Thursday, May 22, 2014

The Thrust of Christianity, the 4th

The thrust of Christianity is not feeling good about God, as though He were our boyfriend. The American church of recent decades has convinced many that if they feel out of sorts in regard to their relationship with God then something is terribly wrong. But what we feel has everything to do with our expectations. When faulty expectations are not met, we feel that something must be amiss, as though God has mistreated us, or is angry with us. This scenario is another reason why God's Word is so critical. It tells us how God relates to us and even feels about us. And it tells us how we ought to feel toward God. And, it puts the objective realities above how we feel about them. In other words, what God says trumps how we feel.

I am pro-feeling. I see that the Bible gives a significant place to emotions within the Christian experience. But it does not permit emotion to govern us or permit us to doubt God when our feelings are not what we prefer or expect. It seems to  me that our relationship with God in Christ has in some cases been reduced to a cinematic romance; so much so that if we don't feel God's presence we actually believe He isn't with us. But, He says He is (Ps 139; Mt 28, etc).

No comments:

Post a Comment