受到傷害或憤怒時，便高聲呼喊、叫喊或拳打枕頭，直到那些情緒得到完全發洩為止。沒錯，這樣做內心或許可以得到一點釋放，但卻不是合乎聖經的成熟行為。處理負面情緒的正確方式不是否認或表達，而是承認。我們明天將繼續在這方面作進一步的探討。

Yesterday we ended with the case of the woman who said that she didn't know how to mourn, when in reality her problem was she didn't want to mourn. Whenever we are unwilling to face a negative emotion, it implies that we are not in control of it, but that it is in control of us.

Christians are often taught to pretend that they feel joyful when really they are miserable. Our text today, however, tells us that we have a great High Priest who can sympathise with us in our weaknesses. How pointless it is to conceal our weaknesses from the Lord and deny ourselves the comfort of His uncritical compassionate understanding. This is very important, for I would say that eight out of ten Christians have a completely wrong view of how to handle hurts and sorrows.

The typical Christian reaction to negative emotions is either denial or expression. We dealt yesterday with the issue of denial - refusing to face them and feel them - so let's consider for a moment what we mean by the term "expression". The expression of emotions is the act of letting our emotions out. This is a popular approach with many of today's counsellors and therapists. They say, when you feel upset, hurt or angry, then shout and scream or punch a pillow until you have released those pent-up emotions. There is no doubt that some relief can be gained in this way, but it is not a very Biblical or mature way of dealing with our negative feelings. The right way of handling negative feelings is neither to deny them or express them, but to acknowledge them. But more of that tomorrow.