I may not see in front of me, But I can see for miles around when I look over my shoulder, and Lord, it`s clear. You`ve brought me here, So faithful every step of the way. What can I do but follow you, For You are the Way, the Truth, the Life, And You`ve promised never to leave me, My Savior, my friend, From beginning to end.
I Am Found In You
by
Steven Curtis Chapman
Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing. 1 Thessalonians 5:11 NIV
Okay, you help me write this devotional. Here’s the scenario. A Christian friend comes to you for help. They are suicidal. They feel that life is caving in around them. It seems that no one loves them anymore. They have no purpose in life. There have been several severe calamities in their life recently and that, combined with a lack of anyone to confide in has led them to feel desperate and without hope. (I need to tell you that this scenario repeats itself in my ministry on a weekly basis. People are hurting.)
What do you share with them? Do you validate their feelings? Do you tell them they should increase their feelings, or do you share facts with them? Think about feelings for a minute. How reliable are they? Yet, how hard are they sometimes to change? Can you adjust feelings easily?
Notice today’s verse. Does it say “we are to encourage one another and build each other up” in feeling or in fact? It says “just as in fact you are doing”. We share encouragement and love in fact. When someone is suffering from feelings of inadequacy, don’t you share facts with them to the contrary?
If I were to encounter this suffering Christian, and I won’t assume that person is not you today, I would assure them of God’s love for them. That love is based on fact, not on a feeling. I would remind them that God promised to never leave them or forsake them. I would encourage them to read the facts of God’s Word. I would provide them with the illustration of my own experience of God’s faithfulness. I would try to get them to rely on the facts of God’s love rather than the unreliable feelings that are in their hearts.
God’s love is not a feeling. It is wonderful to feel His love, but even on the days when we can’t feel it, we can believe it, because it is not based on feeling, but on fact!
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All materials © 2008 Richard G. Schlief.
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