FOLLOWING YOUR FEELINGS
Jeremiah 17:9
"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?"
Introduction: A feeling is an internal sensation or emotion. It is an involuntary response to a mental or physical stimulus. Since feelings are involuntary they are neither right nor wrong. They just are. However, what we do about our feelings are right or wrong, good or bad. Too often the actions we take and how we deal with our feelings is wrong. There are three common mistaken views that some of us would embrace concerning our feelings. They are expressed in the statements: "I trust my feelings", "God knows how I really feel", and "I don’t feel led". Let us consider each of these statements.
I. I trust my feelings.
A. Proverbs 28:26 "He that trusts in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walks wisely, he shall be delivered."
B. Feelings and emotions have a definite place in our lives, but they should never lead us.
C. "Emotions don’t make a good engine. They only make a good caboose." - Robert AuBuchon, Trinity Baptist Church
D. The fact that feelings change is pictured in a conversation overheard between two young women: "I hear you broke your engagement to Joe. What happened?" "Oh, it’s just that my feelings toward him aren’t the same." "Are you returning his ring?" "Oh, no! My feelings toward the ring haven’t changed a bit!" -James S. Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited (Wheaton: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc, 1988), p. 343.
E. It is terribly amusing how many different climates of feeling one can go through in one day. – Anne Morrow Lindbergh (1906- )
F. Jeremiah 17:9 "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it."
G. God’s Word, the Bible - not our feelings - is our authority
H. Feelings come and feelings go
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God,
Naught else is worth believing.
- Attributed to Martin Luther, quoted in The Adversary, Mark Bubeck, Moody Press, p. 13
I. Feelings are no substitute for facts and faith..
J. 2 Peter 1:20-21 "Knowing this first, that no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. [21] For the prophecy came not in old time by the will of man: but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Ghost."
K. An airplane pilot is not to trust his own instincts in a storm, but to trust the instrument panel. Instincts can be wrong if he experiences vertigo. Just as a pilot can get so jostled around that he loses his sense of up and down, we can get so jostled around by the philosophy of this world that we lose our sense of right and wrong. We have an instrument panel that is more reliable than our own feelings.- Robert L. Russell, "God’s Design for Marriage," Preaching Today, Tape No. 166.
L. Acts 24:25 "And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time; when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee."
II. God knows how I feel; He’ll make an exception in my case.
A. The favorite "biblical" phrase of those using this statement is pulled from 1 Samuel 16:7 "… man looks on the outward appearance, but the LORD looks on the heart."
B. God knows my heart. My actions may be wrong but my heart is in the right place.
C. Gwenn Shamlin in her course on weight loss states that while David sinned with Bathsheba in his heart David’s heart was still with God. David’s heart at the moment of adultery was anyehere but with God!
D. Matthew 15:18-19 "But those things which proceed out of the mouth come forth from the heart; and they defile the man. For out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies:"
E. Luke 6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.
F. Making this excuse is nothing more than moral and situational relativism.
G. Understand that God is a God of law, truth, justice, holiness, and righteousness. God NEVER, NEVER, NEVER excuses sin. He makes no exceptions.
H. Romans 6:23a "The wages of sin is death…"
I. If sin is a problem to you, don’t try to rationalize it, excuse it, minimize it or explain it away. Rather, confess it, then repent of it and seek God’s forgiveness.
J. "We have forty million reasons for failure, but not a single excuse." - Rudyard Kipling - Instant Quotation Dictionary, p. 123
III. I just didn’t feel led; I didn’t have any peace about it.
A. Occasionally this is a valid statement but most of the time this is merely an excuse for not wanting to serve.
B. Ephesians 4:8, 12 "Wherefore he said, When he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men… For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ"
C. God has given everyone of us gifts and talents to be used in the body of Christ.
D. When we see a need in the church and we have a spiritual gift or talent, which fits that need we do not need to wait to feel the leading of the Spirit to fill the need.
E. If you see the church is in need of teachers and you have the gift of teaching – you don’t need to pray whether or not you should teach – that is why God gave you the gift.
F. If God gifted you with the ability to sing; God didn’t give you that ability to sing in the shower but to sing to His glory in His body – the church.
G. Matthew 25:15 "And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, and to another one; to every man according to his several ability; and straightway took his journey."
H. Matthew 25:27-28 "Take therefore the talent from him, and give [it] unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath."
I. If you have a talent God expects you to use it. Use it or lose it!
J. James 4:17 "Therefore to him that knows to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin."
K. Obedience means marching right on whether we feel like it or not. Many times we go against our feelings. Faith is one thing; feeling is another. – Dwight Lyman Moody (1837-1899)
L. Some years ago at the opening of a disarmament conference, in the midst of a speech of King George of England, someone, tripped over the wires of the Columbia Broadcasting Company, tearing them loose and interrupting service. The chief operator quickly grasped the loose wires in his bare hands, holding them in contact, and for 20 minutes the current passed through him while repairs were being made. His hands were slightly burned, but through them the words of the king passed on to millions of listeners, and were heard distinctly. Without his courage and endurance, the king’s message would have failed to reach its destination. Jesus Christ, the King of Kings, has chosen to send His message of salvation to a lost and dying world through human means. Whatever the cost, the message must reach those who have never heard. Every faithful Christian who is willing is a human instrument through whom the King’s voice is reaching the lost with a message of deliverance, freedom and peace (vastly more important than the message from London). As believer’s we are to simply do our duty. Adapted from Bill Bright, A Handbook For Christian Living.
M. A Christian life based on feeling is headed for a gigantic collapse. – Erwin W. Lutzer (1941- )
Conclusion: Perhaps the saddest note, however, is the person who is waiting for a feeling in order to come to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ. In Acts 24:24-25 we read, "when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, who was Jewish, he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith in Christ. 25 Now as he reasoned about righteousness, self-control, and the judgment to come, Felix was afraid and answered, ’Go away for now; when I have a convenient time I will call for you’." Felix allowed feelings to send him into a Christless eternity. Don’t let your feelings send you to hell come to Christ today. Likewise those of you who are Christians, are you waiting for a feeling to follow Christ in baptism, to join the church, to use your talents to help build the church and Christ’s kingdom? Don’t let fickle feelings stop you from doing your duty.
