There is much emphasis on feelings today, both in the Church and in the culture at large. If you watch religious programming, you won’t have to wait long until you hear a preacher talking about the feelings that will come over you when the Holy Spirit takes hold. Instead of emphasizing what the Bible teaches, these men and women promote experiencing the power of God’s Spirit through the manifestation of laughter, falling down, convulsing, or babbling unintelligible nonsense.
Within the culture, the prevailing attitude is people can and should do whatever makes them feel good. All of this is in direct conflict with the truth of scripture. As Christians, we must always defer to God’s Word, not our feelings.
Let’s discuss these two areas, church and culture, one at a time. First, the Church, because this is a no-brainer. When you give your life to Jesus, you acknowledge Him as Lord and surrender all your feelings and desires to His command. God knows what will bring the most joy and meaning to your life. He designed you and understands everything about you better than you ever will (Psalm 139:13-14). He also knows the earthly pleasures you seek are temporary and will lead you to death and even Hell (1 John 2:15-17). The Lord loves you too much for that. He’ll do anything to save you, including giving His life for yours (1 Timothy 2:3-4; Galatians 1:3-4; John 3:16).
Twisting scripture so it accommodates your desires is declaring you know better than God. How utterly stupid is that? When it comes down to it, we don’t know anything about anything. Yet we think we are smarter than the One who in a moment spoke everything into existence (Genesis 1:3-27). We find the truth in God’s Word, not our feelings.
Let’s talk about the culture for a minute. Isaiah 5:20 keeps smacking me in the face. The prophet states that people will call evil good, and good evil. Look around you. Do you think these words, written 2700 years ago, have any relevance today? It doesn’t matter how you want to act if it goes against God’s Word. If what makes you happy stands in opposition to the command of God, it is sin. You already know this, but choose to ignore that inconvenient truth. Your feelings are more important than pleasing God. When you thumb your nose at an all-powerful, all-holy God, how do you think that’s going to end for you?
The only way out of this mess is to once again recognize the authority of God’s Word, not our feelings. As long as you think your happiness is more important than obeying Christ, you are living in opposition to the One who will judge you. There will be a day when you have to answer for the way you live. There is no ambiguity in what will happen to those who choose the world over Jesus (Matthew 25:31-46). If you add or take away from the words of God, you will spend eternity in Hell (Revelation 22:18-19). If you love the things of this world, you will spend eternity in Hell. Maybe that’s being too blunt, but time is running out. You better wake up and recognize your feelings will all fade, but God’s Word and the consequences of it will endure forever (Matthew 24:34-35).