On Faith and Feelings

“But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say you are my God.” Psalms 31:14

In this passage we hear King David make a statement that we’ve heard him say many times, but what is significant are the words that precede this statement. Many people base their relationship with the Lord on their feelings. If we feel close to the Lord then He is close. If we feel far from Him then He is far. If we feel joy, peace, and love then we are in His favor, but if we feel grief, pain, guilt and distress then we are not. If we look at the words of David that precede this verse, we will find statements like “My eye wastes away with grief”, “My bones wastes away”, and “My strength fails me because of my iniquity.” Other words that accompany his plight are “broken,” “trouble,” “reproach,” and “forgotten.”

When we enter times like this we tend to believe that God has forgotten us, or that we’ve been cut off from before His eyes, but if we are his children through faith then this is completely contrary to the truth. God’s faithfulness and truth are not conditioned by our feelings. We enjoy it when good feelings accompany our faith, but we must remember that the faithfulness of God is not based on our feelings.

How does David conclude the Psalm? By calling on all of God’s children to love the Lord and to place their trust in Him. Even though he is struggling with his own doubts and fears He puts the call forward, and speaks the truth of God’s sovereignty and his faithfulness.

You may be in a time in your life where the truth of God’s word is accompanied with times of peace, and comfort. Your worship springs from a fountain of overwhelming joy. Or you may be in a time of your life where you feel dry, broken, and full of reproach. Regardless of how you feel move forward in the Lord. Speak His truth, and work to forward the kingdom of God, because if we are not doing this, it doesn’t really matter what feelings we have. We are commanded by God’s Word to proclaim His truth; we are equipped by His grace, and spurred on by faith, not feelings, to fulfill the works ordained beforehand because we are his workmanship.

On the other side of the coin, many people feel good about their souls condition, but their life does not line up with scripture. The New Age spiritualist may claim to have found peace, but is still under condemnation of the law. Their feelings have deceived them. Only when feelings line up with the Truth can they be trusted. Other than that, they deceive. In our attempt to seek and know God, let us make the Truth of Christ the treasure we seek, and this can only be found in the Word of God. If we don’t know the Word of God we will not be able to tell whether or not our feelings are lying to us or telling us the truth? This is why the Psalmist says “Thy word I have hid in my heart that I might not sin against you.”

When times of trouble and distress come, may we say with David “My times are in your hands”. I will not worry about how things make me feel, but I will trust that all that comes my way is ordained by Him and He is faithful, and His word does not waiver with my feelings. Therefore, I will march on proclaiming your truth.

-Doug Eaton-

On Affliction and Our Slavish Love of This World- John Calvin

Whatever be the kind of tribulation with which we are afflicted, we should always consider the end of it to be, that we may be trained to despise the present, and thereby stimulated to aspire to the future life. For since God well knows how strongly we are inclined by nature to a slavish love of this world, in order to prevent us from clinging too strongly to it, he employs the fittest reason for calling us back, and shaking off our lethargy.. . ..The heart also, engrossed with avarice, ambition, and lust, is weighed down and cannot rise above them. In short, the whole soul, ensnared by the allurements of the flesh, seeks its happiness on the earth. To meet this disease, the Lord makes his people sensible of the vanity of the present life, by a constant proof of its miseries.

-John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion-

Distressed Yet Victorious

And He took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled. Mark 14:33

If our Lord, who was sinless, had times in which He became distressed, how should we who are sinful expect to escape them? There have been many people who have preached a skewed understanding of the "Victorious Christian life". Although this is never actually stated, if you extend the arguments out, what is sometimes implied with this type of teaching is that if we walk close enough to the Lord, and spend enough time in prayer and devotion, we will attain some type of abundant life which enables us to walk in victory and be above sin and distress. When trials come, our faith will be solid and we will feel at perfect rest knowing God is in control. And there are clearly times when we will go through outward trials with this sort of inner success. But to imagine that we can reach a point where we will not have times of heaviness and distress is not Scriptural. For even our Lord had to face times like this, and He had no sin to remember in His times of trouble.

Times of distress will plague us all, but in our distress we are not to feel like we have not reached some spiritual peak. Or as if we lack some, deeper Christian life. This type of thinking can lead to a spiritual elitism, which can excite pride. In fact, many in the church get so caught up in trying to reach these allusive spiritual peaks, that they have forgotten what pure an undefiled religion is, visiting orphans and widows, helping the poor and the down trodden, and extending grace to the sinner.

The very phrase "Victorious Christian life" is redundant because to be a Christian is to be victorious. You cannot be a child of God and not have the victory. If you are a child of God, He is your Shepherd and this Shepherd will not fail. Though He may bring you through High water, He will be with you. In the dark valley of death you may tremble, but He will not falter. There will be times where He will forge you over the fires, and all of this is done is to fulfill His purposes in your life. But this does not mean the fire will not be hot, or that the hammer will not sting. As one southern preacher said, "When the Lord sends tribulation, He ‘spects us to tribulate." As Christians, we will share in the sufferings of Christ and this suffering causes pain and distress, if it doesn’t, it’s not suffering.

When trouble and distress are upon us, we are to fight it, not by trying to reach some higher state of spirituality, but by holding on to the truth that He will bring us through every trial victoriously. And nothing, not even death itself can separate us from His love. Failure and victory are not determined by feelings, but by our actual position in Christ regardless of what our feelings tell us. Trust Him to lead you through and remember when Christ looks on those who are distressed, He has compassion, and is near to those who call upon Him in prayer. At times, we may be hard pressed on every side but we will not be crushed. And we must remember that the distress our Lord felt in the scripture above, led to the greatest victory that has ever been won.

My soul at times will not be still,

And tremblings with my heart doth fill

Yet perfect bliss was not His pledge

Nor paradise within His hedge

But every trial will be endured.

The victory has been secured.

And death itself’s a vanquished foe

By resurrection’s mighty blow.

-Doug Eaton-

Apologetics.com Radio: The Thanksgiving Show

Below is a link to the latest radio show on which I was a guest. It deals with the nature of gratitude and thanksgiving in the life of the believer.

The Thanksgiving Show (MP3) (right click to save)

It can also be downloaded in itunes under podcasts. Search for apologetics.

God Bless,

Doug

Brothers and Sisters in Christ and the Non-Christian

"The great trouble is not that we love those who are not Christians too much, rather that we do not love them enough. If we really loved them, we should not be content with the relationship to them involved in the comparatively cold brotherhood of man, but we should long passionately, and by the preaching of the gospel we should make constant and earnest endeavour, to bring them in with us into the full intimacy of the household of God.

-J. Gresham Machen-

Man In His Best State Is But A Vapor

Lord, make me to know my end, And what is the measure of my days, that I may know how frail I am. Psalm 39:4

No one will escape those final moments when while young, middle aged, or elderly these bodies of ours begin to lose the capacity to function correctly and support life. Whether it is heart problems, digestive problems, cancers, accidents, or even mental disorders, these frail bodies of our will someday soon give way. Maybe even today you are seeing these tendencies with your own health.

Now some may ask why be so morbid, and why bring our minds to such things? The answer is the same reason David cried out to be cognizant of his end and to know the measure of his days. It is to remember that we are frail, that our days are as a handbreadth, that we are nothing before God, and that man in his best state is but a vapor.

There is a grace that comes in knowing our end. Though we do not know the details, to be reminded that our end in this life will be death, and that it could come in a variety of ways and at any time, does not hinder us but calls us out of our slumber. David called to God and asked him to remind him of his end because of the sin in his life. He was seeking wisdom in order that he would not fall that way again, and one of the means of grace that David knew would help him was if God would keep before his mind the limited nature of his days.

This grace of knowing our end can come in many ways. There are the simple little reminders we have such as reading a book in which someone is suffering from an illness and in the end it takes their life, or in more serious ways such as a close family member or friend who is struggling in the same way. But many times the Lord’s own hand will plague us and make our beauties melt away like a moth, as we are consumed by the blow of His hands to wake us from our fantasies which was what was happening to David at this point. The reminders are all around us, life is fleeting, temporary, troubled, and quite simply a vapor, and as His Children, the Lord wants us mindful of that fact so we will not squander it.

If we live life with any other understanding than that we walk about like a shadows which will quickly fade, then we live in a make believe world of our creating. And the result will be that we lose sight of the significant and begin to busy ourselves in vain, trying to heap up for ourselves temporal desires and riches not even knowing who it will be that will gather them.

Ultimately, the only way to combat this vanity is to know the truth of our frailty. According to the measure that we have a grasp upon this, we will have a correlative measure of focus upon living our lives for what ultimately matters. We will be wise to the fact that our time is limited, we will give God the praise for the time we do have and trust Him with the few days we have left. When we are tempted with sin, we will be reminded of the utter foolishness of it, as we know we will soon be on our deathbed and will want our consciences clear. We will also desire to redeem the time for the days are evil, and live all of our moments with the desire to see God Glorified.

This will transform even the most common minutes of our day. It can make scripture our daily companion as we seek its eternal riches, and make prayer an unceasing endeavor as we seek the gracious God who controls and knows the number of our days. It compels us even today to go in to the highways and byways and tell others to come in, since tomorrow is promised to no one. It helps us to realize that all is to be done for the glory of God and not just these privileges we consider sacred. Fathers are to dance with their daughters, mothers to hold their sons close, Husbands honor your wives, wives cherish your husbands. Turn off the TV, say no to some additional unnecessary task. Stop chasing after self-glory and honor for all glory is God’s. And since sin has been the cause of all our vain moments, this knowledge will turn our hope to the Lord who is able to deliver us from our transgressions, and to keep us from being the reproach of the foolish.

Doug

Longing for Our Homeland

13These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth. 14For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland. Heb 11:13-14

During the Great awakening, one description given to many of the people during this time was that they were deeply concerned for their souls. This is significant because this is not what we could say of many in the church today.

Would people describe us in this way? That our one true desire is to be in right relationship with the Lord? Is everything that you do designed to bring glory to God and enjoy Him forever? If you are not accomplishing this goal, does it cause such a deep dissatisfaction, which, until it is resolved, makes you willing to sacrifice your most precious worldly treasures?

When we read of men like Martin Luther, John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon, Jonathan Edwards, and Charles Wesley, it was this kind of concern for the things of God that caused them to accomplish the great works they did even if doing this work caused them greater adversity in this life. Christians were who they were. It wasn't merely one aspect of their lives, but every fabric of their being was encompassed by their relationship with Christ. It drove them to study, write, understand, preach, and to pursue holiness.

How do we line up with this? Is our Christianity something we do on the side to help us pursue a comfortable life, or is it our entire life’s focus? One way to examine ourselves in this matter is to look at how often we think about this world not being our home. How often do we speak about our true home? “For people who speak thus make it clear that they are seeking a homeland.”

Today may we examine ourselves to see what we truly desire. Do we so desire to be with our Father that even the greatest pleasures of this life leave us longing for Him? Or have we become so entranced by the comforts of this life that we no longer desire to be bothered with the things of God? For many who bear the name Christian resemble little of those whose greatest desire is to be with the Father in Heaven.

Because of sin, this world has been subjected to futility by they very hand of God (Rom 8:20). The futility we sense even in the midst of our greatest days is to serve as a constant reminder that we truly are strangers and exiles on this earth, for to be heavenly minded makes us zealous and of the greatest earthly good.

When people look at who I am,
Let them see my one desire.
To bring glory to the lamb,
And of your work to never tire

On my own I'd surely fail
Therefore strengthen by your grace
make my life to then entail
the desire to see your face.

-Doug-

Was That Worship?

I had a co-worker once who loved just about everything Disney. He put a sticker on his car, and would proudly wear Disney hats and shirts. He was one of the managers at the store where I was working, and I remember one day when everything was going wrong he said to me, when this day is over I am going home and I’m going to watch an old Disney movie. When I pressed him a bit as to why he chose to watch an old Disney movie as opposed to anything else, he said, "Disney things just bring me back to when I was a kid." Ultimately there was a sense of nostalgia from all the memories of growing up, and these things moved his affections in a way that made him feel a bit better after a hard day.

On another note (no pun intended), music has a way of doing the same type of things for us. I can remember in high school and college and it even happens now occasionally, when I would be listening to secular radio, and that new song that I had been waiting to hear would come on. Immediately, I would turn up the volume and I would be energized by what I was hearing, singing along with all the passion I could muster.

Now there really is nothing wrong with a bit of nostalgia and being energized or moved by some piece of music, but when you put these things together with a Christian worship service or program we must be careful to discern our affections. I bring this up because sometimes I think we can be misled to think that we have had a time of worship or that we have heard a really good sermon simply because our affections were moved.

We must pay close attention to what is actually moving our affections in order to discern whether or not it is worship or even spiritual. When those first chords of our favorite praise song are played by the worship leader, are we being energized much like any natural man who hears a secular song that causes him to turn up the radio or are we really worshipping? And when grandma’s favorite Hymn starts to play and causes us to experience a time of peace and contentment while thinking back to when she used to sing it to us as a child, do we sometimes confuse that with worship?

Now I am not saying we should only sing boring songs or songs that don’t remind us of anything, or that it is impossible to really be worshipping during these times. In fact, I think it can be good at times to remember our family worship from when we were growing up, and I also think it is good that we still have people today writing new psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs for us to sing today that get us excited. But what I want to stress is that simply because we have these moments does not mean we are worshipping or that we have been moved by in adoration of God. Charles Spurgeon once said that if he wanted to, he could move congregations to tears by telling them sad stories of mothers with sick children or energize them by telling them stories of men and women who accomplished great things. But he said it would be a waste of time unless they where moved to cry over their sin and take joy in Christ and the cross.

Even the natural man’s affections can be moved in strong ways, but those affections will never be worship unless they are moved by the word of God as it points us to Christ and what He has done for us. Whether we attend a modern or traditional worship service is not the biggest issue, but we must be sure to seek out worship and preaching that convicts us of sin, and shows us the remedy in Christ.

-Doug Eaton-

Through Many Tribulations

After reading this…

Christians Crucified by Terrorists in Iraq

The following verse came to mind...

They [Paul and Barnabas] returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, [where they had been persecuted] strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and saying, “We must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God.” Acts: 14:21-22

Along with this quote by John Calvin...

“God doth oftentimes spare the wicked, and doth fat them with prosperity, [Yet] he is more sharp and hard toward his Children. For besides common molestations, they are oppressed peculiarly with many discommodities, and the Lord doth humble them with such exercises, keeping their flesh under correction lest it wax wanton; he awaketh them, lest they lie sleeping upon earth. Unto these are added the reproaches and slanders of the wicked; for they must be, as it were, the offscourings of the world. Their simpleness is laughed at; but they are most stung by wicked mocks and scoffs, principally against God. Last of all, the lust of the wicked breaketh out into open violence; so that they have need to strive with many tribulations, and it cannot be but that all their life shall be envied and unquiet amidst so many enemies. But this is the best comfort, and which is sufficient enough to confirm their minds, that his way (though it be hard and sharp) leadeth unto the kingdom of heaven, for we gather by this that the miseries of the godly are more happy than be all the doting dainties of delights of the world.” –John Calvin-

We must strive against wickedness by proclaiming the truth of Christ, and we must do it expecting ultimate victory. But when it seems that the enemy’s stronghold on this world only seem to be getting stronger and we are beaten and bruised, we must praise the Lord that it is us who are being bruised and under the Lordship of Christ, and not the ones involved in the prevailing wickedness. For it is only by his grace that we have been brought under his banner, and His banner over us is Love.

Let the persecutions and any other kinds of troubles that war against your faith prick your heart and bruise your soul, by the grace of God you are being led into His kingdom. You must not flee from them, by neglecting your Christian duty to proclaim Christ Crucified, resurrected, and coming back to judge the living and the dead. And as the world looks on and sees us dying to the things of this world, the Lord will use it to bring spiritual birth to all those appointed to eternal life. Then we will be able to cry out with Paul, “So then death is working in us, but life in you” (2 Cor.4:12).

Do not let the death of these martyrs be in vain. Praise God for their faithfulness, and may He use it to wake us of any spiritual slumber from which we suffer. Then, when we see them in glory, we can say, death was working in you, but God used it to work life in us.

For the Glory of God,

Doug

Break Up Your Fallow Ground!

Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the LORD, till he come and rain righteousness upon you. Hosea 10:12

"The man of fallow life is contented with himself and the fruit he once bore. He does not want to be disturbed. He smiles in tolerant superiority at revivals, fastings, self-searching, and all the travail of fruit bearing and the anguish of advance. The spirit of adventure is dead within him. He is steady, “faithful,” always in his accustomed place (like the old field), conservative, and something of a landmark in the little church. But he is fruitless."

-A.W. Tozer-

Strive Against Spiritual Sluggishness

And while he [Lot] lingered, the men took hold of his hand, his wife’s hand, and the hands of his two daughters, the Lord being merciful to him, and they brought him out and set him outside the city. Gen. 19:16

Here we find Lot in the final moments before the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. The warnings had been clear, and Lot had not doubted the truthfulness of those warnings. Yet in the final moments before the destruction, as Lot is told to escape with his life, he lingers as if unable to move. Calvin says this regarding Lot's lingering, “His tardiness is truly wonderful [astounding], since, though he was certainly persuaded that the angels did not threaten in vain, he could yet be moved, by no force of words until he is dragged by their hands out of the city.”

What caused him to linger? Matthew Poole estimates that, “He lingered, either though lothness to part with all his estate, or to lose his sons-in-law; or through astonishment and distraction of mind, which made him both listless and impotent.” Whatever it was, Lot was powerless to move on his own, and this seems to be the experience of us all from time to time when the Lord, through his Word, has told us to move. Whether it is sin with which we hate to part, or God’s leading in a new direction, many times we are sluggish.

God has told us to press on in His word, to be conformed to his image, and to do all He has commanded us. The thunderous warnings of the destruction of everything contrary have rung in our ears as He has told us to flee the wrath to come. Along with the thundering of destruction that push us from behind, we have the beauty of Christ, the True Image of God, before us, compelling us to come, yet so often we sit lifeless.

As Matthew Henry so aptly put it, “Thus many that are under some convictions about the misery of their spiritual state, and the necessity of a change, yet defer that needful work, and foolishly linger.” But praise God Lot’s story does not end there, and neither does ours, for God was merciful to him as the angels grabbed him by the hand and brought him out of the city to safety.

Are there areas in your life which hinder your growth in the things of the Lord? Do you know the Lord has called you to remedy a certain aspect of your life, yet you sit idle, making no progress in spiritual things? If so, be prepared, for if you are a true child of God who is unmoved even though you have heard His word, He will use other means to get you to move. Whatever inordinate loves keep you motionless may be forcefully removed, forcing you to make steps onward in your journey to the Celestial City. Calvin makes the point clear when he says,

“For so it is often necessary for us to be forcibly drawn away from scenes which we do not willingly leave. If riches, or honors, or any other things of the that kind, prove an obstacle to anyone, to render him less free and disengaged from the service of God, when it happens that he is abridged [cut off] of his fortune, or reduced to a lower rank, let him know that the Lord has laid hold of his hand; because words and exhortations had not sufficiently profited him.”

Let us never forget that even the more forceful means the Lord uses to speed us along to be conformed to the image of Christ is done in mercy, for it would have been no injustice had He left us in our impotent state to partake in the destruction that we refused to flee. Has the Lord been calling you to surrender some sin? Has he been prompting you by His Holy Spirit, to live a life more in service to Him than the worldly pleasure you now serve? Or is he simply calling you to spend more time in prayerful study of His Word, which is so often neglected. Whatever it may be, we all have enough sluggishness in us that we should, with all earnestness, strive against it. And may the words of this devotion be the means God uses to move you on, for if mere words are not enough, in His mercy, He will lay his hands upon His child.

-Doug Eaton-

On Fearing Hell and Receiving Christ

"There is a great deal of difference between a willingness not to be damned, and a being willing to receive Christ for your Savior. You have the former; there is no doubt of that: nobody supposes that you love misery so as to choose an eternity of it; and so doubtless you are willing to be saved from eternal misery. But that is a very different thing from being willing to come to Christ: persons very commonly mistake the one for the other, but they are quite two things. You may love the deliverance, but hate the deliverer. You tell of a willingness; but consider what is the object of that willingness. It does not respect Christ; the way of salvation by him is not at all the object of it; but it is wholly terminated on your escape from misery. The inclination of your will goes no further than self, it never reaches Christ. You are willing not to be miserable; that is, you love yourself, and there your will and choice terminate. And it is but a vain pretence and delusion to say or think, that you are willing to accept of Christ.

-Jonathan Edwards-