Can I just be really authentic here for a moment to ya’ll?
Sometimes I don’t FEEL like getting in God’s presence. Sometimes I don’t FEEL like reading the Word of God. In a more honest manner, I haven't felt too motivated moving a bit deeper into 2021, which is odd because if you know me you know - I’m a very internally motivated person. Moreover, sometimes I don’t FEEL like going to the gym. Sometimes I don’t FEEL like taking care of that task. Sometimes I don’t FEEL momentum. Yet, I'm betting if you'd look inwardly you'd feel the same on a lot of different things, too.
If I’m being really honest with you all, there are lots of times I don’t feel it. I don’t feel it, Mr Krabs (throwback to a kids TV show called Spongebob and the meme below):
I’m sure by the looks of what happened this week on Capitol hill, we’re perhaps not feeling 2021 thus far.
But I want to talk to you today about your feelings, yup I said it, our feelings - ha-ha. Side note: please don’t tell me your feelings of what I’m writing today if it gets under your skin (this message, besides, is written from a place of love anyways).
Anyways, I am writing because it seems as if we the people move a lot on our feelings. From an introspective level, I am an ENFJ’er per Myers Briggs, which basically alludes to me making decisions based on ‘F’eeling instead of logic a lot of times, so I know a bit of what it is like to make on feelings. For those out there: we typically make decisions by feelings or by logic. A lot of the time feelings can mislead us, as they can show themselves to be fickle and be something they were not the next week or month, thus leading us into difficult situations.
My burden today is that we the people are making more permanent decisions based on strong feelings or desires. This is not wise, and allow me to prompt the question that if I bought 100 shares of Apple stock based on a feeling and it crashes - what happens? What if I bought that house just because it felt right but sidestepped the fundamentals like if it’s in a safe neighborhood, great school system, cool neighbors, close to work, etc. then what? Now what if I loved solely by a feeling because it suited me for a moment but forgot that love is something I give regardless of a condition?
I know enough about my temporary feelings to know that they don’t make weighted decisions as to what my values and priorities do. Personally, I can’t tell you how many times my feelings have misled me from buying that investment, from entering into that opportunity, from saying ‘yes’, etc.
Let me be clear: I’m not saying don’t make decisions based on feeling, I’m saying don’t let them RIDE the day because we must NOT consult our feelings because our feelings must consult us. By not consulting my feelings I allow my feelings to consult me because I carry power over controlling them and not lashing out or moving on emotion. Like how would we feel making XYZ move based on the logic of it? Because if the logic of said move makes sense, cannot that inform feeling?
The problem is now we’ve got a society that will side-step value systems, priorities, and the Spirit of God for the appeasement of sensuality and gratification of the self. Like we are in a highly sensitive and sensual society right now where people act out deeply based on feeling. Don’t know what I am talking about? Look on our Facebook timelines where we people post our feelings over people, act out in rage on Facebook fights, pick and instigate Facebook or Instagram fights, and have feelings over other things that manifest outwardly without sitting on our emotions for some time and constructively controlling them inwardly. Let me ask you how would it look if I let my feelings carry the day and opt to ride on the wave of feeling in an ungraceful argument with someone at work because I was so upset? That would be a mess.
When I let strong desire or feelings lead me to an area, I circumvent the emotional intelligence arena that calls for me to ask why I am feeling that way. For example, what is the root cause of that? What is the inner reasoning of why I am in that state of being? Our society no longer understands how valuable emotional intelligence is in discerning desires and emotions and how they impact people as well as how valuable it is to have a relationship with one's self. It is an inner dialogue with self, yet an approach that allows you to control your desires and emotions by questioning and seeking understanding through self awareness.
Moreover, the problem is we don’t want to consult God’s word because it CONFLICTS with our feelings... want me to prove it to you? Read Galatians 5 where it talks about the Fruits of the Spirit, or the byproduct of following God’s Holy Spirit, versus what I am coining as the ‘fruits of’ or works of the flesh, which the Bible says conflicts with the Spirit of God per Galatians 5. If you do a direct. By. Direct. Comparison of each fruit of the flesh vs the Fruits of the Spirit you’ll see each one conflicts with the other.
Keep in Step with the Spirit
16 But I say, walk by the Spirit, and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh. 17 For the desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other, to keep you from doing the things you want to do. 18 But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law. 19 Now the works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, 20 idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, 21 envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these. I warn you, as I warned you before, that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. 22 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. 24 And those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.
25 If we live by the Spirit, let us also keep in step with the Spirit. 26 Let us not become conceited, provoking one another, envying one another.
To those reading this that believe in God and have received the leadership of the Holy Spirit, and hopefully see the Fruits of the Spirit manifested outwardly and inwardly in your life, you’ll realize that you are LED by the Spirit of God which has and should trump feelings AND logic beyond your reasoning. Because it doesn't make sense that those who are led by the Spirit would respond with grace and love when someone is cussing at them or someone hurt them deeply when one, who is not led by the Spirit, would typically respond with unrighteous anger. It doesn't make sense.
At the end of the day Truth is still Truth regardless if it conflicts with my feelings or if I perceive the Truth to be wrong in relation to my feelings. It still doesn’t take away that perhaps the idea of buying that house based solely on my feelings when the truth of the situation revealed that it was A. Overpriced, B. Showed itself to be a logistical nightmare and C. The school systems are poor for a future family. So, should I still buy that home because it appeases my feelings or do I completely disregard the fundamental wiring of said home in relation to what I want in my life?
But buckle up buckaroo, time to tackle the transgenderism movement in a mere minute's commentary especially when it’s disheartening to hear leaders like Joe Biden say to our children, the future of America, that they can make decisions that are permanent because kids are confused by their... feelings. Bear with me here because I am tackling this topic with a whole lot of love and tenderness in that we have confused people now deriving identity based on strong feelings that could very well change in another stage of life. The question is: will you always feel that way? For example, will you always feel 'in love' with that person or does that relationship change over time? We circumvent and often weigh our feelings greater than the Word of God. But the Word of God doesn’t care about our feelings when it says in Genesis 1:27:
So God created man in his own image,
in the image of God he created him;
male and female he created them.
I’ve personally walked with God long enough to sit on feelings, understand that my faith is more than a feeling, understand that God is moving even when I don’t feel it, that I am to be in the Word of God daily regardless if I ‘feel’ it or not, that I am still going to the gym regardless if I don’t feel like it, and that I am still going to love that person regardless if I don’t want to, because I know something about my personal value system, priorities and self-discipline, and the very Spirit of God that leads my life in that THOSE carry significant influence and weight in my decisions and over what I do and how I live my life. I’m led by the Spirit of God which REWIRES my value system (increasing values in my life like humility, compassion, authenticity, love, family, wisdom, joy, honor, etc), shows me what I need to prioritize (God, family, friends, assignment, etc), and breathes more self-discipline in my life to carry out what I am supposed to do.
Gone are the days of the church walking by sight, but we walk BY FAITH! If sight is in what I CAN see, then faith is in what I can’t see. If I can see it, chances are I can have more assurance that I can feel trust, but if I can’t see it I can be more hesitant to trust it. Take the phrase of “you gotta see it to believe it.”
Yet, I don’t have to see God to believe Him... I don’t have to feel faith to know I have it. And I don’t have to feel like God is moving to know that by faith - He is because I’ve walked long enough with God to know that when I don’t feel Him moving, He still is. Just like I don't have to see the vision I have for my life physically to believe it will pass some day.
So at the end of the day, I know that as long as I Keep in Step with the Spirit of God, I can walk in a heavenly value system, walk knowing that I am not gratifying my flesh because the very Spirit of God denies and conflicts with the desires of the flesh, and know that I am walking by faith in making godly decisions over sight-filled feelings. So if I’m NOT taken back by a feeling and I’m not “Hooked on a Feeling” like the classic song by Blue Swede, then I know I move more by faith and not by sight.
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