Considering answers to those faith-questions we all ask…
Category: DEVOTION
Feelings are not faith, and as Paul declared, "Everything that does not come from faith is sin" (Romans 14:23). That's not to say that all feelings are sinful, but depending on them is. Feelings can be sensual, physical, temporal and fallible. They can be useful and wonderful tools and a great blessing, but they can also regularly get us into trouble. The antidote to this uncertainty is the Word of God.
We often determine the character of God by the way we're treated by others, and particularly by those who profess faith - including ministers. Our view of God can be a reflection of our experience with people, so that our entire lives and even our eternal destiny is shaped by what others do or say. This is a dangerous and deceptive trait in us.
People who regard themselves as Christians yet pay little or no attention to the Bible are getting their direction in life from somewhere else. It's coming from their church's doctrine and tradition, and from priests; It's coming from what their pastor tells them in his own "inspired" sermons, or from what other Christians tell them, or worst of all, it's coming from their own idea of what's right or wrong.
The urge to blame has reached epidemic proportions in the Western world, and I'm probably infected as much as anyone. In a world where I think I'm a good person and right about everything someone else is always wrong - it isn't my fault.
I had planned that this part of my series would discuss deception. Instead, this is an interjection, written because it seems to me that an equally large problem to deception is apathy within the Church, and among professing Christians.
