We are a world that lives for the sake of our feelings. We don’t look at truth or righteousness, merely whether or not something “feels” good or right.
I don’t know about you, but I would prefer someone to tell me they care about me and not that they feel like they care about me.
Feelings can change and change rapidly. I remember having a crush on someone in school. After watching him from afar for more than a year, my feelings changed in a morning when he made an unkind but true comment about me. Actually, what he said was true but he did it in a way that was not kind.
It didn’t matter to me, at the time, that what he said was true. It mattered that he hurt my feelings and so my feelings for him in the time it took to take in what he had said. Looking back, I wish I had paid attention to the truth of his statement and acted on it as I would have saved myself a huge amount of grief in the future.
Instead, I was guided by my feelings. From that point on, my feelings for him turned bitter and hateful. I didn’t miss an opportunity to spread mean words about him and to make fun of him when the occasion arose.
That’s what happens when feelings are in control. We can blow hot and then ice cold in moments.
You might say that is simply being a teenager. To a degree, that is true. However, it seems like more and more adults, these days, are acting like immature children.
They don’t get their way and they turn against those who denied it to them. You don’t agree with them and therefore, you are an enemy.
They may say, I don’t feel like you are a good person. Or, I feel like I am a boy now and not a girl. I feel like the sun won’t rise tomorrow and the world will fall apart within a matter of twelve years.
Their feelings won’t make any of those things true. In fact, truth and what people feel are generally at polar opposites.
Feelings can come and go but truth is forever. Truth is from God and feelings are something that mankind has developed. Anything that man has made is corrupt because mankind is corrupt.
We are a sinful lot. We like to think that we are not. We will think that we are the pinnacle of everything that has ever been. It’s a bit funny, as God actually made us lower than angels. We are far from the pinnacle, in fact, we are at the bottom.
God created mankind to show that individuals with free-will could and would turn to him and repent of their sins and live in accordance with his truth. That doesn’t mean those who follow him won’t stray often but that we will repent again and reach out to him for help.
Angels were made higher than mankind but they were not given the opportunity to repent and return to God. The angels, known as demons, lead by Lucifer rebelled against God and were doomed forever. Honestly, though, it doesn’t appear that those fallen angels wanted to repent. They are still trying to beat God and ascend his throne.
They know that mankind is swayed by their feelings. That is why they offer temptations to us. They want us to do what we feel is right (for us) and not to follow the truth of God’s word.
This is not only something that happens to those who have not accepted Christ as their savior. Most Christians that I have known, like to live by their feelings as well.
They love how certain Christian songs make them feel, whether those songs really speak truth or not. They really like certain Christian books, though often those books are simply things the authors feel and not something from God. The Christians feel like certain pastors are speaking to them, whether or not those pastors are truly Christians or merely charlatans cashing in on those who follow them by telling them things that they want to hear and not truth.
Living by these types of feelings can result in a very difficult time for Christians. If they aren’t hearing the truth of God’s word, whether by song, book, or sermon, then they cannot ever grow.
Their growth as Christians will be stunted. They are like a tree that isn’t given the right type of care (which means allowing harsh weather to test and strengthen it.) That tree will grow for a season but at its heart, it is weak. When the harsh winds of life come blowing, those stunted Christians will be broken and uprooted rather than merely bending to the wind and righting themselves once the storm is past.
It is time for the church (meaning the body of all true Christians) to stop living by their feelings. They need to look beyond the human experience of self-satisfaction and, instead, look at life through God’s eyes. It’s easy to do, God has given us the way. Reading an accurate translation of the Bible, based on a multitude of trusted Biblical scholars (and certainly not a single translator), will point the way to righteous living in the eyes of God.
Stop looking at how you feel about things and start living for truth. God is truth. Start living for God.
Psalms 25:4-5
Show me your ways, Lord, teach me your paths.
Guide me in your truth and teach me, for you are God my Savior, and my hope is in you all day long.