昨天我们结束时提到一位女士，她说自己不懂得哀恸，但实际上她的问题是她不想哀恸。每当我们不愿意面对负面的情绪，那表示我们没有控制情绪，而是让情绪控制我们。

基督徒往往会被教导要在面对悲伤时假装出快乐的样子。不过，今天的经文告诉我们，有一位大祭司完全能够体恤我们的软弱。主给我们的安慰是不带批判和充满怜悯的，而向主隐藏我们的软弱，就等于不让自己得到祂的安慰，是多么没理由啊！这是一个十分重要的提醒，因为我认为十个基督徒中，有八个对如何处理伤害和哀伤都有完全错误的观念。

一般基督徒对负面情绪的反应只有两个：否认或者是表达。否认就是拒绝面对和感受情绪，昨天我们处理了这个问题。现在让我们来思考一下「表达」是甚么意思。表达情绪是将情绪尽情发泄出来。这是今天的辅导员和治疗师所惯用的手法。他们说你感到不快乐、受到伤害或愤怒时，便高声呼喊、叫喊或拳打枕头，直到那些情绪得到完全发泄为止。没错，这样做内心或许可以得到一点释放，但却不是合乎圣经的成熟行为。处理负面情绪的正确方式不是否认或表达，而是承认。我们明天将继续在这方面作进一步的探讨。

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.