“Teach us to number our days, that we may present to You a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12).
Nancy Reagan once said, “You learn something out of everything, and you come to realize more than ever that we’re all here for a certain space of time, and then it’s going to be over, and you better make this count” (https://www.azquotes.com/quotes/topics/one-life-to-live.html). We all know this. We have but one life, one opportunity, to present to our Creator a heart full of wisdom, a character full of holiness, and a life full of heavenly works. Consequently, the psalmist warns us to “number our days.” In other words, do not waste our lives on frivolous goals, immoral behavior, and plain laziness; instead make our lives count.
A man came to a preacher and said, “Yesterday, in the meeting, I was filled with joy. Now it’s gone, all gone. My life is as black as night.” The preacher responded, “I’m glad.” “Why?” came the man’s reply. The preacher explained, “Yesterday, God gave you joy. Today, perhaps God is testing you in order to turn you back to Christ. God sees you trusting in your joy more than in Jesus. Realize that you have lost your joy, but you still have Christ.” The man looked astonished. The preacher said, “Have you ever passed through a railway tunnel?” The man replied, “Yes, of course.” While you were in the darkness of the tunnel, did you become alarmed or sad?” asked the preacher. “No, never,” said the man. “Did you soon exit the tunnel, and come out of the darkness into the light?” inquired the preacher. “I see now,” exclaimed the man, “everything is alright whether I feel that it is or not!” (https://sermoncentral.com/sermon-illustrations/77855/feelings-aside-by-rodelio-mallari).
Friends, unless our feelings are based on the truth, we cannot trust them. Truth must rule over feelings, never vice versa. People often give the advice, “Trust your heart,” or “Go with your gut feeling.” What they mean is that we should do what we feel is right. Rarely is that good counsel. God’s word reminds us in Jeremiah 17:9: “The heart is more deceitful than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it?” Moreover, God’s word admonishes us from Proverbs 28:26: “He who trusts in his own heart is a fool, but he who walks wisely will be delivered."
Alternatively, we are advised to live according to truth, and God’s word is truth. The psalmist, in Psalm 119:105, said, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path.” Furthermore, verse 160 tells us, “The sum of Your word is truth, and every one of Your righteous ordinances is everlasting.” To put a fine point on it, the Bible contains truth from the front cover to the back cover, and that truth is eternal, and it never changes. Therefore, the Bible can be trusted. Not so with our feelings. They come and go, and change according to our moods, desires, cravings, and ambitions. Most often, it is much easier to act our way into right feelings than it is to feel our way into right actions simply because truth is meant to come before feelings, shape feelings, and guide feelings. Never the other way around. In short, we are to always live according to what is real, not what we feel.
Reality is defined as real things, facts, or events taken as a whole. Thus, reality is based on facts or truth, not on feelings and experiences. Oswald Chambers said, “Once you are rooted in reality, nothing can shake you. If your faith is rooted only in your experiences, anything that happens is likely to disturb it. But nothing can ever disturb God or the almighty reality of redemption. Base your faith on redemption, and you will be as eternally secure as God. Get into personal contact with Jesus Christ, and you will never be moved again” (https://utmost.org/modern-classic/by-the-power-of-the-spirit/).
This, frankly, is why many people, professing Christians included, live such fickle lives. They allow their well-being—mentally, emotionally, and physically—to depend upon how they feel and what they are experiencing in the moment. They are more in touch with their feelings and experiences than with truth and Jesus. Consequently, everything is fine until the bottom falls out of their circumstances or suffering is introduced into their lives. God warns us of the consequences of rejecting His counsel in Galatians 6:7-8: “Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap. For the one who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but the one who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life.”
Remember Isaiah 26:3: “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you,” and Psalm 28:7: “The LORD is my strength and my shield; My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped,” and Psalm 40:11: “Your lovingkindness and Your truth will continually preserve me.” In whatever circumstance we find ourselves, good or bad, joyful or sorrowful, if our hearts are filled with the presence of Jesus and our minds are full of the words of Jesus and our every inclination is to trust in the truth of Jesus, we will be at peace realizing God’s help and experiencing Holy Spirit preservation.
This kind of equilibrium should be our objective. Why? Because we cannot be Christ’s steady, believable witnesses and, simultaneously, be tossed to and fro by every wind of emotion, feeling, and circumstance. Following our feelings into behavior and living that is clearly contrary to God’s word is the recipe for disaster. It ruins our fellowship with Christ and rots our witness of Christ before a watching, needy world. It is a lot easier to forge a credible Christian witness than to fix a discredited one. Remember, the great work of our lives is making disciples of Christ and contributing to the maturity of God’s forever family. Your life and mine are to be governed so thoroughly by biblical truth and the presence of Jesus that others take notice and long for Him in their lives. Wishy-washy feelings will only hinder, even destroy, this worthy call and ambition.
So, my beloved friends, which will it be—your feelings or God’s truth? Make up your minds quickly. You have but one life. James 4:14 is meant to shock us into reality: “You do not know what your life will be like tomorrow. You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” Face the fact that the day will come, and sooner than you think, when your todays and tomorrows will come to an end. So, act according to truth rather than feelings.
Make up your mind right now to make your life count for Jesus Christ and eternity.