by Chadwick Brewer<\/p>\n
One of the greatest challenges that we have in walking according to the Spirit is that we are so accustomed to walking according to our emotions.<\/p>\n
We have been trained to and constantly instructed to act according to our feelings. “What do you feel in your heart?” “Be true to yourself.” “Speak your truth.” “If it feels right, it must be right.” These are just a few examples of this worldview that is constantly hoisted upon us. We buy into these false ideas in our daily life, and since there is no real division between daily life and religious life, it also shapes how we view religion.<\/p>\n
More and more, people are guided by what they feel within rather than by what God has revealed in His word. When in discussions about doctrine, statements like “I don’t have a problem with it” or “I believe that God would be OK with that” often carry more weight than Scripture. In terms of acts of worship, we are more motivated by what moves us than what glorifies God. We often pursue experiences that make us feel close to God and then hope He approves, rather than learning to delight in the things He has already revealed to be pleasing to Him.<\/p>\n
Yet we are called to “delight in truth<\/em>” (Psalms 51:6), to be “sanctified in truth<\/em>” (John 17:17), and to “walk in<\/em> [God’s] truth<\/em>” (Psalms 86:11). Nothing like this is ever said about our emotions. Emotions make wonderful servants, but terrible masters. God never intended our feelings to determine truth; He intended truth to shape our feelings.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Chadwick Brewer One of the greatest challenges that we have in walking according to the Spirit is that we are so accustomed to walking according to our emotions. We have been trained to and constantly instructed to act according to our feelings. “What do you feel in your heart?” “Be true to yourself.” “Speak…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[506,441],"class_list":["post-97124","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-emotions","tag-truth"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":32755,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/walking-in-the-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":97124,"position":0},"title":"Walking in the Light","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 28, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by\u00a0Perry Hall What does walking in the light mean? On one side proponents claim walking in darkness happens when the Christian commits even one sin; \"sin is darkness, after all.\" The opposing side counters, walking in light describes a life-style, not each punctiliar action - \"its a walk, not one\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27592,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-the-saying-follow-your-heart-wrong\/","url_meta":{"origin":97124,"position":1},"title":"Is the saying “follow your heart” wrong?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I want to ask about these verses: \"The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?\" (Jeremiah 17:9). \"Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life\" (Proverbs 4:23). I have read verses like these (I know there are others)\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47649,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/just-telling-what-i-feel\/","url_meta":{"origin":97124,"position":2},"title":"Just Telling What I Feel","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 27, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"by Doy Moyer That our culture has been trained to act more on feelings than objective truth and reality is evident in so many ways that it hardly needs proving. The outbursts of anger, the murders, the sexual abuses, the lack of civility, the completely irrational denials of reality, and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84905,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/prayer-and-devotion\/","url_meta":{"origin":97124,"position":3},"title":"Prayer and Devotion","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"by Larry White via Sentry Magazine, Vol. 13, No. 4, December 31, 1987 We pray little because we desire little. A full soul, full of the world and fat on the plenty and pride of this world, will not be a praying soul. He requires nothing. The hungry soul longs\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":33795,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-dont-i-feel-guilty-after-committing-fornication-with-my-fiance\/","url_meta":{"origin":97124,"position":4},"title":"Why don’t I feel guilty after committing fornication with my fiance?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 13, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I became a true Christian about three years ago! I have Calvinist points of view, and I tried to be hyper-serious to keep a holy life. I've been raised in a Christian family, but I had committed fornication before Jesus touched my life. When I left my non-Christian boyfriend\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":53782,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/am-i-following-god-because-of-my-fear-of-hell-and-my-selfish-desire-to-be-saved\/","url_meta":{"origin":97124,"position":5},"title":"Am I following God because of my fear of hell and my selfish desire to be saved?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 3, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, I have been a Christian for most of my life. Recently my heart has fallen under heavy conviction (I think), and I feel as if I have not desired God above all else in my walk with Him. With this, I began to fear that I was not\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97124","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97124"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97124\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97124"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97124"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97124"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}