Taming My Feelings
Is it
hypocritical to do something even if you don’t feel like it? Is it possible to
overcome rebellious feelings and live obediently anyway?
SIMON PETER DIDN’T FEEL LIKE FISHING ANY more. He was
weary from working all night. He was discouraged because he had caught nothing
for all his work. He was skeptical that dropping the net again would be any
more profitable than it had been in all the times before.
But Jesus told him, “Put out into
deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” “Master,” Peter responded. “we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But
because you say so, I will let down the nets” (Lk. 5:4, 5).
Despite his weariness and
discouragement and skepticism, Simon obeyed.
Peter’s victory over his feelings
provides important insights into our own struggles to live obediently even when
we don’t feel like it.
LISTEN TO GOD
One question Christians seem to ask more than any other
is, “How can I know the will of God?” It is a vital question. Before we can
obey or disobey, we have to know what God has called us to do.
Be assured that God is ready and
able to communicate His will clearly to each Christian
no matter what our level of spiritual growth. The question is,
are we listening?
Peter was a very weary fisherman
when in verse three Jesus asked him to put out a little from shore so Jesus
could speak from the boat to the people who were following Him. Having done
what Jesus asked, Simon could easily have sat back in the boat and relaxed,
with the warm sun beating down, the gentle sea breeze blowing in his hair, the
boat rocking gently on the waves.
Many modern Christians frequently
yield to that same temptation. We drift off into a restful state, “napping”
until we feel refreshed, not expecting to hear our names called.
We are too tired to pray or not
in the mood to share the gospel with the spiritually lost,
or we don’t feel like reading our Bibles. Like children caught up in
play, we disobey our Father because we do not feel like doing what He
says.
But when Jesus was finished
teaching, Peter was still paying attention. Jesus did not have to rouse him or
call loudly to him. He only had to speak to him, and he heard.
AGREE WITH GOD
One of the surest ways for Christians to learn God’s
will is to agree beforehand that regardless of what He commands we will
do it.
All too often we try to reverse
the process. We try to get God to tell us what He wants us to do, so that we
can then decide whether we will do it.
Jesus said, “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments” (Jn.
We must agree to obey God if we
are to do His bidding.
Consider Abraham. When God called
to him, “Abraham!,” he replied, “Here I am” (Gen.
22:1). He didn’t know God was testing him. He knew only that God was calling
him. His reply indicates a willingness to obey. To say, “Here I am” in that
culture was to say, “I am ready to do as you ask” or “Your wish is my command.”
“Then He (God) said, ‘Take now
your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the
Everything within Abraham probably
rebelled against that command! To say that Abraham did not feel like
obeying God’s call is probably the height of understatement. Sacrificing Isaac
was absolutely the last thing he humanly would ever want to do. But he had
agreed to obey. Despite his feelings, he was committed.
TRUST GOD TO WORK
In a world where we are told to read the fine print and
know our maximum liability, the identity of the one who calls us has much to
do with whether we agree to follow.
Our very nature as man urges us
to control our own destinies, but our identity as Christians requires that we
turn that responsibility over to God.
Who has our best interests at
heart? Who knows our situations? Who has the knowledge, intelligence, and power
to make everything work out for our good? Who truly loves us? God does.
Had someone other than God told
Abraham to sacrifice Isaac, Abraham might have been tempted to sacrifice that
person where he stood. Had someone else told Simon Peter to go fishing again,
impulsive Peter could possibly have helped him off the wrong side of the boat.
Peter was tired, and he “knew” he
was not going to catch anything, but because he trusted Jesus he was able to
say, “Because You say so, I will let down the
nets.”
Abraham held Isaac more dear than
all else on earth. But because he trusted God, “Abraham rose early in the
morning and saddled his donkey … and went to the place of which God had told
him (Gen. 22:3).
God is silent in the lives of too
many Christians today because of lack of trust.
It would be funny if it were not
so sad that we can trust God for our eternal salvation, but we cannot trust
Him with the individual decisions of our lives.
Paul says it clearly, “Therefore
as you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him (Col. 2:6). We may call
Jesus “Lord,” but if we do not trust Him and stand willing – that is, in
agreement – to obey Him, then He is not, in fact, our Lord.
How we feel about obeying God is a side issue. God
calls us to action, not to feelings.
Jesus did not tell Peter to feel
energetic and excited about going fishing. He told him to “put out into deep
water and let down the nets for a catch.” Putting out and letting down were
commands that Peter could obey no matter how he felt.
Paul gives us another command that
must be obeyed whether we feel like it or not: “Be angry, and yet do not sin;
do not let the sun go down on your anger” (Eph.
Similarly, consider these words:
“Devote yourselves to prayer…” (Col. 4:2); “…do the work of an evangelist” (Eph. 4:5); Let the word of
Christ richly dwell within you… (
In the Bible, love is presented
as the attitude and action of doing what is best for the one who
is loved regardless of how the lover feels about it. (The measure of love is
equal to the measure of cost to the one who loves. Jesus’ love for us was total
and complete for that is how much of Himself our
salvation cost.) Doing good, blessing, and praying are acts of love.
Jesus did not tell us to feel
kindly toward our enemies. He did tell us to act lovingly toward them.
God does not call us to a
particular state of emotional equilibrium; He calls us to action – action we
can accomplish in the face of our feelings.
Saying you like doing something you don’t is hypocrisy.
Doing something despite feelings is discipline. Peter didn’t feel like going
fishing, but he still obeyed.
Visualize a spiritual railroad
train. Fact is the steam engine, faith is the coal car, life’s decisions are
the freight cars and feeling is the caboose.
The fact of God’s commands guides
the train; faith fuels the train; obedience moves it; feelings follow. Letting
feelings dictate our responses to God is letting the caboose pull the train.
With Peter and Abraham, we must
allow the fact of God’s commands for our lives to guide us; we must trust God
for the results; we must decide to obey, and do so. Then we, too, will know the
emotional transformation they experienced, as we recognize and appreciate God’s
ultimate purpose.
Obedience means doing what God
asks of us. We will find that much easier if we concern ourselves with
obedience and let God take care of our feelings.
Steve Troxel