Feelings…

Romans 12:1-2

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I believe that feelings are a product of your mind, heart, and perspective. A product of things that can be not only changed, but transformed and renewed. If you feel like giving up because you can’t change how you feel… You’re right! But I can assure you that change will come when you focus on and follow the truth. Put it in your mind. God’s word is true! Don’t look at it as rules and regulations… Look at it as a promise of FREEDOM! As believers we lay our lives down as an act of worship every day. We don’t do as the world does, even when we feel like it and desire to. Worship isn’t just something we do when we feel like it. Why else would the Word call it a sacrifice? A sacrifice is laying something of value down for something of more value. Through this process, we prioritize by placing the Lord above all else, which is where he belongs. And when He’s in his proper place, other things fall into their proper places! This includes those things you haven’t been able to change on your own, such as your feelings. Below is one of my favorite poems from Martin Luther.

 

“Feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God–
Naught else is worth believing.

Though all my heart should feel condemned
For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose Word cannot be broken.

I’ll trust in God’s unchanging Word
Till soul and body sever,
For, though all things shall pass away,
HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!”

― Martin Luther       Martin Luther