Click the picture or this link:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4iPIi7sunEU
Or search YouTube for David Phelps - No More Night
“And the Pharisees and Sadducees came up, and testing Him
asked Him to show them a sign from heaven.
But He answered and said to them, ‘When it is evening, you say, ‘It will
be fair weather, for the sky is red.’
And in the morning, ‘There will be a storm today, for the sky is red and
threatening.’
“Do you know how to discern the appearance of the sky,
but cannot discern the signs of the times?
An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign; and a sign will
not be given it, except the sign of Jonah; and He left them, and went away.”
Matthew 16:1-4
Philip Yancey began his book, Disappointment With God[1]
with this statement:
“I
found that for many people there is a large gap between what they expect from
their Christian faith and what they experience.
From
a steady diet of books, sermons, and personal testimonies, all promising triumph
and success, they learn to expect dramatic evidence of God working in their
lives. If they do not see such evidence,
they feel disappointment, betrayal, and often guilt.”
Most of us come to a personal relationship with Christ seeking answers,
help, comfort, compassion, mercy, understanding – we may be at the end of our
‘rope’. We learn of Jesus, the Son of
God.
Once we place our trust in His saving plan, there is
naturally a temptation to be driven by our emotions, rather than the Truth and
facts of His love for us.
Many imagine there will be feelings of relief or comfort...or something
extraordinary that will assure them it has happened. They search for a personal miracle, sign, dream or
wonder to substantiate their stepping out in faith.
Campus Crusade for Christ (now called CRU) used an insightful and easy-to-remember illustration to help explain this truth using a train illustration with three cars:
- Engine - car 1 = the Truth/ facts of salvation power the train
- Coal car – car 2 = we place our trust/ faith in the Truth
- Caboose - car 3 = our feelings and emotions follow behind
These three represent different ‘parts’ of our salvation that work together in our decision to follow Christ. However, the train will move very well no matter how we feel.
The train illustration helps to clearly remind us that you can’t pull the ‘train’ with your feelings.
There is nothing wrong with feelings and they may certainly
follow your decision to place the coal (your trust) in the Truth of the Gospel. However, it is important to understand that oftentimes there are no unusual feelings that follow a decision to follow
Christ. Feelings alone can and
should not be trusted to pull the train!
Why you ask? The reason starts in Genesis 3 when Eve trusted her opinion
over God's and is mentioned or eluded to throughout Scripture. For example, Jeremiah says it well:
“The heart is more deceitful
than all else and is desperately sick; who can understand it.” Jeremiah
17:9
Some days we wake up and don’t feel God loves us anymore or
is mad at us or is distant. There are even times when we purpose to try to put distance between us and God. Yet, once we placed our trust in His Truth, nothing
can change our standing with Christ
[Jesus speaking] “’My sheep
hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me; and I give eternal life to
them, and they will never perish; and no one will snatch them out of My
hand.
“’My Father, who has given
them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of the
Father’s hand. I and the Father are one.’”
John 10:27-30).
Sometimes, in our human eagerness to
restore good feelings, we may resort to all kinds of works to ‘feel His closeness’
again. However, works and feelings are
never the answer and soon disappoint.
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