XXI. THE LIFE OF FEELING
`We walk by faith, not by sight.' -- 2
Cor. 5:7
`Blessed are they that have not seen, and yet
have believed.' -- John 20:29
`Said I not unto thee, that, if thou
believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?' -- John 11:40
In connection with your conversion there
was no greater hindrance in your way than feeling. You thought, perhaps for
years, that you must experience something, must feel and perceive something in
yourselves. It was to you as if it were too hazardous thus simply, and without
some feeling, to believe in the word, and be sure that God had received you,
and that your sins were forgiven. But at last you have had to acknowledge that
the way of faith, without feeling, was the way of the word of God. And it has
been to you the way of salvation. Through faith alone have you been saved, and
your soul has found rest and peace. (John 3:36; Rom. 3;28; 4:5,16; 5:1)
In the further life of the Christian there is no
temptation that is more persistent and more dangerous than this same feeling.
The word `feeling' we do not find in Scripture, but what we call `feeling' the
Scripture calls `seeing'. And it tells us without easing that not seeing, but
believing, that believing right in opposition to what we see, gives salvation.
`Abraham, not being weak in faith, considered not his own body'. * Faith
adheres simply to what God says. The unbelief that would see shall not see;
the faith that will not see, but has enough in God, shall see the glory of God.
(2 Chron. 7:2; Ps. 2713; Isa. 7:9; Matt. 14:30,31; Luke 5:5) The man who
seeks for feeling, and mourns about it, shall not find it; the man who cares
not for it shall have it overflowing. `Whosoever would save his life shall
lose it, and whosoever shall lose his life for my sake shall find it.' Faith
in the word becomes later on sealed with true feeling by the Holy Spirit. (John
12:25; Gal. 3:2,14; Eph. 1:13)
Child of God, learn to live by faith. Let it be
fixed with you that faith is God's way to a blessed life. When there is no
feeling of liveliness in prayer, when you feel cold and dull in the inner
chamber, live by faith. Let your faith look upon Jesus as near, upon His power
and faithfulness, and, though you have nothing to bring to Him, believe that He
will give you all. Feeling always seeks something in itself; faith keeps
itself occupied with what Jesus is. (Rom. 4:20,21; 2 Tim. 1:12; Heb. 9:5,6;
Jas. 3:16; 6:16) When you read the word, and have no feeling of interest or
blessing, read it yet again in faith. The word will work and bring blessing;
`the word worketh in those that believe.' When you feel no love, believe in
the love of Jesus, and say in faith that He knows that you still love Him.
When you have no feeling of gladness, believe in the inexpressible joy that
there is in Jesus for you. Faith is blessedness, and will give joy to those
who are not concerned about the self-sufficiency that springs from joy, but
about the glorification of God that springs from faith. (Rom. 15:13; Gal.
2:20; 1 Pet. 1:5,7,8) Jesus will surely fulfil His word: `Blessed are they
that have not seen, and yet have believed.' `Said I not unto thee, that, if
thou believedst, thou shouldest see the glory of God?'
Betwixt the life of feeling and the life of
faith the Christian has to choose every day. Happy is he who, once for all,
has made the firm choice, and every morning renews the choice, not to seek or
listen for feeling, but only to walk by faith, according to the will of God.
The faith that keeps itself occupied with the word, with what God has said,
and, through the word, with God Himself and Jesus His Son, shall taste the
blessedness of a life in God above. Feeling seeks and aims at itself; faith
honours God, and shall be honoured by Him. Faith pleases God, and shall
receive from Him the witness in the heart of the believer that he is acceptable
to God.
Lord God, the one, the only, thing that Thou desirest of Thy
children is that they should trust Thee, and that they should always hold
converse with Thee in that faith. Lord, let it be the one thing in which I
seek my happiness, to honour and to please Thee by a faith that firmly holds
Thee, the Invisible, and trusts Thee in all things. Amen.
1. There is indeed something
marvelous in the new life. It is difficult to make it clear to the young
Christian. The Spirit of God teaches him to understand it after he perseveres
in grace. Jesus has laid the foundation of that life in the first word of the
Sermon on the Mount: `Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom
of heaven'; a feeling of deep poverty and of royal riches, of utter weakness
and of kingly might, exist together in the soul. To have nothing in itself, to
have all in Christ -- that is the secret of faith. And the true secret of
faith is to bring this into exercise, and, in hours of barrenness and
emptiness, still to know that we have all in Christ.
2. Forget not that the faith, of which God's
word speaks so much, stands not only in opposition to works, but also in
opposition to feeling, and therefore that for a pure life of faith you
must cease to seek your salvation, not only in works, but also in faith.
Therefore let faith always speak against feeling. When feeling says, `In
myself, I am sinful; I am dark; I am weak; I am poor; I am sad;' let faith
say. `In Christ, I am holy; I am light; I am strong; I am rich; I am
joyful.'