Feelings
Our "feelings" can be one of our greatest enemies. Our feelings are constantly changing and way too uncertain to allow them to set our guideline for living. Having been a pastoral counselor for almost 4 decades I must tell you that I have heard a lot about how people feel. People choose their profession, buy cars, live in certain places and even pick a life long mate by their feelings. The word "feelings" is defined as, "emotion or sympathetic perception". Be honest and ask yourself the question, "do I really want to go through life with emotion or perception as my guide?" I don't think so. Yet, many find it hard to simply accept God's ways, directives or commands as truth.
I was talking to a man recently who had little, if any Biblical foundation. Yet, he was a very caring and intelligent person. He confided that simply taking the leap of faith and accepting the Bible as The Truth was too difficult for him. After all, he was an educated man who needed to understand. Then he asked that question. You know the one, how can Christianity be the only way to heaven? To him, it just didn't make sense, it just didn't feel right! I said, "I know exactly how you feel. I have had the same feelings and thoughts." Yet, there has to be that which is right and true, not truth as a moving target. Life and certainly eternity is much too valuable to simply roll the dice, block out your mind and decide that you will live by what you feel. I'm reminded of the old country song that says, "how can it be wrong when it FEELS so right?"
I can tell that many not in the Church look at the Christian world and assume that Christians are naive people who find comfort by sticking together in what they believe. They see believers as weak people who sit around convincing each other about their faith. Certainly there is a truth that living your life around people of like faith is a reinforcing commodity. Yet, non believers do the same. They run from Christians, flocking together to reinforce their own belief systems.
People of feelings live lives that are uncertain, always shifting and usually dominated by fear. People of faith, real faith are stable, certain and fearless. Why? Because their stability is not founded on the shifting sands of emotion or in religion, creeds, rules or regulations. It is founded on a personal relationship with God Himself. They talk to Him and experience an internal communication that reinforces their faith. Then, from that foundation, when they read the Bible they find it a living book. Even non believing seekers has found the Scripture unlike any other book. Derek Prince was a King's Scholar, attending Eton College in England when he began to read the Bible as a Philosopher to disprove it. He said later that as he read it he became captivated by it and came to a living faith.
Faith in the beginning is often a leap of faith that is in conflict with feelings. However, this leap of faith becomes a solid highway to a life of security, comfort, fearlessness about the future and the answer to loneliness. It is in fact a decision!
When I made the decision to accept God's way and Jesus in particular, I did so with a lot of feelings and questions. It was amazing how fast those things dissipated and how quickly the question marks turned into exclamation marks!
Our "feelings" can be one of our greatest enemies. Our feelings are constantly changing and way too uncertain to allow them to set our guideline for living. Having been a pastoral counselor for almost 4 decades I must tell you that I have heard a lot about how people feel. People choose their profession, buy cars, live in certain places and even pick a life long mate by their feelings. The word "feelings" is defined as, "emotion or sympathetic perception". Be honest and ask yourself the question, "do I really want to go through life with emotion or perception as my guide?" I don't think so. Yet, many find it hard to simply accept God's ways, directives or commands as truth.
I was talking to a man recently who had little, if any Biblical foundation. Yet, he was a very caring and intelligent person. He confided that simply taking the leap of faith and accepting the Bible as The Truth was too difficult for him. After all, he was an educated man who needed to understand. Then he asked that question. You know the one, how can Christianity be the only way to heaven? To him, it just didn't make sense, it just didn't feel right! I said, "I know exactly how you feel. I have had the same feelings and thoughts." Yet, there has to be that which is right and true, not truth as a moving target. Life and certainly eternity is much too valuable to simply roll the dice, block out your mind and decide that you will live by what you feel. I'm reminded of the old country song that says, "how can it be wrong when it FEELS so right?"
I can tell that many not in the Church look at the Christian world and assume that Christians are naive people who find comfort by sticking together in what they believe. They see believers as weak people who sit around convincing each other about their faith. Certainly there is a truth that living your life around people of like faith is a reinforcing commodity. Yet, non believers do the same. They run from Christians, flocking together to reinforce their own belief systems.
People of feelings live lives that are uncertain, always shifting and usually dominated by fear. People of faith, real faith are stable, certain and fearless. Why? Because their stability is not founded on the shifting sands of emotion or in religion, creeds, rules or regulations. It is founded on a personal relationship with God Himself. They talk to Him and experience an internal communication that reinforces their faith. Then, from that foundation, when they read the Bible they find it a living book. Even non believing seekers has found the Scripture unlike any other book. Derek Prince was a King's Scholar, attending Eton College in England when he began to read the Bible as a Philosopher to disprove it. He said later that as he read it he became captivated by it and came to a living faith.
Faith in the beginning is often a leap of faith that is in conflict with feelings. However, this leap of faith becomes a solid highway to a life of security, comfort, fearlessness about the future and the answer to loneliness. It is in fact a decision!
When I made the decision to accept God's way and Jesus in particular, I did so with a lot of feelings and questions. It was amazing how fast those things dissipated and how quickly the question marks turned into exclamation marks!
No comments:
Post a Comment