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!

Jesus loves me, this I know

Yesterday a friend suggested that I was too worried about the situation that is distressing me. She said, “Let it go.” She had the right idea, yet letting go, at least for me, requires a foundation. On what basis can I drop the problem?

It can be taken to Jesus, which I was already doing, but the burden would not leave me. It can be pushed aside by busyness, likely to produce ulcers. It can be dismissed as unimportant, which would calcify my heart. Nothing was giving me comfort. Maybe wanting comfort is selfish? Maybe this is a burden that God wants me to carry so that I will keep praying?

Today’s devotional verses and thoughts give me encouragement and something that lightens the load . . . 

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)

Chambers says that while nothing can wedge in between the love of God and His people, things can mess up my fellowship with God. When that happens, it is almost always related to the original lie of the serpent in Eden. In essence, he suggested to Eve that God didn’t love her and didn’t want the best for her.

That lie hangs itself on my burden. The enemy suggests to me that God’s love isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. He isn’t interested in His people, His plans are more important than our feelings . . . yada, yada. Thinking this way puts dread in my heart for the future of someone I love — when I should have hopeful expectation.

For that person, for myself, the foundation of our faith is the unmerited love of God exhibited on the Cross of Calvary. We don’t deserve it and we cannot earn it. Love is the very nature of God. He is the reason we are more than conquerors, no matter what comes at us. The fact is that we would not even realize that we are victorious against these things unless they made their overthrow attempts. It is in facing overwhelming odds that we find out the power of God’s love to give us victory.

 . . . The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:5–7)

How can there be peace, even joy, in difficult distresses? Successful risk-takers know it. Those who jump on a wild horse and ride the beast know the joy of it. Surfers who ride that gigantic wave through to the end also know the joy of it. It makes sense that staying in a safe place means not knowing or realizing that the peace of God is possible even in the midst of tribulation, distress, persecution, and danger.

Chambers says we should not fight to remove our distresses — because in Christ we are more than conquerors in those distresses, not in spite of them, but in the middle, in the experience. I do not know the joy of the Lord in spite of burdens, but because of them. Paul said, “. . . In all our affliction, I am overflowing with joy.” (2 Corinthians 7:4)

After saying, “Let it go,” my friend said that the same God that loves me and wants what is best for me also loves the person I’m concerned about and wants the best for that person. In essence, she was saying that I need to pray, but more than prayer, I also must remember that God loves us. His love cannot be altered or removed in the experiences of life, monotonous or horrendous, ease or trials, nor when the devil says otherwise.

Mirrors: Shiny or Muddy?

Are people naturally bad and sinful, or naturally good? The most common idea is that people are basically good, an idea that most Christians would oppose. We have verses to quote that back up our understanding that people are sinful through and through . . .

As it is written: “None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands; no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:10–12)

Yet there is another way to look at this question, a way that could create a stir, at least it stirs me. God created human beings to reflect His image. That is, we are mere mirrors without an identity except to reflect the identity of our Creator. This means we are basically grand beings with a lofty purpose.

The biggest problem is that we are not doing what we were created to do. Rebellion against God put “mud on the mirror” so to speak, and our reflecting ability is marred by sin. Not only that, the mud blinds us to our true condition and instead of realizing or even acknowledging our original purpose, the sin-filled mind spends most of life trying to establish its own way, its own purpose.

Yet deep in the human heart beats a desire to be right with God. He “put eternity in our hearts” (Ecclesiastes 3:11) and gives us a desire to pass the test of judgment day, and to spend eternity with Him. He also introduced His laws and commands, but even those have been misinterpreted. Most people think that these are the tests that if kept will put them on the right side of God. That is not true, “For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.” (Romans 3:20) His law is intended to show us our mud.

Not only that, living as a mirror is not about keeping rules, but about being humbly dependent. Only those who acknowledge the mud and have it washed from their lives can reflect the image of God. The forgiven soul may not do it perfectly, yet with Christ living in our hearts by faith, the Christian becomes a mirror again and that lofty purpose begins to be fulfilled.

You’d think that the world would rejoice at the appearance of shining, polished reflections of God, but the opposite is surprisingly true. Those still covered in mud do not understand or accept innocence, purity, absence of self-seeking, or anything that resembles God. In fact, Jesus warned His disciples that this would be so . . .

Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves. Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their synagogues, and you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. (Matthew 10:16–18)

It is enough for the disciple to be like his teacher, and the servant like his master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household. (Matthew 10:25)

For this reason, many Christians shrink back from our true calling of total dependence and reflecting God. We add a little mud to make ourselves like those around us, to keep us from being persecuted. If we go our own way, at least six days of the week, no one will notice the shine of our mirrors.

Yet the Creator isn’t letting us get away with this fearful response. He disciplines us and continues to polish and shine our lives because He loves us as a Father loves His children, and nothing can change what He is doing . . .

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 fully realize the glory of the love of Christ, but also realize that it does not protect me from those horrors that try to separate me from His love or from the rejection of other muddy mirrors who will throw rocks at me and laugh. I will suffer when I shine, maybe even die because I believe in Jesus, “For the love of Christ controls us, because we have concluded this: that one has died for all, therefore all have died; and he died for all, that those who live might no longer live for themselves but for him who for their sake died and was raised.” (2 Corinthians 5:14–15)

Weighing this against living for myself makes no sense except that Jesus stands with me so I can be who I am and shine even under persecution. If I decide to go the other way, I will stand alone, doing my own thing, and covered with mud.

Christ in me, the hope of glory

When I rode my spirited horse alone, I took risks and pushed the horse to its limits. When I had a child on with me, everything changed. I was still brave and full of daring, but the presence of someone else made a difference.

Today’s devotional is about suffering and the difference made by the presence of Someone else. It is also an affirmation of Jesus’ words, “Behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:20)

Jesus promised to be with His people forever. It isn’t just that He is standing nearby to share our lives with us — His presence goes beyond that…

But if Christ is in you, although the body is dead because of sin, the Spirit is life because of righteousness. (Romans 8:10)

Do you not know that you are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in you? (1 Corinthians 3:16)

This indwelling presence ensures a great deal. He grants us His holiness, wisdom, strength. Because Jesus lives in me (and He said this is a forever thing), I cannot be separated from His love.

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)

God did not set the world in motion and then stand back to watch what we would do with it. He is involved. If the cross of Jesus Christ says nothing else, it shows that God incarnate knows about suffering, even willingly entered our world to embrace it — that we might have the eternal life He offers.

God does not always let us know why we suffer, but Christians know that, “Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.” (Psalm 23:4) How different is suffering for those who know not just that God knows and sympathizes, but also that He dwells in them. That means everything I suffer, He suffers with me. My pain is His pain. I ought never moan or complain. Any accusations I make ought to be silenced before the agony of my God.

There is good news in this too. Because God shares my suffering, I also share His redemptive activity. For this to happen, I must yield to Him. This tells me my victory in suffering also comes by yielding to Him. I might not understand the why of my sorrows, but I can yield and trust, realizing that the mysteries of God are never revealed or discovered through raising my fist at Him.

Paul discovered that God’s strength is perfected in weakness. That is, if I’m going to be tough, determined, aggressive, then the One who lives in me waits quietly, letting me have my way, but remaining unseen and inactive. However, when I am weak, without ability, and yielded, He is freed to work in me. His life can shine in mine. This is why Paul also said, “Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, that Christ’s power may rest on me.” (2 Corinthians 12:9).

That Christ is in me also ought to affect the way I live. In my prideful and sinful self, I have taken the indwelling Christ to places that are shameful instead of letting Him lead me into places of righteousness, holy places. It is one thing to be glad that He shares my pain and gives me grace to bear it, but quite another to take Him down the dark alleys of my life.