If you’ve been a Christian for any length of time you have experienced the highs and lows that come with walking with the Lord. Most of us start on a high when we first accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour. Our lives have changed for the better. We have found a purpose in life. The emptiness in our hearts has been filled by the presence of the Holy Spirit. We have a burning desire to share what God has done for us to every person we can. We are on fire!
Don’t Worry… It won’t last!
It doesn’t take long for new Christians to bump into more seasoned Christians who will then warn them with something like, “Don’t worry, it won’t last.” Or, “You’ll see, your passion will cool down after a while and you’ll be like the rest of us.” This often discourages the newbie Christians but at this stage it is hard for the new Christian to believe that they will ever be anything but head over heels for Jesus. Then it happens. BAM! Sometimes suddenly, oftentimes subtly, they find themselves not so excited or they find that they don’t sense the presence of God like they used to.
When God’s presence cannot be felt as before, what do you do?
First of all, don’t panic. Unless you have purposely committed some serious sin in blatant rebellion to the Holy Spirit inside of you, God hasn’t left you. Instead, what is most likely happening is that God is testing you in order to mature you and grow you beyond the point of living by your feelings. If we follow God only because we feel his constant presence with us, we are following God according to the flesh and not according to the Spirit. It’s fine to start there since all human beings naturally live by the flesh and naturally know nothing of the Spirit. “The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are folly to him, and he is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned.” – 1 Corinthians 2:14. “Those who are in the flesh cannot please God. You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.” – Romans 8:8-9.
Are You Ready to Grow Up?
It’s natural for a little child to be led principally by their emotions. When baby is hungry, baby screams! For the baby, this is a major emergency! A 6 month old baby has no capacity for thinking of the needs of its mother ahead of its own. As far as this baby is concerned, everyone exists in order to serve it. Only as the baby starts to develop, mature and become a toddler and older will it start learning to consider other people’s feelings in their decisions and reactions. The very same thing must happen with our personal Christian walk with the Lord. We need to grow up. Move away from being flesh driven to being Spirit driven. The path to being Spirit led must go through the process of losing confidence in our emotions to guide us to holy and godly living and to a life that ultimately pleases God.
If this whole business of the flesh is new to you, I’d suggest you check out the following articles on Biblical Flesh 101… Desires that Kill and Original Sin… What’s Wrong with the Human Race? and Are you mature in Christ?.
What about you? What place do emotions have in serving God? I’d love to hear your feedback on this important topic…