Not just a feeling...

It's the feeling you get when you first get saved, or after coming back from a church camp, or maybe some Sunday morning.... It's the feeling that makes you feel loved, it makes you feel safe, secure, and you can feel God. But what happens a day after that fades away? Or a month? Or a year? Are we supposed to live on some feeling?

No.

When I look at the Bible and what it says about following Jesus I see nothing that says "hey follow Me and you'll have a 'spiritual high' your whole life'". No. Here's what I see in scriptures about following Jesus:

Matthew 4:19, "'Follow me,' he told them, 'and I will make you fish for people.'"

Matthew 16:24, "Then Jesus said to his disciples, 'If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me.'"

John 12:26, "If anyone serves me, he must follow me. Where I am, there my servant also will be. If anyone serves me, the Father will honor him."


Sometimes we go through time were we just don't feel God with us, or we don't feel like we're learning about God. And we use that as an excuse not to follow Him.

Now, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying there is anything wrong with feelings. God has given us personalities, emotions, and feelings. But there is a time and place for everything. Our relationship with God shouldn't be based on simply a feeling.

Take your sibling for example (or one of your parents or close friend if you don't have a sibling). Your relationship with them isn't simply based on a feeling. No matter what, deep down you always love them and they remain your sibling/parent/friend.

A relationship based solely on a feeling and nothing else isn't a relationship worth having. It should go deeper than that. I'm not saying you're going to have a concrete, unbreakable, rock solid relationship with everyone that comes your way.

But you should with God.

I was thinking recently about the subject and I realized I can't follow Jesus based solely on a feeling. If I did I would only be following Jesus part of the time. Even when I don't feel like it I need to be seeking Him and serving Him and following Him.


Something that we, who are in Christ, need to remember is that we have the Holy Spirit of the Living God dwelling inside of us. He doesn't leave. He remains. Even if you don't feel like He's in you He is.

1 Corinthians 6:19, "Don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God?"

Let's follow God no matter what. Not just when we feel like it but always.


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What are your thoughts on the subject?

John 10:27, "My sheep hear my voice, I know them, and they follow me."