More Than a Feeling

By Jennifer Holloran, Chief Operating Officer

Post date: Jan. 20, 2020

Do you ever have days where you sit down to spend quiet time with God and you just aren’t feeling it?

I certainly have. In fact, I find my feelings to be pretty untrustworthy when it comes to my relationship with God. If I relied on my feelings as the sole basis for the commitment to my faith, I suspect I would be like Ephesians 4:14 describes: “... tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes” (ESV).

When we rely on our feelings to carry our faith or define truth, we can quickly lose the center of our belief. We need a plumb line as described in Amos 7:7-8 to help us stay firmly aligned with reality and righteousness as God sets them. When we love the Lord with all of our minds, we can respond to our untrustworthy feelings with unshakable knowledge and reason given by God.

While feelings can be a part of our faith, God wants us to apply our minds as we seek him. Theologian J. P. Moreland describes faith as “a power or skill to act in accordance with the nature of the kingdom of God, a trust in what we have reason to believe is true.” When we fill our minds with the truth of God’s Word, we build a strong foundation for our love of him. And this foundation is rooted in something deeper than how we feel or what feels right to us in a particular moment.

Proverbs 2:4-5 tell us that if we pursue wisdom “like silver and search for it like hidden treasures, then [we] will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God.” Let’s commit ourselves to using our minds to love God by spending time in the Word, pursuing the knowledge that comes from him and trusting in God's truth regardless of our feelings.

Questions for Reflection:

  • What would your life look like if you relied on feelings alone to guide your relationship with God?

  • Think about a time your feelings hindered your relationship with God. How could you have applied the truth of Scripture to change that experience?

  • What steps can you take to pursue biblical wisdom and strengthen the foundation of your faith?

Don’t forget to dive deeper into what it looks like to love God with all your mind in our devotional.

Para leer el devocional en español oprima aquí.