More Than a Feeling

This title is from an old song by the group Boston, and it also communicates how we are to live as believers.

Feelings are unreliable. We are taught by our culture that if it feels good do it. Feelings are given great attention in our society. Everyone focuses on how they feel and if something does not feel good, then we quit. This is a habit that has created a nation and culture of quitting. If you go by feelings and things get difficult it will be time to cut and run. Quitting has become acceptable in our culture, but it is not acceptable to the Lord.

Scripture has much to say about perseverance. In Hebrews chapter 11 we are given a litany of people who did not quit. Were times hard for them? Yes, more than any one of us can imagine. Did they feel like quitting? I am sure more than once. What was it that kept them going? The chapter tells us that it was their faith in God.

Faith vs. feelings. It is a common matchup in the life of a believer. We feel one way, but faith tells us something completely different. Often times to do what God asks us to do in obedience means to go against our feelings. A common phrase and approach in our culture is to “follow your heart.” Doing this has probably led a lot of people out of the path of obedience. Scripture tells us in Proverbs that there is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is death (Proverbs 14:12). Jeremiah tells us that the heart is deceitful and wicked above all things (Jeremiah 17:9). Clearly, our hearts cannot be trusted. We must choose to lead our hearts and not allow them to default to their own desires. Faith leads the heart to where God desires it to be.

Sometimes a Christian will feel despair, pain, suffering, devastation and even depression. These feelings are to be countered with faith. Faith says that God is at work and He sees you and cares about you. Faith says that even when we cannot trace God’s hand, that we can trust His heart. I pray that each of us can operate in faith and live out our lives for Christ based on faith, which is so much more than a feeling.

Numbed by the Numbers

Please consider the following:

• Every year 15 million children die of hunger.


• The World Health Organization estimates that one-third of the world is well-fed, one-third is under-fed, one-third is starving- Since you've entered this site at least 200 people have died of starvation. Over 4 million will die this year.


• Nearly one in four people, 1.3 billion - live on less than $1 per day.


• 3 billion people in the world today struggle to survive on US$2/day.


• One out of every eight children under the age of twelve in the U.S. goes to bed hungry every night.


• To satisfy the world's sanitation and food requirements would cost only US$13 billion- what the people of the United States and the European Union spend on perfume each year. (Just for a bit of perspective, the U.S. government has dolled out over $100 billion to struggling insurance company AIG, to keep them afloat after their risky investments went bad).

How does a believer deal with such numbers? How does a Christ-follower born into American affluence properly put these statistics into perspective? Where is God in all this suffering and injustice? These are weighty questions that are not easy to answer.

My mind immediately races to Matthew chapter 5, where our Lord basically says that those who will be ultimately blessed are not necessarily hanging at the country club. Christ said, "Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."

Our Lord has a clear message. Things are not always as they seem. Those who live in luxury and ease in this life will most likely not be truly blessed. Christ taught very plainly that the trappings of wealth and comfort are very ensnaring. This makes it easily understandable why the Church in more "impoverished" parts of the world are thriving while the American church is dying on the vine. We have thumbed our nose at God because all of His great blessings have convinced us that we do not need Him. How terribly tragic.

May we take very seriously Christ's admonition to us to care for the poor. In Matthew 25 Jesus speaks very clearly again about His followers responsibility to care for those less fortunate: "Then the righteous will answer him, 'Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?'
"The King will reply, 'I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.'

In this matter, I have more questions than answers. I pray that the Lord will reveal His heart to each of us as to how we should respond. May we seek to honor Him in all that we do and serve His people with each bit of our time, talent and treasure. May He bless you and yours today!

More than meets the eye.......

We are visual people. Scientist believe that the retina seems to process about ten one-million-point images per second. The human eye is a scientific phenomenon. Interestingly, the eye was the one thing that Charles Darwin truly struggled with as he attempted to explain away the glorious creation with incidental randomness.

Can we trust our eyes though? Should we go by what we see? The old saying goes, "If I can see it, I will believe it." If that is where we stop, with only what we can see, we will miss most of what actual reality is. Faith is not a denial of reality, it allows us to see more of reality.

Scripture defines faith as the "evidence of things not seen." Paul tells the church at Corinth that "we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal" (2 Corinthians 4:18). In the very next chapter he writes, "We walk by faith, not by sight". (2 Cor. 5:7)

Paul is saying if you can touch it, feel it, see it or spend it- it has very temporary value. However, things you cannot see- faith, love, relationships, hope, salvation, heavenly reward- these are the things of true permanent value. My fervent prayer is that I will live for those things. That my eyes will be able to look past this physcial world with all its allure and focus on the Eternal King, Jesus Christ.

I pray that each of us can, as the writer of Hebrews stated, "....fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God." Life will lie to you, life will leave you hurting and life will leave you confused. Life will disappoint and let down. Life will seem at times out of control and full of despair. The one remedy, the one hope, the one sure fire solution is to have our eyes and hearts focused fully on the Lord Jesus Christ. I pray that each of us will look to Him today and each day.

Sustainability.....

No one wants to go into a season of spiritual dryness. No one desires that their walk with the Lord becomes stagnant. No one hopes for spiritual apathy. But it happens. It happens to the very best of Christians. Even the most dedicated of those who follow Christ get lulled to sleep. It happened to me recently, not just for a week, but for a much longer period. The question is why did it happen and how do I prevent it in the future.

Lets begin with the why. It happens because Satan attacks and convinces the believer that the need for spiritual vitality is not that real. The Devil makes one think that they are doing just fine, when they are in fact struggling. In my case, Satan convinced me that if I was in the Word just a little, prayed and went to church that my walk with the Lord was "A Okay." There are a million things that can take our eyes off of Christ: other people, work, money, hobbies and the list goes on and on.

There is one thing however that will bring Him back into sharp focus in our lives and that is to experience just a bit of pain. Introduce an ounce of pain into the life of a believer and spiritual growth will almost certainly follow. Pain is the most sure fire catalyst for growth. Shouldn't we then welcome the pain? Shouldn't we welcome anything that would bring us closer to Him? Afterall, the ultimate point and purpose of life is fellowship with Christ. All things must bow to that purpose. Even good things are not good if they take away from intimacy with Him.

Now for the preventative part. How do we as believers safegaurd against seasons of spiritual futility? Well, I would love to hear your thoughts, but here are just a few of mine. A few steps to sustained spiritual vitality: 1) Be about Him, not about yourself or anyone else. 2) Don't just read the Word, but absorb it and allow enough time for it to change your heart. 3) Give yourself to the Lord fully in uninhibited, absolute, fall on your face, deep, soul shaking worship. Allow God to work in your heart through praising Him and just being fully in His presence.

The cry of my heart is to know the full and complete joy of being His and knowing Him intimately. The Psalmist said it this way, may this be the prayer and hope of my life:
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me (Psalm 51:12).