Truth is Not Feelings (So Don't Worry)

Yes, this blog has referred to this matter many times.

Yet let this remark be read once again:

Truth is not bound up in feelings.

Not one bit. Not at all.

For the longest time, peace was all about how I was feeling.

If I felt bad, it meant that God was one thousand miles away.

If I felt good, that meant that He was closer to me than anything in the world

As a result, there was a whirl-wind of pain and confusion in my life.

The feelings that many people want to trust in - they come and go just as fast as the wind and the rain, and less predictably than the sun or moon rising in the sky.

Why would we want to trust our feelings on anything?

Well, I was one of those weirdos.

Yes, there it is, in plain English.

As a result, I was constantly looking for someone else, or something else, to make me feel better.

Wow! What frustration.

Yes, there it is. That is the truth of  the matter.

Today, I am not looking for comfort in the Words of someone else.

I am seeking truth in the matter of what One Person has to say on the matter: Jesus!

Truth personified, and it has nothing to do with feelings. Not at all.

So, don't worry about how you feel today. It means nothing to where you stand before God.

Nothing at all. It does not matter.

Now, there was one verse I used to read, and it would give me pause, and concern:

"There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love." (1 John 4: 18)

"Uh oh!" I used to think. "If I am feeling fear, that means that I not made perfect in love."

A few references help to make sense of this passage, which actually brings full comfort if we rest in the truth of God's Word.

"1Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. 2Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. 3And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure." (1 John 3: 1-3)

First of all, because of all that Jesus has done for me, I am a son of God, having received His Spirit of Adoption (Romans 8: 15; Galatians 4: 6)

Second of all, the real issue when it came to fears, feelings, etc. I was operating under the lie that what I was feeling determined whether I was close to God or not.

What? I am his child, regardless of how I feel. In that sense alone, indeed, I was not perfected. In that sense, I was not aware fully of "As He Is, So Are We In This World".

It has nothing to do with our feelings -- at all. Nothing good or bad about it. That is just the way it is.