There is nothing in this world so fleeting as feelings. They come and go without warning. Many we are happy enough to send off, but a few we try to hold onto. The feeling of wonder as we survey a grand vista bathed in the deep golden hues of the sunset, the serenity of a quiet night listening to the rain outside a window, the surety of having heard from God through His word. These and others like them we want to keep forever, but they slip easily through our fingers. Perhaps we chased after them only to awake one morning to the awful realization that our pursuit had only taken us further from the source of such alluring sensation. Then we might flee from the gloom of despair. Feelings mean so much to us. They are the colors of our inner world. They are the spices that season our moments, making their taste more distinct. We would be something less than human if we felt nothing; indeed, such numbness is rightly recognized as a form of mental illness. We should no more wish away our emotions than we would our sense of touch or hearing. They serve a vital purpose.
More Than a Feeling & Anchoring Emotion in Scripture
Emotions are therefore very powerful. Powerful enough to overwhelm us. Powerful enough to color our perceptions, distorting our understanding. They can keep us from going forward, luring us backward into a past we can never return to. We look for sensation to lead us, casting around for a “peace” that will mark the right course. We are always reaching out to feel, and inevitably, we will land in the boiling pot.
Moreover, we will not progress very far at all if we follow a feeling because it will soon change to something else. There is no true north in the world of emotions and sensations. It is a naïve way to live, becoming infants who know nothing more yet. See Psalms 119:89, 105: “For ever, O LORD, thy word is settled in heaven. Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
Unlike our feelings and sensations, God’s word is eternally unchanged, the fixed reference for ultimate truth. It is to be our definitive guide in life to arbitrate what is and what is not. These facts are not affected in the least by our feelings. Which is not to say that the truth does not care about your feelings. Certainly, God does care about our feelings and intends His word to inform them. That is, our feelings ought to be anchored by the truths of Scripture so that our emotional responses to life fall in line with the reality of life revealed in and through God’s Holy Word.
Unfortunately, our feelings do not care about the facts and will not conform to our ever-growing understanding of the truth. We must take determined action to hold our feelings to account before the Bible. When Paul tells us to take every thought captive, he means for us to take the emotions that come with those thoughts as well. See 2 Corinthians 10:5: “Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;”
This will sometimes reveal unpleasant truths about what we really believe.
It is unpleasant to find, when angry, that our sense of justice is warped around our outsized ego. It is embarrassing to realize that our downcast soul is troubled over spilled milk: true story from the author’s life. It is awful to understand that what makes us happy does not make God happy at all. None of this is fun, but neither is open-heart surgery.
The operation is necessary, however, as our feelings are leading us astray according to the unexposed false beliefs and values of the heart. Once we are opened up, and the hand of the Great Physician is at work, and once the double cure of God’s sufficient grace is applied, our feelings will begin to serve a better cause. They will begin to reflect the truth. They will begin to enhance our appreciation of the truth. Emotions will be spices seasoning a wholesome dish and not poison.
Does this mean we might enjoy a perpetual emotional high as we encounter the mercies of God, which are new every morning? No, not always. And we should not lament that fact. We are guided by sensations of spirituality, rather than base emotions. We are not chasing a high feeling, but a real Lord.
If you go anywhere looking to feel, you will most likely end up disappointed. We naturally habituate to stimuli as we are exposed to them. That holds with spiritual stimuli. The awe of the great gathering, of the excellent performance, of the oratorial brilliance will all wear thin soon enough. The soul that is running on fumes will run dry quickly.
Again, the inexhaustible truth of who God is and what He has done is the only lasting source of satisfaction. It may not have the thrills of the emotional high, though new understanding can produce such, but it raises us in reality, not just in perception. By truth, we are set free from dreams of life. The truth sets us free to be dreamers of the day, with eyes open to form and reform.
Indeed, this call is a call for reformation, from the reformation. Sola Scriptura is not just about deliverance from the tyranny of papal authority, or overwrought tradition, but also from the fickle whims of ego and emotion, which gave rise to those abuses. Your feelings will lead you back into the dark ages, so will mine, but God’s word is a lamp for our feet and light for our path.
It is stoicism we advocate for. Emotionlessness is not the Christian ideal, but self-control is. Some of us have stronger emotions than others, and that is part of God’s design. Nevertheless, there is no emotion too strong to be bridled by the reins of scripture. We must become used to holding the reins and using them. This is an exercise of awareness and will. It is a reformation of our own inner life. You will find that all true reformation flows from personal reformation: the unreformed reformer has not ventured outside the bounds of the current system to know where it is deformed, malformed, misinformed, or formless. If you want to make things better, you need more than a feeling.
Lord's Library participates in affiliate programs. We may make a small commission from products purchased through this resource.
- Views From a Branch: On Christian Contentment & Why God is Enough - November 11, 2025
- Advice on the Pastoral Transition Process: Biblical Guidelines - October 24, 2025
- Views From a Branch: More Than a Feeling & Anchoring Emotion in Scripture - October 9, 2025
