Faith and Feelings 1

Feelings are an essential part of the Christian life.

Feelings are not an essential part of the Christian life.

Those two statements say the opposite thing, and yet the Bible seems to hold them together in tension almost all the way through. Emotions and feelings are such a normal and human part of life that to ignore them as part of our faith would seem to make us less than human. Emotions though, are so hopelessly unreliable, that to base anything objective upon them is only going to leave us in a constant state of flux.

The Bible appeals to our desire for pleasure. Psalm 16:11 tells us that there are 'pleasures forever' at God's right hand. Jesus tells us that if we drink of Him, we'll never thirst again. Paul tells the Corinthians that he works for their joy, David prays, in Psalm 51, that the joy of his salvation might be restored to him. God has made us, in His image, with the capacity for extreme and varied pleasure. So feelings must be an essential part of the Christian life right? But our feelings can mess us around. We can be happy in sin. We can wake up in one morning happy and the next depressed for no real reason. Some people are more probe to depression, some are more prone to be positive. It can't be that God wants those with a depressed outlook to be less sure of their salvation than those with a sunny outlook can He?

The two accounts of Peter getting out of a boat in the Gospels give us such a good example of the role feelings can play, and the role feeling should play in our faith. Jesus walks across the water in the storm. Peter sees the Lord who He loves: 'Lord, if its you, call me out on the water.' Peter strides out confidently, but then his feelings take over, and he begins to sink. We mustn't let our feelings overwhelm our faith. After the resurrection the disciples are fishing. A man approaches 'it is the Lord!' exclaims Peter, and without a second thought he flings himself into the water and runs to Jesus. He knew enough about Jesus to know he needed to be close to Him, and close to Him he got.

Our faith shouldn't be dry. It shouldn't be full of ritual and going through the motions. Our feelings about Jesus should make us leap out of our fishing boats and run to shore to be near Him. In relation to our faith, our feelings are excellent servants, but appalling masters.

This is getting long, so i'll explore the other side of the coin in a later post...