The case of doubting Thomas, who stubbornly refused to believe till he had first seen with his eyes and felt with his hands, is very common.  We all tend to live by feelings rather than by faith.  The great evil in this lies in depending on our feelings for comfort and assurance.  If we believe that Christ is ours only when we feel he is near us, we will just as easily believe that he is not ours when such feeling is absent.

Three evils attend living by our feelings and not by faith.

1.  GOD IS DISHONOURED.  We judge his faithfulness by our fluctuating feelings and measure his mercies by our awareness of them.  Samuel Rutherford says we are like young sailors who think the land is moving when in fact it is the boat they are in.  Our feelings fluctuate like the waves of the sea, but God is our rock, and never moves from his faithfulness.

2.  SATAN GAINS AN ADVANTAGE.  If we tell ourselves, "Whoever does not feel Christ's love is not his disciple", Satan will say to us, "But you do not feel his love, therefore you are not his disciple".  By such sophistry, Satan robs us of our peace.  The trouble is, we believe him.

3.  WE LIVE OUT OUR DAYS IN DOUBT OF OUR SALVATION.  When we feel no foundation on which to rest, we question whether there is a foundation at all.  Like Peter on the waves, we are so unstable when we trust to our feelings.

Perhaps the following thoughts will help us overcome this problem.

1.  Feelings are no judge of our spiritual state at all.  We are saved through faith, not feelings.  Clearly, feelings cannot measure anything except by what they feel.  Yet how often we pass through times of no feeling at all! - times of desertion, backsliding and apathy.  What have we in such times but God's faithful promise?  Let us trust his changeless Word, however changeable our feelings may be.  Luther's little poem on feelings is a gem.
 

2.  Our spiritual experience may be contrary to our feelings.  Abraham felt there was no hope of a son, but his faith destroyed the destructive power of his feelings.  Job felt that God had forsaken him, yet he still cried, "Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him."  Jonah, cut off from all feelings of deliverance, looked by faith to God's holy temple, and was delivered.  Faith places God and his unshakeable Word over against every circumstance and experience to the contrary.  When our faith follows God in his promises, then we shall leave the treacherous path of feelings.

3.  Feelings are the fruit, not the root, of faith.  We make feelings the root of our faith when we say, "If I felt that Christ was mine, and the promises were mine, I would believe."  This is to make a Christ of our feelings!  On the other hand, we make feelings the fruit of our faith when we say, "God has promised; Christ has died; the Spirit is given; I believe his Word; I will rejoice in his faithfulness."  Just as we cannot nourish our stomachs on food we have not taken in, so we cannot nourish our souls on promises that faith has not taken in.  We dare not try to draw strength from our feelings, but our feelings must spring from our faith.  We have good reason to distrust our feelings!

Do you think that if you felt more positively about your faith you would trust more?  Such feelings may confirm your faith.  But before God seals your faith with such feelings, you must seal His Word with your trust in his promises.  You must believe that God is faithful and his promises are true.  Then you will have joy and peace in believing.  No one can be sure of what he does not believe.  Everything is obtained by faith.  So then, "Believe in the Lord your God; so shall you be established" (2 Chronicles 20:20).

John M Brentnall