Just a brief word today, but God gave it to me a month ago and I’ve found it really helpful, so I’m passing it on. I’m not sure how it may play out in your life specifically, but I suspect it does, and will.

And it’s this: Your feelings are not your faithfulness.

I’ve let this word percolate enough to see it play out in a couple general directions. First, when we’re down: It gets easy to want to “self-medicate” in any number of ways to avoid the pain of living—or more accurately, to delay the pain then have to pay it back with interest. But again, your feelings are not your faithfulness. God’s not judging you by how difficult (or happy) your life is right now, but by how you’re responding to it right now. Are you putting Him first, no matter what you’re feeling?

And how about when things are going better (or you’re at least feeling better about your circumstances)? It’s real easy to let down our guards after the black cloud has passed. Satan used fear, depression and insecurity to take out Saul, and used prosperity and success to take down David and Solomon—he’s not picky about how he gets the job done. Therefore, we need to be vigilant at both ends, and to stay obedient to God—no matter what our feelings are saying to us. Even when we’re happy, our feelings are not our faithfulness.

It’s interesting that we always like to reference 1 Corinthians 10:13 without the backdrop, so let me close by starting at verse 12 for the sake of you guys that are in
“a good place,” then circle back to verse 13 for the sake of us melancholy types:

Therefore let anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.