Have you ever tried to give a two-year-old a gift? They will look at it and smile, but really have no idea what you are trying to do. You tear a piece of the paper to show them what to do. As they begin to mimic you, they start tearing the paper off the package one little strip at a time. In your impatience, you begin to help them, but in their state of two-year-old independence, they say no, because they want you to stop. They are fascinated with the process of tearing the paper. They enjoy every aspect of the gift. Finally, they remove all the paper and find the gift inside. They cheerfully pull out the gift and look it over, they want to show everyone in the room their new toy. They play with the toy and may even share it with a sibling. After a short period of time, they turn back to the paper and the box and ignore the toy. I think this is a lot like we respond to God.
The Holy Spirit comes to us and convicts us of sin because without conviction we would not see the need to repent. In John 16, Jesus is talking to His disciples. He was seeking to prepare them for His departure back to Heaven. He explains the role of the Holy Spirit to them as believers that will come after his return to Heaven. Then in verse 8, he begins to tell of the convicting power of the Holy Spirit to unbelievers. The word reprove means to convince or convict. The Holy Spirit will convince or convict those that are lost, that they are sinners in need of a Savior.
John 16:8 “And when he is come, he will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment:”
When we respond to the Holy Spirit as an unbeliever, we are like the child who looks at the package and begins to tear off the paper. At the first convicting of the Holy Spirit, we are not sure what is really happening. We feel guilty, but think we can’t live the Christian life, so we take our time responding like the child with the box. We tear off a little paper as we seek to find out more about this gift of salvation. Finally, we are convinced we want Christ as our Savior, and we repent of our sins. We are so excited we want to experience everything about our new life in Christ. We can’t wait to tell others. Our zeal is overflowing, we not only want to tell everyone, but we also want them to experience everything we feel inside. We are like a child with a new toy. He enjoys the process of unwrapping the gift more than the gift inside.
After a while, our faith becomes a habit. It is no longer fresh and new to us. We soon go about our business as if nothing has happened. We start to miss church and soon convince ourselves that church is boring because we don’t “feel” like it did when we first were saved. We have failed to grow in our faith and obedience to God. We soon begin to become critical of all the things that once brought us joy. We are like the child who puts the real gift back in the box and plays with the box and the wrapping paper. We want the “feeling” we had when we were first saved. We may even attend another church because the music is upbeat, and it makes us feel good, not realizing that we are headed down a slippery slope of allowing our feelings to dictate our actions. You have failed to understand that serving Christ is so much more than a feeling. If our feelings guide us, they will steer us away from Christ, because they are tainted with our sinful nature.
There will be many times in your walk with Christ that you may not “feel” saved, but we are called to live by faith, not feelings. We are called to live trusting in God and not our own understanding.
Proverbs 3:5 “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”
Jeremiah, the prophet who was called the weeping prophet, the one who showed emotion, tells us we can’t trust our feelings. His assessment of the heart, the seat of our emotions, is deceitful. If we are led by our feelings and not the truth of the word we will go wrong.
Jeremiah 17:9 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?”
If we come to a point in our spiritual life where we don’t feel saved, we need to get on our knees and ask the Holy Spirit to reveal anything in our life that is not pleasing to God. If he brings something to our memory, we must confess and forsake the sin. Many times, we don’t feel saved because there is unconfessed sin in our lives. However, we must be led by truth, not feelings. I John 1:9 teaches us that if we confess, He will forgive. For us to turn away or run to seek a feeling is calling God a liar. If He said He will forgive He is faithful to forgive.
I John 1:9 “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”
Why are our feelings not a good guide? Our feelings are constantly changing. How can we trust something that is always changing? They can be influenced by others. A great motivational speaker knows how to stir emotions and before we know it, we are on the mountain top, until we realize the base of the mountain was loose stone. There was not a lot of truth in his speech, just a lot of tear-jerking stories. I can feel terrible but let one of my children or grandchildren enter the room and my whole outlook changes. I can feel anxious, frustrated, or rejected, and then my husband puts his arms around me and tells me he loves me, and those feelings quickly change.
We must not treat our salvation as a new toy. We must nurture it by reading God’s word. We must hang onto it and carry the truth of it in our minds everywhere we go. We must weigh our feelings on the balance scales of the truth of the word. If what you are feeling doesn’t balance with what God’s word says, then you must override your feelings with the truth.
In John 14:6, Jesus declares Himself to be the truth and He is the life. He is the real treasure of salvation. We are to push forward and continue to trust in this precious Gift, Jesus. If you don’t feel close to Him hang on because He hasn’t moved. Keep trusting, praying, and obeying the Truth, not your feelings.
John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Cherish the Gift, not the wrapping paper!
Excellent