I'm Not Feelin It

There is a concept we must understand and let it be rooted into the foundation on which we stand if we are going to be able to comprehend and practice any sort of full devotion to Jesus Christ:

Feelings of closeness to God or lack thereof are not always related to where we actually stand on our spiritual journey or the truth of where we really are in our personal relationship with Jesus Christ.

So often through actions and emotions people say “I am only a strong Christian if I am feeling strong.” But with hope, I want to inform you this is not truth.

We are not going to wake up everyday feeling on fire to live passionately for Jesus, we just won't, it's part of being human.

Christianity is not about feelings. It's a gift to be able to feel the fire.

Not that we deny our feelings, because a lot of times they communicate truth, but often I fear that people base their intimacy with Jesus on their feelings of desire for Him. We are not always going to desire Him, but that doesn't always mean that we are any less close to His heart than when we did desire Him.

We will get distracted and lose focus at times and find ourselves greatly desiring created things above the Creator. We will fall, but we must always get back up.

And so if we solely base the health of our relationship with Jesus on how passionate we feel at the moment we will soon find ourselves without hope wondering why we are so messed up because we can't seem to hold on to what once burned so bright inside our hearts even though it's what we truly want most.

And so it can be said the other way too, though it's possibly even harder to see.

If we think that we are close to God solely based on how passionate we are feeling, we still can face the threat of deceiving ourselves of the hidden dark truth lurking within.

I say this because it is possibly to feel passionate about the wrong things, not that Jesus is the wrong thing, but we can put the name of Jesus on a lot of things and it not actually be glorifying to Him.

Again, not to in any way disregard our emotions or feelings because they are a big part of who we've been created to be; but as Christians we must first judge the reality of our position in Christ within the context of His unconditional love.

We must first base the foundation and also our current position of our relationship with Christ on His steadfastness, not our feelings of rightness with Him.

"By this we shall know that we are of the truth and reassure our heart before Him; for whenever our heart condemns us, God is greater than our heart, and He knows everything." -1st John 3:19-20

The thing we must strive to remember is that God doesn't change, our feelings change, but He is perfectly constant.

Thank God that He first holds us, that He keeps us.

I think that when we start to understand this truth that it can help us see and realize then that life does not have to keep being full of ups and downs where we have mountain top experiences but always only go back down to where we came from when the joy wears off.

With this understanding, we can then shift into a life of ups and downs within a continual progression upward.

Life will never be without downs, but having this perspective is knowing that the downs are for the ups, the valleys are for growth.

We can keep always moving up despite the feelings of being low. I believe it's possible! This is the joyful truth that I am trying to communicate to you!

Knowing that there are huge things that can only be learned in hardship, we really then cannot keep growing, moving forward, going higher and higher without the valleys.

We only seek half of what makes growth happen if we seek the mountain top experiences alone.

And so low, difficult times can actually be and do play such a large part of moving forward. Suffering in this way is very instrumental in the progression towards Christlikeness.

And so I think it can be said that without hardship, you can't have a complete version of devotion.

Knowing this is key.

And remembering this is so so big.

Oh God help us remember!

Add this truth to your foundation and it will help you to stand strong. Your life will different, opposed to the world. People will watch and follow.

Once this makes sense and you learn to live every decision and action out of this, watch how amazing life can be.

Jesus we choose to stand on Your promise of never leaving or forsaking us.

"..And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:20

Thank You that our relationship with You is based on the perfect gift You gave that fully keeps us whether we feel like it or not.

Help us trust in You whether we feel You or feel close to You or not so that we can keep growing and moving forward in the likeness of You.

We fall into Your arms of love.

All for Your honor and glory.

Amen.