Listen to God's Word
One of my favorite sports is boxing. I enjoy all types of boxing, Golden Gloves, semi-pro and professional. One of the things that always interest boxing fans is who the opponents are. Boxing fans will talk about boxer's experience, last fight, weight, height, and reach. Part of the enjoyment is being able to look at both boxers and try to forecast who is going to win and why. It is always interesting to see who is challenging who.
One of the things that I see many Christians challenging is their feelings. It seems that all too often feelings are challenging facts. I never discount anyone's feelings; however I think that it is important to point out a few things about feelings. First, feelings are always changing. If you are having a good day; you might be feeling good about things. If you are going through a difficult season you might be feeling down. Ones feelings can easily be all over the place. Feelings can also be untrue. For example, I often hear people say, “I feel like God has abandoned me”. While this may be a real feeling it is an untruth. God's word reminds us that He will never leave us, or forsake us (Deuteronomy31:6, Hebrews 13:5). This is why it is so important to confront those untrue feelings with the truth of God's word. Another feeling that I often hear is, “I don't feel like God loves me”. This feeling is easily defeated when confronted by the fact of God's word. God's word reminds that he loved us so much that he gave his Son to die for us. (John 3:16) His word also reminds us that He even loved us while we were still sinners (Romans 5:8). When these feeling are left unchecked by the truth of God's word one can live their life based on an untrue feeling rather than the truth of God's word.
You simply cannot trust all of your feelings and that is why it is best to see if those feelings line up with God's word. We are reminded that our ways are not His ways and our thoughts are not His thoughts (Isaiah 55:8). We are also reminded not to trust in our own understanding (Proverbs 3:5-6). Feelings always have to be checked by the facts of God's word. God's word is all true and contains absolutely no errors. 2 Timothy 3:16 is a great verse to confront those feelings with, “All Scripture is inspired by God and is useful to teach us what is untrue and to make us realize what is wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong in our lives. It corrects us when we are wrong and teaches us to do what is right.”
Are you experiencing some feelings that do not line up with the facts of God's word? Have you been living your life based on some untrue feelings? Have some untrue feelings been causing you to live a defeated life? Untrue feelings are a challenging opponent, but can defeated by the truth of God's word. Maybe it's time to lace up your spiritual gloves and get back in the rings of life and hit those untrue feelings with the facts of God's word!
