Feelings are not reliable…

On my first solo visit to Vancouver, I took a train from the airport to downtown. It was an underground arrival and when I reached street level, I met a woman who was going to the same place I wanted to go so we walked together. After about three blocks, we realized we were going west when we needed to go east.

This is usual for me. My sense of direction often depends on the compass in the dash of my car, even when the sun is shining or I should have some idea what is north and south. I may strongly feel I’m going the right direction and if corrected, even feel as if the right direction is the wrong direction.

Spiritual blindness can be like this — a strong sense of right that is based on feeling rather than fact. Today’s devotional puts it in plain language: “The foundation for the assurance of faith is not what we feel but what the record is, not what our experiences are but what has been written.” My sins have been forgiven because God says so, and relying on what He says is vital. I can misstep badly and feel guilty. The only way to deal with that feeling is remembering and even repeating what God says and not let my feelings negate the truth of His Word.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

I can feel all alone, without anyone who cares for me. Yet the Lord said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” (Joshua 1:5, Hebrews 13:5)

I can feel unloved and worthless, yet Jesus said,

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16)
Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends. (John 15:13)
But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? As it is written, “For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. (Romans 8:35–37)
I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. (Galatians 2:20)

I can look at myself and think I will never be like Jesus, but the Word of God says:

I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. (Philippians 1:6)
Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is. (1 John 3:2)

No matter the depth of such negative feelings, God has an answer that counters them and pushes them where they belong. As it is said, if truth and lies are pitted in battle, truth always wins. Jesus did say, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” (John 8:31–32)

How important is Bible reading and Bible study? It sets God’s children free from false guilt, doubt, false teaching, and negative feelings based on lies. That is good reason to read and know what God says!

PRAY: Jesus, You are the living Word and Your words are written to give me eternal life and the assurance of Your love and blessing in this life. Yesterday was only one example. I woke with great fatigue and trusted Your promise to renew my strength as I wait on You. And You did. Your truth wins over, even when the strongest wrong ideas and feelings are trying to throw me down. I’m so thankful!

I am His and He is mine

By creation, we belong to God, just as the artist owns the unsold painting, or the musician the music written. By redemption, that ownership deepens, but before the Redeemer came, sin took away the art, the music and threw them into a great death. Our loving Creator then sent His Son to the rescue. The Savior leaped into the abyss and died instead that we might be given back to the One who created us from dust.

Jesus came to reveal to the world the Creator we had abandoned. Then the Creator presented all of us to Him so we, with shame and great joy might belong to Him as His rescued ones. In His prayer to the Father, He says . . .

“I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. (John 17:6)

Those who have abandoned all else to follow Jesus understand that we are not our own. We have been bought with a great price. Because He loves us, we love Him and gladly give ourselves to Him.

Chambers says that when I can say, ‘I am not my own’ I have reached a “great point in spiritual nobility.” This is “the deliberate giving up of myself” to Jesus Christ. Yet I see His part in this more than my part. Like many who come into this faith kicking and screaming, I sometimes resist His ownership, even fall into the error of serving myself instead of Him. I’m humbled that only by the goodness and gentle but powerful persuasion of the Holy Spirit have I “kept His word.”

The Holy Spirit cultivates the nature of Jesus to me in order to make me one with Him, not to make me a special saint or as Chambers says, “a showroom exhibit.” God’s goal is that my life is defined by the reality that I belong to Jesus.

Chambers says something else that strikes my heart. This belonging is not characterized by what I do but by “being a perfect delight to Him.”

I know what it is to be a delight to another person; to have someone else glad to see me, look me in the eye with joy, delight to call me a friend, takes interest in me, and is pleased with me but not because of any of my accomplishments but because of who they are — a person who shines with the love of God.

What a wonder that Jesus Himself builds that relationship with me — that I am a delight to Him, not because of what I do or do not do, but because He is my friend who loves me.

“Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

These truths I have known, but today they seem deeper, more vivid, more precious than ever. Jesus is my friend. I also belong to Him.

Jesus’ love feast

“You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies . . .” (Psalm 23:5)

What is love? We love pizza. We love grandmother. We love a sunset. We love another person. God says we are to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and our neighbor as ourselves. What is the difference between loving God and loving a good movie or a ride on a roller coaster?

Love as defined by the Word of God is about putting the ones we love first. It is exemplified in Jesus Christ for that is exactly what He did . . .

By this we know love, that he laid down his life for us, and we ought to lay down our lives for the brothers. But if anyone has the world’s goods and sees his brother in need, yet closes his heart against him, how does God’s love abide in him? Little children, let us not love in word or talk but in deed and in truth. (1 John 3:16–18)

For us, love is giving ourselves and our stuff to help others. For Jesus, it was giving His life that we might live. I know that, but thinking about the Cross is difficult and emotional. Maybe that is why we need the communion table, the Lord’s Supper, also called the Eucharist. It is for remembering what He did to express His love for us. To help us remember, He prepared a table . . .

And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me.” And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, “This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood. (Luke 22:19–20)

Jesus also connects Himself to David’s psalm by calling Himself the Good Shepherd. In those days, the sheepfold had no door, so the shepherd would lie down across the entrance at night to protect his flock. This is why Jesus said, “I am the door. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and find pasture. The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly. I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” (John 10:9–11)

He laid down His body, His very life as a sacrifice for His sheep. He told them it would happen and He did just as He said He would . . .

I am the good shepherd. I know my own and my own know me, just as the Father knows me and I know the Father; and I lay down my life for the sheep. And I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will listen to my voice. So there will be one flock, one shepherd. For this reason the Father loves me, because I lay down my life that I may take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord. I have authority to lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again . . . . (John 10:14–18)

Would I lay down my life for a pizza, or a good movie, a sunset, or a ride on a roller coaster? I don’t think so. I’m not sure if I would lay down my life for family or friends, but Jesus did say, “Greater love has no one than this, that someone lay down his life for his friends.” (John 15:13)

The demonstrated love of Jesus proves the love of God for me. His sacrifice sets me free from any anxiety about being loved. Each time I sit at the feast He prepared, I remember what my Shepherd has done and how His unconditional love sets me free from worries about myself. My heart and mind experience great emotion and gratitude, yet the intent of Jesus is that His love flows in me and through me — that I will love others as He has loved me.