Faith and Feelings

When searching D.L. Moody's book Arrows and Anecdotes for a quote, I came across this interaction recorded by the evangelist:

"One night, when preaching in Philadelphia, right down by the side of the pulpit there was a young lady, whose eyes were riveted on me, as if she were drinking in every word.  It is precious to preach to people like that; they generally get good, even if the sermon be poor.  I got interested in her, and after I had done talking I went and spoke to her.  "Are you a Christian?"  "No; I wish I was; I have been seeking Jesus for three years."  I said, "There must be some mistake."  She looked strangely at me, and said, "Don't you believe me?"  "Well, no doubt you thought you were seeking Jesus; but it don't take an anxious sinner three years to meet a willing Saviour."  "What am I to do then?"  "The matter is, you are trying to do something; you must just believe on the Lord Jesus Christ."  "Oh, I am sick and tired of the word, 'Believe, believe, believe!  I don't know what it is."  "Well," I said, "we'll change the word; take 'trust.'"  "If I say, "I'll trust him,' will he save me"  "No; I don't say that; you may say a thousand things, but he will if you do trust him."  "Well," she said, "I do trust him; but," she added in the same breath, "I don't feel any better."  "Ah, I've got it now!  You've been looking for feelings for three years, instead of Jesus.  Faith is up above, not down here."  People are always looking for feelings.  They are getting up a new translation of the Bible here, and if the men who are translating it would only put in feelings, instead of faith, what a rush there would be for that Bible.  But if you look from Genesis to Revelation you cannot find feelings attached to salvation.  We must rise above feelings.  So I said to this lady, "You cannot control your feelings; if you could, what a time you'd have!  I know I would never have the toothache or the headache." (MOODY, Dwight Lyman, and John LOBB. Arrows and Anecdotes of D.L. Moody. Henry Gurley, 1877. Pages 149-150)

Moody is spot on in saying our salvation is by faith in Jesus:  it is not by our works or seeking we are saved but by trusting in Him who has done all for our salvation and redemption.  It is also true that many people seek an arbitrary feeling (or one that matches the experience of someone else they have heard about) for conversion, forgiveness or baptism with the Holy Spirit.  It is faith in God and His word that enables us to consciously lay aside sinful or improper feelings and to choose to believe God despite how we currently feel.  We can choose to love and forgive others because God has commanded us to, not because we feel like doing it.  As Corrie Ten Boom said in an anecdote about her own struggle to forgive others, feelings of love can follow obedience by faith.

It seems to me the feelings the seeking woman experienced were quite different from the feeling of a toothache or headache.  She had been feeling spiritually lost and emotionally frustrated by not experiencing a physical feeling that proved elusive.  It is true we cannot control whether we feel the pain of a toothache or headache, but there can be things we can practically do to prevent and relieve them.  The same is true concerning all manner of feelings that we have--even those that seem stubbornly part of who we are.  When God asked Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry?" it reveals the way we feel can be right or indicate a fleshly and sinful perspective that requires correction.  The psalmist asked when overwhelmed, "Why are you cast down, O my soul?  Hope in God."  The main reason for even asking this questions is because such a one has already been made aware of God's goodness and power to save.  Anyone else would have justified feelings of hopelessness and despair because of circumstances.

Praise the LORD He has given us feelings, for our feelings have been the impetus from the LORD to  prompt us to desperately seek Him, to repent, to cease from doing wickedly and do what is right.  How many times has gratitude and thanksgiving been accompanied by feelings of happiness and a profound sense of joy.  Instead of rejecting feelings, we ought to embrace them and keep them in their proper place.  Seeking feelings rather than the LORD Jesus is a snare, but a walk of faith with our Saviour involves processing many feelings and experiences He allows us to have.  He that redeems our souls from destruction is able to redeem even bad feelings or lack of feelings for good, like in the case of this young seeker in Moody's day.  Praise the LORD we serve a willing Saviour who makes us new creations by His grace.

The Sanctification Struggle

People are complex creatures, and we only see a fraction of what is really going on with anyone.  We cannot know someone's past by observing them today, nor can we fully appreciate what challenges people are facing in the present.  They may not even realise what they are going through.  When we encounter people who are troubled or struggling, we can find ourselves facing struggles we never knew existed that the situation suddenly brought to light inside of us.  Being married, having children, working with others, being a deeply flawed person and seeking to follow Jesus combines to profoundly impact our daily lives.

The word of God and personal experiences have exposed the ugliness of my own self-righteousness, pride and hypocrisy, and praise the LORD for this.  By His grace He convicts us of sin that works to ruin us and destroys fellowship with Him and others.  He has revealed the folly of a self-centred worldview that viewed the behaviour of my children as a good or bad reflection of me.  I have also been part of a church culture where it was not particularly "safe" to admit you were struggling in some area.  It was easier to pretend the struggle did not exist than to be vulnerable and show weakness.  It reminds me a bit of the king of Israel who, when he tore his clothes at the report of infanticide and cannibalism in Samaria, it exposed sackcloth underneath.  He had been grieving and mourning during the siege of the capital city, but covered his sackcloth with royal robes lest he show weakness before the people--and perhaps lose their respect.  His emotional outburst revealed his hypocrisy.

I'm reading a useful book by Preston Sprinkle titled Embodied.  There was a paragraph that resonated with me on this subject of fostering a culture in the church that allows people to struggle and continuing to love them--whether they are struggling with gender or otherwise.  Sprinkle writes:

"Christians should want trans people--whether non-transitioned or transitioned--to flood our churches.  The more the merrier, I say.  It'll create loads of beautifully complex pastoral opportunities, and some Christians will get uncomfortable and leave.  So be it.  I don't think church should be limited to squeaky-clean Christians who (think they) have all their stuff together or keep their porn, their greed, their pride, and their lack of concern for the poor hidden behind dusty hymnals.  I want churches filled with those who know their brokenness, who don't hide their pain, who ask very hard questions.  If a trans person who has transitioned is coming to your church, praise God.  I hope they are treated with the utmost kindness and respect.  All the difficult questions about what to do now are secondary to creating communities that embody God's kindness which draws people to himself (Romans 2:4)--especially those who've been marginalized by the church." (Sprinkle, Preston M. Embodied: Transgender Identities, The Church & What the Bible Has to Say. David C Cook, 2021. Page 194)

As someone involved in pastoral ministry, I am not personally on a quest for "beautifully complex pastoral opportunities."  My preference would be people wouldn't struggle with anything, and in this and countless ways God proves Himself wiser than me.  When an earthquake or disaster occurs, emergency workers go looking for signs of struggle--for people who are crying out, banging on a pipe or clawing through debris.  The struggles are there in every person who is being sanctified by God's grace, and these will persist over the course of our lives.  Seasons come and go, but people stay the same:  always needing help from God and support from one another to walk wisely in love, grace and goodness towards all.  It will not do to be callous over people who are struggling with sin in the church, nor be cavalier over people who leave the church.  The Pharisees worked to maintain a squeaky-clean image but were dead inside.  The proverb goes a living dog is better than a dead lion (Ecclesiastes 9:4):  better to wrestle with sin and cry, "God be merciful to me a sinner!" and go home justified than to pray to ourselves, proud we don't sin like others and have our sin remain--and stay blind to it.

It can be trendy to almost rejoice in our brokenness--not in the sense of humility or contrition--but to bask in the glow of our sinful struggles together.  It used to be people sharing their Christian testimony would go into great detail about their sinful lives before Christ, and the more extreme the better.  Very little if any time was spent sharing what God had done in them since their conversion, what they were experiencing presently on their journey of sanctification, and how He was leading them.  Our current sinfulness or the devastation it has wreaked in our lives ought not to be the common ground we share with other believers but our Saviour who has found, forgiven and redeemed us.  The truth of God's word, the fellowship of believers and being Christlike is to mark our lives as we deny ourselves, take up our cross daily and follow Jesus as His disciples.  Embracing our sanctification can be a struggle to endure with joy, but what is impossible with man is possible with God.  By faith in Him we can praise God despite the toil, and thank God He is our Life who strengthens us.

Sharing in Giving and Receiving

The apostle Paul worked as a tentmaker to cover his expenses so he could offer the Gospel to the Gentiles free of charge.  He remained dependent on God to provide for all his needs, whether it was through labouring with his own hands or receiving gifts from others.  He wrote in Philippians 4:15, "Now you Philippians know also that in the beginning of the gospel, when I departed from Macedonia, no church shared with me concerning giving and receiving but you only."  Paul and the church in Philippi shared and engaged in both giving and receiving.  Because we have received all we need through Jesus Christ who is our life, giving is prioritised before receiving.  Yet both giving and receiving have their place in the church and in lives of every believer.

Everything we have is a gift from God as Paul explained to the church in 1 Corinthians 4:7:  "For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?"  From God we have received the Gospel, forgiveness, spiritual blessings and physical provision as well.  God supplies our needs through a variety of ways, whether through miraculous or natural means--and this can involve other people.  Because everyone is different, we may struggle with giving, receiving or both.  It might embarrass us to admit we have needs or to receive a gift that seems too generous when others are struggling as well.  We might want to keep the money we acquire by working for ourselves, saving up in preparation for an uncertain future.

We might see giving as virtuous and those who practice are blessed by God, but have you considered we are blessed by God to receive as well?  Paul quoted Jesus on the subject in Acts 20:34-35:  "Yes, you yourselves know that these hands have provided for my necessities, and for those who were with me. ³⁵ I have shown you in every way, by laboring like this, that you must support the weak. And remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that He said, 'It is more blessed to give than to receive.'"  Paul rejoiced to work to provide for himself and others, for it was a blessing for him to do so.  Though it is more blessed to give than receive, there is still a blessing for those who humble themselves to receive.  All that Paul received from the hand of the LORD for his labour was a blessing, and he was more blessed to give it freely to others.  He was doubly blessed by giving and by others gladly receiving his gift, and all blessing Paul received came from God.

A counsellor might be known for giving sound advice:  such a one is wise to receive counsel too.  Those who rejoice to give ought to rejoice to receive even when it is not what they wanted or asked for.  We can rejoice to receive both good and bad from the hand of our gracious, loving God, knowing He is faithful to supply all our needs according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.   It is good for us not to limit our giving or receiving to money, for God has given us all the time there is, strength for the day, encouragement in His word, and opportunities to minister His love to others.  We ought to thank God and others for the kindness shown us, and we ought to receive compliments with the aim of giving all glory to Him.  Our possessions and abilities we commit to His hands to direct their use for good.  Sharing with other believers in giving and receiving is a blessing from the LORD we ought to embrace as we follow the example of Jesus.

Rejoicing In Labour

"Here is what I have seen: it is good and fitting for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the good of all his labor in which he toils under the sun all the days of his life which God gives him; for it is his heritage. ¹⁹ As for every man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and given him power to eat of it, to receive his heritage and rejoice in his labor--this is the gift of God."

Ecclesiastes 5:18-19

King Solomon understood work and the ability to enjoy the good that comes from it is a gift of God.  There is great diversity in what we commonly call work, whether it be the motion of a body or machine, paid employment, mixing, manufacturing, raising children, fabricating, lifting stock, operating equipment, cleaning or managing a business--and the list goes on.  We are resigned to do what we consider to be necessary work, but if something is "extra" work we can look upon it with disdain.  In my generation many people aspired to earn university degrees to work with their minds rather than their hands, creating a false dichotomy that one who works with their hands is not very bright.

Did you know God instituted work and rest from labour from the beginning when He created the heavens and the earth?  He created Adam from the dust of the ground and set him to work by tending the garden of Eden.  Adam was made responsible to keep the garden and also was given freedom to eat of the fruit of it.  It is true that work became harder after Adam's fall into sin, for he would toil by the sweat of his brow to clear weeds and coax fruit, vegetables, herbs and grain from the ground.  The fact work is difficult should not malign this good gift from God and enjoyment of the rewards of our labour.  Not only can work be satisfying in itself, but it brings greater pleasure to enjoy rest God provides by His grace.

Part of the reason work became difficult is because of sin that corrupted the hearts of men made way for selfishness, envy and greed--cruel taskmasters that are never satisfied.  There is a desire to gain the reward of labour by labouring as little as possible, even if it means by theft, illicit or immoral means.  Work and profit can become our god or a means to achieve our desires of riches, ease, possessions and acclaim.  Knowing work is a gift from God we all are called to embrace, the avoidance of work can reveal our sloth and indolence.  Paul rebuked busybodies in his second epistle to the Thessalonians that they ought to work with quietness and eat their own bread.  Jesus said in John 5:17 His Father in heaven was always working, and so did He.  We should take heed to Christ's example to do good works, for unto this we are called and saved.

It is good and fitting for us to eat, drink and enjoy the good of all our labour under the sun, for it is our heritage or portion from God.  When we seek to avoid necessary work we deny ourselves the full reward God has freely provided for us by His grace.  Whether part of the rewards of our labour is to receive financial compensation, the satisfaction of seeing a job completed well or that the work will need to be done all over again from the start tomorrow, we can rejoice in our God who gives good gifts and the ability to receive them.  As servants of the most high God, let us take to heart the exhortation in Colossians 3:22-24:  "Bondservants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh, not with eyeservice, as men-pleasers, but in sincerity of heart, fearing God. ²³ And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ."

When our labour is unto the LORD it becomes a sanctified and holy work regardless of how mundane it may be.  We need not be crushed by the daily grind because we realise the reward of our labour is more than hourly pay or a holiday at the end of the year:  today, we get to serve the LORD Jesus in doing our chores at home, tackling tasks on a jobsite or office, managing people and choosing to walk in love towards all.  Our job might be to navigate some intense trials and fix our eyes on God in the face of devastation like Jeremiah who wrote in Lamentations 3:24, "The LORD is my portion," says my soul, "therefore I hope in Him!"  Asaph concluded in Psalm 73:26 after observing others who prospered while he suffered, "My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever."  Happy is the man who receives his portion and rejoices in his labour unto the LORD, for those who fear God realise Jesus is our portion we have received with whom we have fellowship and fullness of joy forever.