faith vs feelings

To live by faith is to do as God directs regardless of whether you *feel like it or not. So how does this work? If feelings aren't involved what moves us?

Living by faith comes from **knowing our faithful pursuit of God -- our obedience -- honors Him, as well as *stretches our faith, strengthening our union and communion with Him.

Our increased union with God is the primary reward of our faithfulness; honoring God is the primary motivation. In a word it is God himself; who He is and what He promises, that moves us to action/obedience.

Our desire to honor God comes from **knowing his great love for us -- love demonstrated to us by his sending Christ to fully restore us back to Himself. Once we taste of this sacrificial love we want more. Faithful pursuit of Him enables us to participate more and increases our hope of fully participating in it in eternity without limit or interruption.

**Knowing and believing these things to be true is all we need to obey God i.e. to believe these things to be true and acting accordingly, regardless of what we *feel -- though acting by faith can and often does leads to a greater sense of his love and presence in the moment.

For "...without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him." Hebrews 11:6 ESV

https://bible.com/bible/59/heb.11.6.ESV

Faith says God is who he claims to be. To not believe His claims -- promises -- not only dishonors him but ***harms us and is therefore not pleasing to him. What genuinely loving parent is happy when their child doesn't trust in or listen to them i.e. when the child doesn't believe the parent seeks that child's best interest through the direction they give. So it is with God our perfect heavenly parent.

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* faithful pursuit of God usually feels more like death than life. This is what Christ meant when he said, "...to find your life you must lose it."

** knowing and believing are interchangeable.

*** we miss the reward of knowing God, who is the source of life love, and all things.

Deep longings

Deep longings - desiring what this life cannot provide - show something vital is ¹missing. 

Even as God's child, who has complete and total access to God and is perfectly loved by him, we do not ²yet fully "have" Him (or does he have all of us, our total heart). Without being fully "glorified" (unlimited) we cannot withstand his unfettered presence. We now see him through a glass darkly - by faith, not by sight. One day we will see him face-to-face. When we do we will be like him; fully glorified, fully alive, fully ³able to behold and experience firsthand his infinite majesty, fully freed from all pain and sorrow as we were originally designed, but not until then.

1Pe 1:8  Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory,

Joh 20:29  Jesus said to him, "Have you believed because you have seen me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

For a further discussion on longings click here

On longing for perfect love (a poem) click here

For a further discussion on how a key part of hell is unfulfilled longings click here.

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¹Even those who get what they desire find something still missing. Suicide and death by reckless living, such as substance abuse, are just as prevalent among the rich and famous, if not more. Getting what you think you need and want can be more maddening than hoping for it but not yet having it. People who reach the top of the economic and/or social ladder got there because their desire for something missing - and most significantly, their ability to get it - was greater than others. Once you have what you thought would fulfill you but doesn't, where do you go now that you are "at the top?"

²But, because of Christ's resurrection - this is our proof and evidence we will too one day.

³The greatness of God is such that to behold him in our present limited ("unglorified") state would literally kill us. Imagine, if you can, how great God must be that it requires we be in a state or form so different -- yet still us - that we would die otherwise. Truly eye has not seen nor ear heard what God has in store for those who love him. 

Recall those times things were so good you felt you would pop if they got any better? That will be us with God in eternity but many times over. Our capacity for infinite love will be greatly expanded and forever increasing without interruption. It is hard to comprehend, but this is the picture painted for us. 

Why forever increasing? Because we are finite but God is infinite. We will never reach the full height, width, length, or depth of God in all his glory and love because there is no end to Him... He is endless. We will forever discover the depth and richness of God.

Grace in the Old Testament?

Some may be surprised to know that those in the Old Testament - as well as us on this side of Christ - lived according to the gospel, the good news of grace.

Abraham trusted God and believed God's promise and was thereby justified simply by believing vs doing anything righteous -- any good and right deeds. That is grace and good news aka the gospel. In fact, he was often unfaithful, unrighteous, and regularly acted out of fear instead of trust, yet God remained faithful to the promise he made because Abraham believed in/trusted God who made it.

Gal 3:8  And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham (before Christ's crucifixion actually occurred), saying, "In you shall (in the future) all the nations be blessed." 

And what is that blessing? That salvation - justification - by faith will be available to all nations, Jews and Gentiles alike. It is the good news that righteousness is a gift received by faith, not something we must earn.

Gen 15:6  And he (Abraham) believed the LORD (what the Lord promised), and he counted it (his belief/trust) to him as righteousness. 

Gen 12:2-3, 13:16, Gen 15:5, Gen 17:5-6, Gen 18:18, Gen 22:17-18, Gen 24:35, Gen 26:4,Gen 27:29, Gen 28:3,  Gen 28:14; Gen 35:11, Gen 46:3

The life of Joseph would also be an example of this good news. God was committed to and brought about Joseph's best even in spite of his poor choices -- as well as his father's and brothers' poor choices -- and in the midst of all the subsequent difficulties. Why? Because Joseph trusted God. Even in the midst of all Joseph's weaknesses and flaws, God was faithful to him and Joseph remained true to God i.e. full of faith/faithfulness. God's working in his life was not deserved i.e. not the result of Joseph being perfect in all his conduct. God's working was because of the kindness and wisdom of God i.e. by grace.


We are told in both the Old and New Testament that "the just shall live by faith" Habakkuk 2:4; Romans 1:17; Galatians 3:11; Hebrews 10:38

So what's the difference between the Old Testament (Covenant) and the New Testament (Covenant)?

The justification promised in the OT was accomplished and fulfilled in and by Christ. For us this is no longer a future promise but a past reality. Therefore we are not only justified by faith but also now have His Spirit of perfect love living in us -- the Spirit no longer just comes upon us but indwells us. Because of the work of Christ, when we accept his gift of perfect standing (righteousness) before God, we are declared clean vessels, fit for God to dwell in. Believers no longer look to the promise of a future event that will someday make them clean but to a past event that has already provided that cleansing once accepted.

As a result, His law is now written on our hearts and in our minds (Heb 8:10-12; 10:16-18). This was a promise made through the prophets and fulfilled in and by Christ. In other words because of the work of Christ for us -- he remembers our sins no more -- his Spirit is now living within us, reveals to us the significance and extent of that work, stirring in our hearts a love and trust for God and his word(s) we did not have before. His Spirit is now constantly revealing more and more of Christ to us in all His beauty, love, and glory (2 Corinthians 3:17-18) which causes us to trust him more and more, creating within us an increasing desire to obey him. It is God (by his Spirit) who now works from within us (not just on us as He did in the OT) both to will (desire) and do (empower to obey) of his good pleasure (Phil 2:12-13). To say it concisely, the things we are commanded to do we now want to do because we love and trust the one who commands us. This is now true of all believers. If it is not, we have not yet truly seen His love for us.

For a further discussion on the difference between religion and the gospel click here. 

For a discussion on the difference between cultural "Christians" and grace-driven believers click here.