Feelings Are Deceiving

Posted on Oct 3, 2016 in Pastor's Pen |

“Feeling’s are deceiving”

Genesis 27:21-23 “And Isaac said unto Jacob, Come near, I pray thee, that I may feel thee, my son, whether thou be my very son Esau or not. And Jacob came near unto Isaac his father; and he felt him, and said, The voice is Jacob’s voice, but the hands are the hands of Esau. And he discerned him not, because his hands were hairy, as his brother Esau’s hands: So he blessed him.”

Isaac made the same mistake that many Christians make. He put his confidence in his feelings. He believed what he had felt rather than what he had heard.

When we live by our feeling’s we lose our spiritual discernment. The flesh does not have the capability to discern truth. This does not mean doing right doesn’t feel good because it does. What it means is that we shouldn’t wait to feel good to do right! Romans 7:18 “For I know that in me (that is in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing:” John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.” Philippians 3:3 “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” Our flesh is fickle and foolish it is sinful and therefore deceitful. 1 Corinthians 2:14 “But the natural man receiveth not the thing’s of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned.”

We need the aid of the Spirit of God to discern truth. Even then our flesh may rebel against God’s truth.
How often have you allowed the way you feel to determine how you treat people? How often have you allowed the way you feel to determine your faithfulness to God?

The difference between the growing Christian and the childish Christian is their ability to trust the word even when they don’t feel like it. When Job experienced his trials and was tempted to sin he emphatically stated “Though he slay me yet will I trust him.”

It all turned out very well for Job in the end. You may be struggling right now but just keep doing what is right and trusting God you won’t regret it. Isaac would create problems in his household that would last a lifetime because he allowed his flesh to rule him. His house would be divided. This is the result of trusting your feeling’s rather than the word of God. You might be thinking “is there never a time we can trust our feelings?” Only if you have facts to back them up. Feelings should not be the compass that guides us. When you constantly try to appease your feelings you end up just feeling worse not better.

Pilots have what is called an attitude indicater to keep them aware of the course of the plain when they can no longer see the ground. The reason for this is that it is possible to feel like your going up when you’re actually going down therefore the only true guage they have for their flight course is the attitude indicater. God has given us an attitude indicater, the bible don’t let your feelings lead you contrary to the bible.

If you owned a sailboat you would be confined to the shoreline until you learned to rely upon your compass then you could sail around the world. As Christians we are confined to the shoreline of life until we learn to rely on God’s word.

                                             Read Genesis 27

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