Monday, September 13, 2010
Feelings. I think that’s probably one of the biggest differences in childhood and adulthood. Feelings. When you’re a child, one trait of the immaturity of such a young age is the fact that so much of what you do is driven by those feelings. How many times do we hear a small child say to his parents, “But I don’t want to…” “But I don’t feel like it…” I remember those mornings when I would wake up and try to put together a good plan to get to stay home from school because I didn’t feel like going. Usually it failed, though. Turns out, my parents could see through my feelings.
This morning I’m thinking about this, because when I woke up at 5am, my feelings were telling me to stay in bed. The alarm was screaming at me (both of them), but my feelings were saying, “NO! Not yet! You’re not done with your dreaming! Just stay here! Call in sick for the bus route…get a sub. You need some more sleep!” Those were my feelings, and had I bowed down to them as I did so often as an immature child, I’d still be in bed right now and a substitute bus driver would be getting ready to pick up my kids. And in a couple hours I’d be very regretful of that decision.
But instead, I put my feelings on the shelf. It just didn’t matter how I “felt”…the fact of the matter is, I have to get up at 5am, I have to go drive the bus, I have to get some things accomplished today at the church, and that’s the way it is. And undoubtedly, many of you reading this understand that reality on a Monday morning, don’t you? So all this talk of feelings drove my mind to another reality…how many of us let feelings drive our relationship with God into the ditch?
There are, no doubt, days when we don’t feel like praying. There are days when we don’t feel like cracking open God’s Word and reading. There are definitely days when we don’t feel like sharing Him with folks that don’t know Him yet. There are days we just don’t feel up to worshiping. And there are Sundays or Wednesdays that we don’t really feel like going to church. But just as is the case with the other areas of life, it’s in those times that we have to put our feelings on the shelf. It’s in those times that we have to ask ourselves, “Am I an immature child in my faith, or am I growing up in Him? Will who I am in Him be determined by what I feel, or by my obedience?”
So there’s the paradigm: feelings or obedience? Which will you choose today? As for me, I’ll sign off here, go jump on the big yellow joy-ride called a school bus, and fulfill my other responsibilities today, after having started my day, and week, off strong with Him in His Word. And though I didn’t feel like it at the moment, I have to admit – in hindsight it sure feels great to have chosen obedience.
PS: Please pray for Jake today. It appears they'll begin to wean him off the meds that have kept him sedated since the accident. Pray he wakes up like he needs to. God is working!!!
That’s just a thought, and I welcome yours.
Until next time,
Blake
This blog is brought to you courtesy of http://fromblake.blogspot.com. Visit today and sign up to become an official follower!
Feel free to write Blake anytime at pastorblakeman@yahoo.com
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment