Contemplate & Consider Vol. 2

From Living the Cross Centered Life by C.J. Mahaney

Have you ever considered how thoroughly most of us live by our feelings today--how feelings-focused we are? IN a typical day, how often do you make decisions and evaluate reality based primarily on your emotions at the moment...

Our common tendency is to habitually begin with the internal, the subjective, the experiential, then use those feelings and impressions to determine what we'll accept as being objective fact. We let our feelings tell us what's true, instead of letting the truth transform our feelings...

We even explain our daily choices by saying, "I feel good about this, or, "I had a bad feeling about it." It's the fundamental mindset with which we approach practically everything. It's how we live.

We're conditioned to this approach not only by our sin but also by our culture, which incessantly entices us to "follow your heart" and do whatever makes us feel good--along with the flattering assurance that nonstop feeling good is something we absolutely deserve!

It would be fine to follow our feelings if we could always be sure they're faithful to reality. But they aren't; their perspective on reality typically has huge blind spots. As a result, our emotions are flighty, fickle, and far too easily dominated by any number of influences--spilled coffee at breakfast, a traffic stall when you're running late, a cutting comment from a coworker. Our feelings cannot be trusted.

Even when it comes to our spiritual life, at any given moment we direct and locate our faith in our emotion state rather than in clearly objective truth...

It happens frequently, for example, in our corporate worship. As people around us sing words expressing profound gratitude to Jesus for His death on our behalf, we may disqualify ourselves from truly entering into this adoration of our Savior because our "passion" is absent this morning.

It can happen also when we open our bibles. Before us is a passage with words like redemption, Savior, gospel, justified. But if those words evoke little response in us, we unthinkingly pass over them to find something else that might light our fire. If the enthusiasm doesn't come quickly...well, we may just forget the whole thing. After all, who wants to spend the mental energy it takes to think carefully and intensely about the Scriptures? Who has time to study? Who has time to meditate?

And this is how serious it gets: In our arrogance, we invest our feelings (or lack thereof) with final authority rather than recognize that our emotions tend to be unstable, unreliable, often governed by pride, and riddled with lies--lies that "feel" like the truth.

I've watched people yield to such lies repeatedly. It's a frightening experience to sit with individuals who actually insist that what they feel is ultimately more authoritative to them than what's written clearly in Scripture. They even somehow assume God is sympathetic to this attitude. But He is not. He would, in fact, identify it as the height of arrogance--which is something He's unalterably opposed to: "God opposes the proud," His Word declares.

That's the bad news. But in the same verse there's also good news: "God...gives grace to the humble."

Mahaney, C.J. Living the Cross Centered Life: Keeping the Gospel the Main Thing. 2006. Sovereign Grace Ministries. Page 32-35