Just Not Feelin' It

There are many things that you know you should do. But you’re just not feelin’ it. The motivation is missing. You are firmly in the grasp of inertia. You certainly intend to get around to it, when you feel better.

This is a description of a life lived according to feelings. And if you have great feelings, then it’s like riding a bike with the wind at your back. The hills are easy and the downhills are exhilarating. But that’s not how it normally goes. Good feelings are at least matched by bad, and often the bad feelings rule. It is in those cases that we hunker down, waiting for a more opportune time to do what we should.

In Christian fellowship we talk about living, not according to feelings, but according to faith. Of course there can be a great distance between talking and acting. And that’s the point here. Faith will instruct us to act, contrary to those feelings that tell us to sit still. One or the other, faith, or feelings, must win out. The feelings are so close. They feel so natural. It is by far the easier route. But faith continues to preach to us, reminding us of heavenly wisdom and eternal truth. Our feelings will try to drown out the voice of faith. And so, as followers of Jesus, we make a conscious effort to allow faith quiet times to speak, as we listen intently. It is our hope and God’s design that these quiet times, whether with others or alone, will rule our hearts. Because feelings make a miserable master.

Quiet times themselves are an arena of battle. Feelings avoid them. Faith hungers for them. Attention to God’s Word and time spent in prayer are another contested field. Feelings would rather do screen time. Faith would bow the head and the knee. Giving and sharing characterize the life of faith; self-indulgence and spending freely and foolishly mark a life fed by feelings. Love and forgiveness are on the front lines of faith. Our feelings run in full retreat from such kinds of engagement. Love is exhausting, and forgiveness can be excruciating. We often say, “I’m not feelin’ it.” But that’s hardly the point. The question is, will you live by faith, or by feelings?

One of the common phrases of Scripture is “Be strong and of good courage.” A short form is the common “Fear not.” A little Bible study or devotional exercise that you can try from time to time is to write Scripture’s opposite. In this case, the anti-Scripture might read, “Be weak and scared.” Short form: “Run and hide.” And that is close to what happens when we live by feelings. We live a life that fulfills the expectations of anti-Scripture. But let’s not. Let’s live by faith, according to God’s Word. Let’s obey, regardless of feelings.