I recently heard someone ask, “What do feelings have to do with faithfulness?” And it hit me…what do my feelings have to do with faithfulness?
This is something I’ve always struggled with, as I’m sure many of you have, but I honestly didn’t realize it until I stopped to think about it. How many times did I question a message that He wanted me to give to someone because I thought it might be awkward, or I didn’t have enough time, or it would be rude to interrupt, etc.?
How many times have I been too tired to pray or serve on a Sunday morning?
How many times have I told God “no” because I was too busy, or distracted, or frustrated because of other things that happened to me that day?
How many times have I disqualified myself from being a part of His plan?
Faithfulness Is Not About Doing Things When You Feel Like It
When God is asking us to be faithful with the things He is entrusting to us, He is doing so knowing full well what the rest of our day/week/month looks like. He knows our tomorrows and He knows the kind of morning we’re going to have before we have to serve.
He knows about the fight we might get into with our spouse or how frustrating our kids will be right before it’s time to fulfill His request. And He asks us anyway.
Do you think that Jesus FELT like going to the cross for us when He did?
Luke 22:42 says:
“Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.”
Luke 22:42
That doesn’t sound to me like He felt like doing it, but He did it out of love. He knew the plans of God had to redeem His people and He was faithful to God’s will, not what His flesh was telling Him.
We Can’t Always Trust Our Feelings
I know we don’t always like to admit it, but oftentimes, women are more emotional than men. It’s not necessarily a bad thing, after all, as wives and mothers, we usually care for the emotions of the household and we need to be more emotional to be in tune with that role.
But when it can become a problem is when we are faced with the choice between being faithful when our feelings don’t line up. For example, we may FEEL like God is telling us to do something that doesn’t connect with scripture, then we can’t trust those feelings.
Proverbs 3:5 says:
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.”
proverbs 3:5-6 niv
That doesn’t mean that God can’t use our emotions or give us feelings about a certain circumstance to guide us in the right direction, but it does mean that we should be checking our feelings and emotions against His truth.
Feelings can also be very reactionary. We see things and then we react to them. But when those reactions are not trained by God’s Word or guided by the Holy Spirit, then they often go astray. How many times have you been in a situation where you reacted a certain way, only to find out that that situation wasn’t exactly what you thought it was and you regretted your reaction?
If we ground ourselves in scripture and consistently turn to God in prayer, then He can begin to use our emotions as another means to lead us successfully.
We Can’t Rely On Perfect Circumstances
To be true disciples of Jesus and to fulfill His calling on our lives, we have to get passed doing things for God only when we feel like it. If we are waiting for the right circumstances or the right amount of energy to come along to do something, it’s probably never going to happen, but we can be faithful by doing it anyway.
“Therefore we are always confident and know that as long as we are at home in the body we are away from the Lord. For we live by faith, not by sight. We are confident, I say, and would prefer to be away from the body and at home with the Lord.”
2 corinthians 5:6-8 niv
God didn’t create us to stay in our comfort zones. He created us to be faithful and obedient to Him, whatever that looks like in the moment. When we begin to put aside our emotions or feelings about a situation and can learn to listen, even when it’s not convenient, that’s when TRUE growth can happen.
