The Right “Feels”

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Brothers and sisters, let us talk about 2 Fs today— Faith and Feelings. We all know that the faith the Lord has given us should not be based on human feelings. However, we cannot fully omit the importance of feelings. As Proverbs 28:26 says, “Whoever trusts in his own mind is a fool, but he who walks in wisdom will be delivered.” So our feelings can serve its blessed purpose when we walk in the wisdom of experiencing God’s presence and help through them.

The Wrong Feels That Comes With Human Fallenness

Now, we are all born with feelings. But because we do not know God’s word or internalise it enough, in our fallen nature, we also live with deceptive and misguided emotions. Jeremiah 17:9 tell us, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” What does this mean? It means that the emotions of our hearts can come from so many different forms and levels of human knowledge and ideas. It is not certain and wavers. That is why you can be smart, knowing many things of the world, sciences, principles and philosophies, but without the wisdom of God, all our emotions and thoughts are unreliable and fallen. Fallen meaning that whatever we see and experience and believe easily becomes our reality and we make choices based on what we think is right or wrong. The way we have expectations for marriage, for relationships, for career progression, for leisure. But the word of God tells us that, maybe in terms of marriage, our spouse should not be based off some conditions that are fulfilled by what we feel good about, but the Lord tells us that our spouse is someone that is prepared specially by God. Same thing when it comes to nurturing our kids, it is not based merely on how good their behaviour or grades are that we give them approval because disappointment will sweep us away in the next moment. It is that regardless of all things, they remain in God, they still come to church and you go through the Lord’s promises with them. So do not let our misguided emotions become our new religion and thus affecting all areas of our lives in the wrong direction.

Where do we get the right feelings?

So where can we get the right feelings? Anywhere that has the presence of God’s word and way. The things that helps us learn and be reminded of what is meant by God, by our identity, about the world, the judgment to come and matters of heaven and hell.
” From the correct understanding of these fundamentals, we will develop the right feelings within us. So feelings are important if it is right with God’s leading. If not, we will just be like a blind man being led by our deceptive emotions, lost as we lead our lives in this world. For those of us who have understood the word of God, we will have new convictions, new feelings. When men are filled with fear, doubts and complaints about mishaps, unfortunate circumstances and such, we instead have our eyes on the souls of men. We have a burden for people who still have not received the gospel, we have a mission-driven mindset for God’s concerns. We see purpose not in personal gains but in how we can help build God’s kingdom and benefit His people in faith. When I first started out in my full time work in church, there were times when I felt the things I do were repetitive and not my own zone of interest, like website-related stuff, uploading videos and admin matters. But I carried on through truly not because of self will, but that I was reminded this church/internet ministry, though more silent than face-to-face interactions and more behind-the-scenes, but the outreach can go beyond just our church and even our region. And so it did, it reached out to many others on Youtube, on our website, on our socials, even though in my position, it seems the same old things. So with God’s truth in mind, we will have new vision and spiritual motivation that outlasts human will and zeal.

The overwhelming influence of the world?

But here comes the common issue. We want to be emotionally guided by truth, but the influence of the world is too great and too real. And it is true. When we live in this world, our spiritual feelings cannot be uplifted because our circumstances are so real before us. Our work struggles, our broken relationships, our fatigue, our lack. True enough, having God’s word does not immediately or miraculously take all these realities away, but it does one very important thing. It keeps us from being used to the way the world takes hold of us. We are often too used to the feelings the world gives us and it holds us hostage or cripples our faith, making us act according to our immediate emotions. As said in   ” So to break this habit of being blinded from the “light” and being carried away, the counter-attack is to keep confirming the word of God in our own lives. We have to vigilant about the Sodom Gomorrah-like battleground we are in. Will we be Abraham or will we be like Lot? In this world village, if we read lesser of God’s truth, confirm lesser of His promises, attend lesser church meetings and messages, we will start to be normalised like the unbelievers. We will not be as sensitive to the Lord’s voice and lose the sense of urgency to evangelise or be concerned with people’s salvation.

Brothers and sisters, we must know that at the end of the road, none that we hold onto now can be taken with us to meet the Lord, except the things that we have done while relying and trusting in Him. So let us cling onto feelings that comes from our faith in Christ, feelings that have a strong and firm foundation in His truth. God bless.x